Sudan: The Splintering of Sudan

The provinces of Blue Nile and South Kordofan in remote southern Sudan are war zones.

They are also the scene of an impending health emergency: the government of neighbouring South Sudan confirmed last September the appearance of three cases of polio, a dreaded disease which leaves infected children paralysed.

Trying to vaccinate these children and their families is even more difficult as two years of fighting have driven more than a million people from their homes, according to the UN.

Most are now internally displaced. Some seek refuge inside the Nuba Mountains' caves and beneath their boulders. Over 190,000 people have crossed into newly-independent South Sudan, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

Sudan has been embroiled in several prolonged civil wars almost continuously since independence from the UK in 1956. These conflicts are rooted in the Muslim north's economic, political and social domination of the largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese.

Peace talks culminated in the sign ing of a North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 and led to a referendum and South Sudan's independence on July 9th 2011.

When the lines were drawn dividing the two countries, the people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states found themselves assigned to Sudan in the north.

As Khartoum attempted to exert its control over what had been rebel-held areas for many years, tensions escalated. Armed skirmishes broke out in early June 2011, a month before South Sudan's independence.

The old rebel movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of the late John Garang, was reformed and renamed. This time it was called the SPLM-North (SPLM-N). Led by Malik Agar, it is fighting in both Blue Nile and South Kordofan provinces, just north of South Sudan.

The Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey concludes that the rebels control large areas of these provinces. The SPLM-N with its 30,000 troops is allied with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), based in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Some 700-1,000 experienced JEM fighters are said to have been critical to rebel successes in recent battles.