FROM THE FIELD
Charity report In southern Sudan's most violent year since the 2005 peace agreement - now reaching it's most critical phase - Alun McDonald finds progress to be frustratingly slow. In a forest clearing in southern Sudan, John Ajeng shifts his tattered cowboy hat to one side, lights a pipe and recalls the bad times. As one of the village elders, Mr Ajeng has lived through more years of war than peace. He remembers when they literally had nothing. "Nobody even had shoes to wear during Anya Nya 1 [as the first war in southern Sudan, from 1956-1972, is known]. There were no boreholes - for water we had to search in the swamp. There was very little farming or cultivation. By April most years, we ran out of crops and struggled to find food. No NGOs could get to us - it was too dangerous to travel along any of the roads. "By the time of Anya Nya 2 (Sudan's second civil war, from 1983-2005) life was very, very difficult. But some people at least managed to go to school and be educated.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
