News Article by REUTERS posted on October 26, 2000 at 03:36:33: EST (-5 GMT)
Clinton criticizes Sudan over attack on town
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill Clinton sharply
criticised
the government of Sudan on Wednesday after aid agencies reported
that
government planes bombed a village while aid workers were distributing
food.
"I am deeply concerned by reports that the government of Sudan is
bombing
innocent civilians in the southern part of the country," Clinton said
in a
statement released by the White House. "Such egregious abuses have
become
commonplace in Sudan's ongoing civil war."
"If the government of Sudan seeks to demonstrate to the
international
community that it is prepared to act according to international
norms and the
rule of law, it must allow full and immediate access for
humanitarian
organisations seeking to provide relief to Sudan's war-ravaged
civilians," he
added.
A total of 23 bombs were dropped on the southern town of Nimule in
two
separate attacks by high-flying warplanes on Sunday afternoon, according
to
Dan Eiffe of Norwegian People's Aid which runs a hospital in the town.
The White House, citing reports by international relief workers, said
the
government of Sudan has bombed civilian and humanitarian sites more than
60
times in the past year.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has been fighting the
Islamic
government for greater religious and cultural freedom for the
mainly
Christian and animist south Sudan for 17 years. An estimated two
million
people have been killed in the conflict and the famines it has
fuelled.
Nimule, close to the border with Uganda, is some 70 miles (110 km) from
the
nearest frontline.