'Ethnic cleansing' reported in Sudan

Diplomats say that Sudan's president has agreed to pull northern troops out of the disputed Abyei border region before the south secedes on July 9, signalling possible progress in talks before the split.

Fighting in Abyei has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict. The border's exact position has yet to be defined.

“Abyei is still controlled by government forces,” says John Ashworth, a justice and peace advocacy advisor for the Sudanese bishops. “The people have been displaced – most of the people have fled south.”

But Ashworth reports that Abyei has recently become quieter as fighting has shifted to the nearby Nuba mountains in Southern Kordofan state.

“We are being told that Nuba people are being targeted for their ethnicity,” Ashworth told Vatican Radio. “We are not being given the exact details – which the media would like us to have – because our people on the ground fear for their lives.”

Ashwoth continues, “We’re not talking about fighting between troops – although that is taking place – and we’re not talking about collateral damage to civilians during the fighting. We are talking about Nuba people who are actually citizens of northern Sudan being hunted down, detained, beaten, tortured and killed by their own government.”

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is meeting the south's President Salva Kiir in Ethiopia to discuss unresolved issues.

Listen to John Ashworth’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: