Darfur Violence: ‘No Escape’
Darfur Violence: ‘No Escape’ Mohamed Alkabeer Alkatbi | Senior Producer, Al Jazeera News Channel
Since its eruption in 2003, the armed rebellion against Omar Bashir’s rule in Sudan has been closely covered by Al Jazeera. As the three movements leading the rebellion set up fortified garrisons in Marrah Mountain, south of Darfur, and in other areas along the Chadian border and the human impact of the conflict grew across the province, I pitched to produce some stories from the field. After landing in Khartoum, I headed straight to the Al Jazeera bureau, where a crew had been assigned to accompany me on a month-long trip across the province’s three federal states. We ventured through rebel-held areas and military positions in Sudan’s roughest terrain. On many occasions, we were not only chased by armed rebels but by government forces. However, the government eventually endorsed our mission and allowed our crew to use the helicopters employed for evacuating the wounded. Al Jazeera was witness to the largest prisoner swap deal between Sudan and Chad. We were the first media ever to interview the leaders of the
three rebelling groups: Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM); Justice and Equity Movement (JEM); and the Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA). Our next stop was in the south of Darfur, where we were embedded with the Sudanese Army in the scorched Marrah Mount area. All of the warring sides are blaming the other. Along with a team of dedicated guards, we arrived at the rebels’ stronghold. At that point, our military escort was denied access. The Al Jazeera crew proceeded on their own into an area never trodden by a government official or even a civilian, apart from UN relief teams. Refugees and residents of the area were living in abject poverty and amid constant threats. The Sudanese Army was carrying out daily airstrikes. Civilians were victims of indiscriminate shelling, amounting to war crimes. We witnessed the damage suffered by villages and villagers as survivors took shelter in the neighbouring mountainous areas. At the outskirts of Al Fashir on our way to Kutum, we ran into a 14-year-old girl herding some sheep. As we started to film her, she began to cry, begging us not to ‘shoot’. We had to convince her it was camera, not a gun. We calmed her down and she left in peace.
The journey proved to us that confidence was totally absent between the non-Arab tribes and the Janjaweed, a militia group comprising Sudanese Arab tribes, the core of whom are from a Abbala (camel herder) background with significant recruitment from the Baggara (cattle herder) people. Similarly, the region’s Arabs do not trust all other non-Arab tribes, termed as “Tora Bora” which refers to the two Darfuri rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement.
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