14 - Red Sea
 "Terror and fear"

The Beja, the originally nomadic people of the Red Sea Hills, have become part of the Sudanese armed opposition in the National Democratic Alliance.

A government campaign of "terror and fear" was being conducted against the Beja ethnic group in Port Sudan, Tokar and Sinkat, the Cairo branch of the Beja Congress reported in mid-1994. Six people were arrested and hundreds of young people were said to have fled the area fearing government reprisals. The distinct culture of the Beja is regarded by the NIF government as antithetical to its "Islamisation" programme, according to the Sudan Human Rights Organisation.

The Beja have been badly affected by famine, malnutrition and tuberculosis, resulting from extreme poverty and deprivation. Infant mortality is high, while basic social services, education and primary health care are virtually non-existent. (SHRO August 1994)

The pipeline route across the Red Sea hills from the Nile - around Atbara, north of Khartoum - to Port Sudan, crosses territory in which both the Beja Congress and Sudan Alliance Forces are active .

15 - Blue Nile