Bashir declares two-week truce in South Kordofan

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday declared a two-week ceasefire in South Kordofan state which has been rocked since June by violent clashes between the Sudanese army and Nuba rebels. "I declare a unilateral two-week ceasefire," Bashir said in a speech broadcast on state radio during his visit to Kadugli, the capital of the state of South Kordofan. After the two-week truce "we will assess the developments on the ground as well as the reaction of the other party," he said. South Kordofan remained under Khartoum's northern administration when South Sudan became independent last month, but violent clashes have been pitting Nuba rebels once allied to southern rebels against the Sudanese army. It is located on the border between Sudan and the new state of South Sudan. A report prepared jointly by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the world body's mission in Sudan details "extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal detention, enforced disappearances and attacks against civilians" allegedly committed in the troubled South Kordofan state. The report released last week covers the period between June 5 and 30. "If substantiated (the allegations) could amount to crimes against humanity, or war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be sought," the report said of the incidents. Sudan dismissed the report as being "biased."