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By Peter Martell
BBC News, Nuba Mountains, Sudan
"Welcome to the liberated areas," the official said proudly, greeting those
climbing out the small aeroplane that had just bounced down on the sandy
airstrip in central Sudan.
If one still remained unsure as to who controls the green hills at the
geographical heart of Africa's largest nation, the arrival form spells it out.
The crest of the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)
heads the form.
"Welcome to the Nuba Mountains," the official added with a smile.
The scattered settlements of green farms and thatch huts were a key base for
the SPLA guerrillas in their fight against the Arab-dominated and Muslim north
- a two-decades long conflict fought over religion, resources and ethnicity.
Wary of the future
Some two million people died and four million fled their homes, before a peace
deal was signed in 2005.
The SPLM won regional autonomy for the largely Christian and black African
south, with a referendum on its potential full independence slated for January
2011.
But that leaves out the Nuba.
The former southern rebel enclave lies surrounded by the north - and that makes
many wary of the future.
"We are not part of the referendum that the south will hold," said Kamal
al-Nur, a former rebel colonel, and now commissioner of the SPLM-controlled
Heiban county.
"Instead, the Nuba Mountains will hold popular consultations to decide our
future."
The 'next Darfur'?
However, analysts warn the "popular consultations" - which will also be held in
the similarly contested Blue Nile state - are poorly defined and offer little
realistic chance of settlement for the regions.
They include no set steps for either autonomy or to join the south - something
many ordinary people assume will take place.
The volatile region is already awash with automatic weapons, and fears are
growing the region requires little to tip back into conflict.
"If the south does achieve independence, it will leave these two states in a
very difficult position indeed, and it could easily trigger fresh violence,"
warned John Ashworth, writing in a September report for the advocacy group Pax
Christi.
It is a concern shared by many of the Nuba peoples - some 50 mainly black
African ethnic groups - who share much in common with those in the south.
"We worry about the future, because we feel we could stand alone," said former
rebel soldier Abdulaziz Kuwa, who grows groundnuts and sorghum on small
hillside farm.
"I support the SPLM, but I fear the north will not let our farmland go without
a fight."
The mountains, stretching for some 48,000 square kilometres (19,000 square
miles), rise out of the wider South Kordofan state - a region with rich oil
reserves.
Few believe the government in Khartoum would easily surrender such wealth to
their former civil war enemies in the south.
A report last year from the International Crisis Group dubbed South Kordofan
the "next Darfur", because of the potential for violence between the rival
different Arab and African groups.
All together
Memories of the war remain bitter, with old enmities exacerbated by pressure on
grazing land.
Nevertheless, many people here appear loyal to the rebellion's original aim:
equality within a united Sudan.
"We have three religions in the Nuba - Islam, Christianity and traditional
beliefs - and we all live together without problem," said Jabir Hamid, drinking
home-made sorghum beer in the market.
"The north would make us have [Islamic] Sharia law, and we would not allow that
- that is what we fought to end."
The Nuba even take Wednesday as their weekend: a day chosen so as not to favour
the holy day of any religion.
Critical time
But the south appears determined on secession: southern president Salva Kiir
said in October that voting for unity would make southerners "second class"
citizens.
With Sudan's first presidential, legislative and parliamentary elections for 24
years due in April, tensions are running high between north and south.
Cynics predict electoral failure, but the Nuba say the ballot could be one of
the last chances to decide their future in peace.
"If we can't elect the people who represent our views in these elections, then
our voice will not be heard in the popular consultations," said Younan Bashir
Kuku, an SPLM member at a training course in preparation for the elections.
It is a critical time for all Sudan.
"The Nuba people fear the breakaway of the south because they will be left as
an isolated minority in the north - and will also be on the frontline of any
future north-south conflict," said Peter Moszynski, a Sudan analyst who began
working in the Nuba in 1981.
"Unless they are offered some form of special status in northern Sudan many
could return to the armed struggle, as they insist that they will fight for
their right to be Nuba, and not be further assimilated into an Arab Sudanese
state," he added.
Reports that civil war era militias are regrouping are confirmed by the
commissioner.
"The militias have many guns and they are becoming active, " said Mr al-Nur.
"Security is our main concern, especially with the elections coming."
The future of the region may not be clear but one thing seems certain - for the
Nuba Mountains, there are tough times ahead.