Jack PICONE

The Nuba mountains and their valleys and wide fertile lowlands cover an area about the size of Australia. The people of the Nuba are skilful farmers growing crops on terraces on the hillsides and, in more peaceful times, working the fields down in the plains Jack PICONE Man-to-man wrestling bouts have been a part of Nuba tribal traditions for many years. Now these and other testing physical contests calling on the speed, strength and courage of participants have been banned as part of the Sudanese government’s determination to destroy Nuba culture Jack PICONE Despite the on-going civil war and the decimation of their ranks by the Sudanese government’s cleansing the mountains policy, the men of the Nuba tribes still secretly celebrate the harvest with traditional stick fights Jack PICONE The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army is a movement of the black African people from the southern areas of Sudan who are opposed to the Islamic Arabs of the north. The SPLA has had a force in the Nuba Mountains since 1987 Jack PICONE Young Nuba women, their faces hidden behind their traditional bead headwear, dance in honour of the victor in a prohibited stick-fighting contest Jack PICONE In the Sudan the Nuba people are fighting for their existence. As Khartoum’s military government imposes Islamic law on the south it is doubtful that today’s Nuba children will ever enjoy the same unique cultural identity and independence as their forebears Jack PICONE Preparing for a dance, a young Nube maiden dresses herself in the now outlawed traditional tribal manner Jack PICONE