[MUSIC PLAYING] ARIS ROUSSINOS: In July, 2011,
South Sudan declared independence from Sudan. After decades of conflict, and
the deaths of nearly three million people, it looked liked
the East African country was finally at peace. But the new state of South Sudan
left its former allies in Blue Nile abandoned on the
wrong side of the border. The local Blue Nile division
of the South Sudanese Army, the SPLA, now found themselves
fighting the war on their own as a tiny outnumbered
rebel group. And they chose a name for
themselves, the SPLA North. Within weeks, the Sudanese
government moved to crush the Blue Nile rebels. A five-year truce was suddenly
broken, and Sudan was plunged back into war. Hundreds of thousands of
civilians had fled to refugee camps across the border. But no one seems to care. This is the world's
least-reported war, because no journalists have ever spent
time on the front line. And no one knows
what's actually happening inside Blue Nile. So I went to hang out with the
rebels for a month to find out what was really going on. They all seemed like nice guys,
but I wasn't sure they really knew what they
were doing. [MUSIC PLAYING] MOHAMMED YOUNES BUBAKIR: Me, I
am Brigadier General Mohammed Younes Bubakir-- Blue Nile, Blue Nile state. Now you are in Blue
Nile, welcome. And then, we go to
the front line. ARIS ROUSSINOS: You
captured this? MOHAMMED YOUNES BUBAKIR:
Yes, we captured these from the enemy. -From SAF. MOHAMMED YOUNES BUBAKIR:
Ah, yeah-- this one. Then, we captured many tanks
from the enemy since 1997. This is the beginning of the
war here in Blue Nile. ARIS ROUSSINOS: Since South
Sudan stopped supplying the rebels, their only source of
heavy weapons was whatever they could capture from the
enemy, whatever rusty and broken equipment they were
able to repair and keep moving, like a lethal version
of "Scrapheap Challenge." [MUSIC PLAYING] FARJALLAH HAMID: They
don't want the democratic system in Sudan. They want to rule us with what
they have in their minds, so the system of Shariah
law, which cannot take all of us together. Because here, we have
some of us. They don't have even religion. How can you do them? Yeah, you cannot chase
them away from Sudan. So we can't live together. So that is our problem. So we will fight. Even if only one man can
remain, he will fight-- no problem. And we have-- our generation
will come with the same system of our right, no problem. ARIS ROUSSINOS: Why are you
fighting against Bashir? FARJALLAH HAMID: We are fighting
for our freedoms. We want our freedoms. We want our motherlands. We want Sudan to become one
national democracy for the people of Sudan-- all-- to become united to
work together. Yeah, we want to rule the Sudans
as the Negro people, as the human being. And we have to do that to
get our freedom for our motherland. And we'll defend our land. We can move anywhere. We will be around him. Everything-- we will destroy all
his materials. ARIS ROUSSINOS: What will
happen if you catch him? FARJALLAH HAMID: As he
shot our civilians, we will shoot him. We will shoot him. ABDULLAH ALI: The more
importance-- to have a very good plan
for our forces. How to attack the enemy and
to save our soldiers-- safe sides. I made a very, very,
good plan-- how to attack. Because we have our visions, and
we've been suffering a lot in the bush. As you see now, we are
not in the towns. And we are asking God to support
us so that we can manage to get our refugees
or take our IDPs. Let our people go back home. This is our plan, and all
our soldiers know that. MOHAMMED YOUNES BUBAKIR: We'll
fight with him with the Kalashnikov. This is the rifle we have. We don't have any weapons. We'll fight with him with
the Kalashnikov. And we will capture from him. ARIS ROUSSINOS: In fighting
this war, logistic difficulties-- bad roads, lack of fuel-- is that a major problem,
a big problem? ABDULLAH ALI: Yes, the
main problem is the logistics, as I mentioned. That is especially food and
the fuel, and then some ammunition. And then additionally, the
rain's too heavy these days. The people cannot move. They're moving and encountering
some difficulties on the main road and
getting stuck. That is a problem. ARIS ROUSSINOS: What's
the problem here? SOLOMON DAMDAM: There's a
problem with the water. We are afraid here, because
the car will get stuck. This is what we are afraid-- to cross there. Because we are there. We are not being here, we are
just being across there. To move it from here, we'll
pass by the foot. And then we will cross, and
we're almost there. [MUSIC PLAYING] ARIS ROUSSINOS: The more time
I spent with the rebels, the more chilled out their
war seemed. Because of rainy season, neither
side could launch a decisive attack on the other. Instead, the rebels seemed to
spend all their time playing cards and dominoes. But even in rainy season, the
Sudanese government had one means of keeping
the war alive. Whatever the weather, they were
able to bomb us whenever they wanted. This is us being bombed before
we even had breakfast. We were lucky. The bombs missed
us and exploded harmlessly in the bush. Now that it was over, the air
raid seemed like the funniest thing in the world. [MUSIC PLAYING] ARIS ROUSSINOS: The
lull in fighting seemed to go on forever. The war took a back
seat as the rebels sheltered from the rain. Once, I taught them how to
play noughts and crosses. I didn't do anything
else for days. -You try to beat him. ARIS ROUSSINOS: I am trying. I'm trying my very best. That's the sad thing. -You are trying, but
it will not happen. ARIS ROUSSINOS: Yeah,
you can stop now. Thank you very much. It was like a really laid-back
camping holiday. While some people worked, others
improved their English or just made friends with
the local wildlife. Finally, it was time
for the big push. Overnight, the rebels launched
a surprise attack on government positions. After a month of waiting for
some action, the rebels had finally attacked, but
they wouldn't even let us film the fighting. Instead, they brought us to the
village a couple of hours after they had captured it
from the government. So can you tell us about the
fighting this morning? SOLOMON DAMDAM: So this fighting
this morning, it started in Deir Mansour. And now, the SPLA are chasing
outside their forces. And still, we don't get
the accurate report-- how many tanks they have
captured and how many guns they have captured there. And we have information
that there's the one-- something like one or
two tanks they have withdrawn on this side. And now, we're sending
one platoon to check. If they are getting there,
we'll continue fighting these tanks. [CHEERING] -[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUE] [CHANTING] ARIS ROUSSINOS: Are your
men confident? SOLOMON DAMDAM: Confident? ARIS ROUSSINOS: [INAUDIBLE]. SOLOMON DAMDAM: Yeah, yes. [SINGING] ARIS ROUSSINOS: This was the
rebels' first victory in a year of fighting. And for them, it was
time to party. But the war's not over yet. The Sudanese government has
promised a counterattack soon. Now both sides are waiting for
the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the
fighting season. [CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
