ABSTRACT
The assault on the Nuba Mountains of Sudan in 1992, at the height of Sudan’s civil war, represents the most clear-cut case of genocidal intent in modern Sudan. It is a little-known episode that unfolded with no international attention at the time, with the Nuba completely cut off from humanitarian assistance and the focus of only a tiny advocacy effort. Cut off from the world by retreating to the hilltops, Nuba communities faced the threat of social dismemberment and cultural annihilation, and survived by their own efforts. Only three years later did the first international assistance arrive and human rights advocacy begin. Although the Nuba Mountains were the location of the first cease-fire in Sudan’s war (in January 2002), the subsequent Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) left the Nuba in a precarious position as the country divided into Sudan and South Sudan on July 9, 2011. Similar considerations applied to the people of the Blue Nile, also on the northern side of the north–south boundary but in strong solidarity with the south. A widely expected war erupted in the Nuba Mountains in June 2011, and spread to Blue Nile in September.
