South Sudan railway activity

[John Ashworth]

Now that the line is open again from northern Sudan to Wau, trains are being used to return southern Sudanese who were resident in the north but wish to return to the south now that it is becoming independent on 9th July. A colleague based in Aweil sent me the following:

From what I’ve seen, they are using old diesel engine locomotives, wagons are at least 30 years old while the railway is in the shape that it doesn’t allow train moving faster than 10-15km/h. Everything looks like it hasn't been maintained for decades, rusty, poor conditioned and completely disorganized.

I asked him to try to get some photos, and he replied:

I will try to take photos but cant make any promises. It is a bit delicate as the trains are full with returnees and often soldiers are around and I am not sure if they would appreciate taking photos.

[Chris Janisch]

Heard that some peacekeepers were slaughtered in southern Sudan 2 days ago- John what was this?

[John Ashworth]

Chris, it was in Abyei. This is an area which used to be part of the South but was transferred to the North by administrative decree in 1905. In both peace agreements (1972 and 2005) the people of Abyei were promised a referendum on whether they wanted to remain in the North or return to the South. To date no referendum has taken place, as the government in the North seems reluctant to lose this piece of land.

See Four UN peacekeepers shot in Sudan’s Abyei for details of the shooting. It was almost certainly the work of northern militia, if not government soldiers posing as militia.