Arab Militias Widen Racist Attacks on the Massaleit, the Zaghawah, and Other African Peoples in Western Sudan (9/11/2000)

There has been no let up in the attacks on the Massaleit people of western Sudan by Arab militias supported by the Sudanese government and the Massaleit are bracing for a second year of enormous suffering. Since July 2000, the victims of the Arab militia atrocities have multiplied to include the Zaghawa, Fur and Dagu. Some of these groups have suffered the same kind of violence in the past.

The recent round of massacres was carried out by militias drawn from several Arab groups including the Um Jallul, Al Ereghat and the Rezeigat. Numerous places settled by African groups were engulfed in the violence. In August, Kulbus, located north of Geneina, was attacked by the militias, who killed nineteen people from the Zaghawah and Massaleit ethnic groups. Also Kebkabiya, situated east of Geneina, was devastated by the militias, who slaughtered sixteen Fur and Massaleit civilians.

Then the wave of massacres shifted westwards to the villages of Golo, Taringga and Butke where five Fur cultivators were shot dead in their fields. The bodies of the dead were found tied together and the heads bore several bullet wounds. The spent cartridges of the ammunition used in the massacre were deposited in the shoes of the dead cultivators. Obviously, the gruesome killings were intended to scare peasants from cultivating their fields so as to miss the planting season and, consequently, suffer hunger in the following year. This is reminiscent of the attack that initiated the conflict between the Massaleit and Arab groups in the beginning of 1999. Then, members of an Arab group killed Massaleit peasants who tried to chase away animals grazing their crop. The resultant violence and mayhem caused the deaths and flight of thousands of Massaleit to others places within or outside the country.

After slaying the Fur peasants, the Arab militias proceeded towards the twice-weekly market at Golo. On the way, they killed one Fur and three Massaleit traders from the village of Taringga riding their horses to the same market. This attack was but one in a spate of ambushes directed at traders from African groups in the region. The worst attack of this kind occurred in May of this year when eight Fur, Massaleit, and Dagu cattle merchants were separated from other passengers on an ambushed lorry and slain. The deceased had sold cattle in Seraf Omra, a popular cattle market, and were returning to Zaleingi. The money possessed by these deceased traders, reportedly in excess of 90 million Sudanese pounds, was stolen. The Arab merchants traveling in the same vehicle escaped unscathed. Often and lamely, the government blamed such attacks on banditry. However, the choice of victims by the killers betrays the calculated and racist nature of the killings.

The wave of killings affected Wade Saleh, a scene of fierce confrontation in the past, where eleven people from the Massaleit, the Zaghawah and the Fur ethnic groups died.

Some of the Arab killers hail from the ethnic group of Ali Safah Nur, an air force officer and the governor of northern Darfur. Thus, they are guaranteed protection in the region and can pursue their devastating campaign with impunity. Moreover, on the ground government officials and soldiers offer additional protection and support. Besides, the government-controlled media in Khartoum adds another layer of cover for the human rights abuses. Recently, the media reported only a fight in western Sudan between the Zaghawah and the Arab Gimr peoples in which only nine people died. This was a distortion of the facts. There is no group in western Sudan called the Arab Gimr. The only ethnic group close in name to the reported group is the Gimr, which is an African group, like the Fur, Zaghawah, and Massaleit. More significantly the casualties were much higher and almost entirely from the non-Arab groups.

The only way to effect change in Western Sudan is the establishment of an international presence on the ground in the form of international NGOs and human rights monitors. This will ensure that the truth is told and the government behavior and its support for the militias are held in the spot light until change is achieved.