New York Times - UN: 800 Civilians Killed This Year in Southern Sudan

By Josh Kron, New York Times

KAMPALA, Uganda More than 800 civilians have died since January in fragmenting violence in southern Sudan, the United Nations said Wednesday, less than three months before the vast, impoverished, battle-scarred region becomes its own nation.

Lise Grande, the humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in southern Sudan, said that the number did not take into account the many soldiers who had died in recent fighting. It also does not reflect the continuing standoff around the contested region of Abyei, a conflict-ridden dividing line between north and south Sudan.

Southern Sudan held an independence referendum in early January that was more peaceful and orderly than many experts had predicted. But in the violence that has followed, 93,000 people have fled their homes, including more than 40,000 in the last month, Ms. Grande said. . . .

. . . . On Tuesday, the United States said that economic sanctions would be lifted from southern Sudan upon its independence, which is expected to be declared on July 9. Still, it is unclear if revenues from oil that has been piped from the south through the north will be included.

The United States was such a player by kind of moving independence along, said Jordan Sekulow, an adviser for the southern Sudanese government in the United States. Its very important to get behind southern Sudan.

We want to say, Were open for business, Mr. Sekulow said. . . .

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