School Kids In Sudan Narrowly Escape Bombing Of Catholic School

Details: Written/Submitted by External Source; Category: South Sudan & African News From Various Sources; Published: 28 May 2016; Hits: 2354

The Sudan Sukhoi jet dropped two parachute bombs into the compound of the St. Vincent Primary School, damaging classrooms and library. “I don’t feel safe, it’s inhuman,” said a shocked sister Cinta Mutisya, a principal at the school from Kenya....

The Sudan government continues to target children in the ongoing conflict ^[1] in the Nuba Mountains. On Wednesday afternoon, a government warplane bombed a leading primary school in Kauda, Sudan, wounding a Kenyan teacher. The Sudan Sukhoi jet dropped two parachute bombs into the compound of the St. Vincent Primary School, damaging classrooms and library.

“I don’t feel safe, it’s inhuman,” said a shocked sister Cinta Mutisya, a principal at the school from Kenya. Sponsored by Catholic churches in the US, several international staff from East Africa and Australia work at the school. This is not the first time ^[2] --in May last year the jets had bombed the same school.

“We just thank God that the children were not in the primary school because these metal pieces would have probably killed them,” Australian Education Coordinator Cathy Solano said. Only teachers were present since it was a correction day for exams.

Norway, the U.K. and the U.S. said in a statement ^[3] they were "appalled" by the bombing of the school, and other aerial attacks on civilians in Kauda and the Heiban area of South Kordofan.

Alan Boswell/MCT via Getty Images

Women and children climb rocky hillsides near Kauda in Sudan's Nuba Mountains to seek cover from government air strikes. Over the past month, Sudan has significantly increased aerial attacks in the rebel-controlled area.

Over the past month, Sudan has significantly increased aerial attacks on civilians in the rebel-controlled Heiban County, South Kordofan state – where Kauda is located. According to Nuba Reports^[4], Sudan has dropped 68 bombs in Heiban County over the past month. On May 1, one bomb killed ^[5] six children, aged 4 – 13 and wounded another civilian, sparking ^[6] a national outcry protesting the incident. During the memorial service of the six children on May 23, another Sudanese jet dropped two bombs in the same area, wounding four more children and killing a 6-month old baby.

Civilians, especially children, are routinely targeted ^[7] in Sudan’s five-year civil war with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North rebels in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, killing ^[8] thousands and displacing nearly 400,000 people.

“Despite all the challenges, despite the hunger, despite the drought, despite the war, despite so many problems of poverty and yet they want to go to school,” Solana added. “They don’t deserve this, what have they done wrong? They have done nothing wrong.”