Over the past year and a half, a humanitarian crisis has been building in the border areas between Sudan and South Sudan, where the government of Sudan has been struggling to suppress a rebellion, in part by targeting and terrorizing civilian groups. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting, and aid groups are reporting on the dangers of widespread famine because the government of Sudan has been blocking aid from reaching peoples in the Nuba Mountains.
The Museum asked Pete Muller, an experienced photojournalist who lived in South Sudan for three years and has traveled repeatedly to the border region, to share his photos and report on the crisis.
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The landscape of Sudan’s Blue Nile State as seen from the air. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
SPLA-N fighters outside their base near the town of Kurmuk, in Blue Nile State, Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A wounded SPLA-N rebel on the operating table of the only functioning hospital in the Kurmuk area. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Refugees from the Nuba Mountains on the move outside Yida, South Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A female refugee from South Kordofan walks through the Yida refugee camp at dawn. Owing to the oppressive heat, most refugees in Yida aim to accomplish more strenuous tasks during the early morning and evening hours. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Refugees from the Nuba Mountains arrive at a registration center in Yida refugee camp in northern Unity State, South Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
SPLA-N rebels collect munitions near the frontline in Blue Nile State. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
The vehicle of Lt. Col. Malak Agar, the leader of SPLA-N forces in Blue Nile State. The vehicle is camouflaged to shield it from northern air strikes. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A young SPLA-N rebel watches northern air strikes from the relative safety of a dry creek bed in Blue Nile State. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A homestead of Nuba refugees in the Yida refugee camp along the north/south border. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Newly arrived refugees from the Nuba Mountains in the Yida refugee camp. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nuba boys take refuge from the sun under one of the only structures in the Pariang refugee camp along the border between Sudan and South Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
SPLA-N rebels train in the morning in the town of Kurmuk, Sudan. As the locked shop doors attest, the civilian population of Kurmuk had fled across the borders of Ethiopia and South Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
An SPLA-N rebel sleeps with his weapons near the frontline in Blue Nile State. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nuba refugees bring their children for examination at a medical clinic in the Yida refugee camp. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Lt. Col. Malak Agar, the head of SPLA-N forces in Blue Nile State, poses for a portrait at his remote hideout. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nuba refugees sleep rough in the Yida refugee camp. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nuba refugees argue over access to water at an overcrowded pump in the Yida refugee camp. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Men carry an extremely sick girl to the only medical center in the Yida refugee camp in Unity State, South Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
SPLA-N rebels with weapons captured from northern Sudanese forces near the town of Kurmuk, Sudan. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A Nuban woman burns grass outside her newly constructed home in the Yida refugee camp. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
An SPLA-N rebel stands night watch along the frontline in Blue Nile State. —Pete Muller for US Holocaust Memorial Museum
