Sudanese Government Complicity Suspected in the Slaying of a Massaleit Chief and his Wife (12/7/1999)

At 7.30 P.M. on the 28 th of October 1999, three men armed with automatic weapons attacked the Geneina home of Omda (Chief) Ibrahim Yacob, a paramount chief of the Massaleit people, leaving him and his wife, Azza Ahmad Deifa Tagedin, dead. The attackers drove away in a land rover and to date no one has been charged with this heinous crime. This attack occurred in a seemingly secure part of Geneina. The omda's home is located a short distance from the headquarters of the security forces and the police and it is also close to the regional assembly. That the attackers were not deterred or obstructed by the strong security presence in this particular location, driving there in the early hours of the evening, opening fire and making it away safely, begs serious questions about the role of the Sudanese security forces in the attack. It is hard to believe that the government was not involved in one way or another.

Considering the stance of the Sudanese government towards the bona fide leadership of the Massaleit, the murder of the Omda was not totally unexpected. The government and its allied Arab militias have long sought to eliminate the genuine leadership of the Massaleit community and substitute a pliant one. It was this logic that led to the death of Omda Yacob. The Omda was a prominent person, highly respected by his own people, and with a reputation surpassing that of the government-approved Massaleit sultan. His home in the town was a place of rest for Massaleit who came to Geneina to take care of administrative and other issues. The Massaleit trusted him with their problems and asked him to be advocate for their causes. In the June peace conference with the Arab tribes he was one of the only genuine representatives of the Massaleit community and performed his role well, even challenging the positions of the government.

Omda Yacob opposed the Massaleit representatives to the conference chosen by the government, arguing that each group should choose its own representatives. The government held its ground and accused the Omda of working for the opposition. The Omda was detained and charged with disrupting the peace moves. However, after a few days he was freed following a massive outpouring of anger by the Massaleit in order to avoid a total collapse of the peace conference. Initially the conference was scheduled for May but was deferred until June due to the confusion caused by the arrest.

Although the Omda walked free at that time, his life remained in grave danger from the Arab militia and government security forces. In fact the danger was so real that the relatives and friends of the Omda in the police used to spend their free nights at the Omda's home, providing security. This went on for a long time and was only ended when tensions seemed to have subsided.

The slaying of the Omda casts more doubts on the Sudanese government's sincerity in restoring peace to Dar Massaleit and on its commitment to a peaceful return of refugees. There can never be any reconciliation if the real representatives of the aggrieved groups are intimidated, persecuted and, as in this case, murdered. On the contrary this is a recipe for sustaining the hostilities. Moreover, it would be foolhardy to expect the refugees in Chad to repatriate in such a situation.