Three Years among the rebels of Darfur
By Giorgio Trombatore
In 2004 , following the Darfur crises, I joined an italian Ngo in order to be part of the humanitarian efforts to alleviate the problems of the Darfur population bringing help and assistance to IDPs (internally displaced people), to SLA population (Sudan Liberation Army) and as well arabs tribes located in the Jebel Marra Mountain.
After my first employment with the Italian Ngo, I was contracted by the Italian Government of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist the Italian Special Envoy Barbara Contini in the country in order to assist the population and install contacts with the guerrillas movement spread in the country.
On January 2005 I experienced exstensive travelling throughout the three Darfur Region (South, North and West), I have been able to meet all the guerrillas fighters of SLA in Jebel Marra, and as well the JEM movement and Janjaweed militia.
Moreover my work as Political Coordinator of the Italian Special Envoy brought me into contacts with spiritual leaders of Tariqa Al Tijani, arabs Bedouins and as well smaller guerrillas units that live and proliferate in Darfur.
The above mentioned activities gave me the opportunity to experience the hardship living of the guerrillas in the internal drought areas of Darfur, and as well the suffering and killing of the Dinka Christian minorities ,and the difficult condition of the Fur tribes, most of whom relegated in the IDPs camps of the three states.
I will try to highlight my personal experience among the last three years of fighting dividing this report in chapters where I will deal each and every aspects of the guerrillas, the religious components and as well the local population.
SLA
The first time I met the SLA group was in 2004 in a small village called Fena, in the Jebel Marra mountain. At that time the Sudan Liberation Army, was only one group that was under the authority of the leader Abdel Wahid that directed all the operations from Kenya through Satellite coversations .
I never met the leader himself since he was directing everything from Kenya, but I managed to get in touch with all his troops, that lived in total disgrace and difficult living condition.
Life in Jebel Marra was very hard for the guerrilla and upon my knowledge not much has been changed in this last three years.
No health center, except for few mobile teams that from time to time managed to reach the guerrilla area through Hely transport; very little food for the difficulties of transporting this item in this area.
The villages all around Jebel Marra (Fena, Fuquli, Kidingir) where left in desperation cut out from the WFP food supplu due to the intensive attack of the Janjaweed militias . The guerrillas of the SLA were mostly all young soldiers, mainly from the Fur tribe. Their armament was poor so was their living condition.
A Fur soldier from Jebel Marra (Kidingir village)
The leaders were using sat-phone in order to communicate each other .
Some time I went to Jebel Marra accompanied by a doctor, and it was funny to see all these soldiers cuing up in order to get a fast medical check-up.
Many of them suffered from wounds not properly cured, infections and many dental problems.
The population was the one that was bearing the most the suffering. They lived on their agriculture but due to the Janjaweed attacks not much was left for them to crop.
On top of that the drought that hit the country severely .So the farmers were left pratically with nothing .
Among this misery, the young soldiers were a good sight, always smiling, smoking some tobaccos , moving around with their pick up (often stole from the government police), and all of them wearing their JUJU, (some kind of African symbolic protection).
Some soldiers had more than hundred JUJU believing that the little JUJU could spare his life against the bullet from the government.
The trip from Nyala to Kidingir was always very dangerous , and many time we came under close fire with the Janjaweed militia that tried to stop us from bringing help to the guerrillas.
The Janjaweed used to make ambush from the sandy road that linked Kidingir (formerly the entrance for the SLA control area) to Mershing (a governamental town).
The Janjaweed used to attack any trucks heading toward the SLA areas, including trucks from WFP, and as well the African Union troops.
Meanwhile during my presence with the SLA movement, it soon became clear that among the guerrillas there was dissatisfaction as well against some of their commaders.
Lately I found out that the Zagawa tribe mainly present in the area of Muhajiria and North Darfur where plotting in order to separate themselves.
Their Leader Minnie Mennawie , from the Zagawa tribe, was taking distance from the Fur tribe of Abdel Wahid and as well was complaining the fact that the leader of the movement was not in the country fighting with them.
Giorgio Trombatore and Minnie in a secret locality in North Darfur
Therefore I started to become anxious to meet this emerging leader that often his name was coming across during my missions in the guerrillas region.
And then I had my chance to establish a contact with him, when in March 2005 I started to follow up as well the SLA movement that was based in the area of Muhajiria.
From the very beginning I found out that this group was much more organized, the troops used to move with pick-up heavily armed and they had more sat-phone and as well their armament was much better.
Even the living condition of the villagers seemed better at first glance. Despite the presence of this group, I came across with another guerrilla movement that was sharing the authority within Muhajiria and As Senet (village), the JEM movement.
I will speak about the Jem movement in another chapter, but I want just to stress the fact that the JEM movement and SLA Zagawa somehow managed to cohabitate in this region united by the common goal of fighting against the Government troops.
Later on, following our engagement in supporting the Muhajiria local population, I made up my mind to arrange a meeting with Minnie Mennawie.
Obviously this was not an easy task, since these leaders they move a lot in Darfur from place to place, trying to select all visitors.
The fear of being found by the government is always very high among these leaders that is why the first meeting always comes along after a series of intermediate meeting with smaller commanders.
As I mentioned before when I was travelling to Jebel Marra , the Fur tribe of SLA were very worried about the Zagawa escalation, and on the other hand the Zagawa in Muhajiria seemed not to care much about the fate of their comrades in Jebel Marra.
Also my movement to and fro to these locations was not an easy task neither.
The Janjaweed were always ready to ambush any vehicle going toward the rebels, and myself got caught up on January 2005 during a trip to Jebel Marra (Kidingir village) .
After a day spent with the guerrilla on my way back to Nyala my pick-up came under attack of about 40 Janjaweeds in horses and camels that tried to kill us in order to stop the humanitarian assistance to the areas controlled by the SLA.
Luckily the Janjaweed missed their target, and on my way back to Nyala, I pass through a village that was just attacked by the arabs militia and recovered a young boy with three wounds.
The poor chap did almost two hours with three bullets on the chest, behind my pick-up ( on the back) in order to reach Nyala.
He managed after all, but I though one of those bullets could have been mine!.
God bless me!.
Going back to the arrangements of my first meeting with Minnie Mennawie, I had the opportunity since I was assisting the area of Muhajiria with water and sanitation projects ,specifically providing good and clean water to the population through bore-holes.
Not easy at all, because all the company refused to bring their rigger machine in the area controlled by the guerrillas for fear of loosing their equipment and for being killed or suspected as spies.
Frankly speaking they were right! In fact I had to manage an agreement with the local commanders in order to accept the water engineers to be based in their area. The problem was that the engineer was from an arab tribe , and this created a bigger problem.
Luckily I told them that if they wanted the water they had to accept the arab engineer, otherwise no arab but no water as well.
As I started to work longer in Muhajiria rather than Jebel Marra a meeting with the leader Minnie Mennawie was arrange in an disclosed area in North Darfur, near Hashaba village.
It took me an entire day to reach this location, going through numerous government check-points, and as well through several problems of accessibility.
The more I was heading north, the more the road was sandy and difficult.
The meeting was held in a small village North of Hashaba. Under a tree, and under the close look of more than 30 heavvy armed guerrillas , Minnie Mennawie told me about this civil war and about the sufferings of Fur and Zagawa tribes at the expenses of the arabs militia.
He showed me a very detailed map ,and conversed talking about the fighting, the use of the antonov from the government and most of all the Janjaweed atrocities in the area.
His soldiers were all around him, most of them with dreadlocks like Rasta people, (very common among the guerrillas movement).Minnie on that occasion mentioned also about the possibility of a big meeting of all the members of the Sudan Liberation Army, where a new leader would be elected.
Already in August 2005 the problem between the Zagawa and the Fur tribe inside the movement was very tense.
Meanwhile we were hiding with Minnie the Government was stopping our trucks from reaching our location fearing that our support was not only humanitarian but as well a military support.
That night Minnie killed a goat , and we ate nearby the fire .
He arranged as well a bottle of Whisky probably as a sign of gratitude for us that despite all the dangers of a meeting in a very difficult area with a “wanted guerrilla leader” still made it to be there.
I met this leader of SLA, in an important meeting that shaped the configuration of the guerrilla movement of Darfur.
In fact a couple of months later, Minnie Mennawie organized a meeting inviting all the SLA group present in the country. Representatives of the Sudan Liberation Army arrived also from London , Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Italy and a team sent by Gheddafi.
You can imagine that for a guerrilla movement to arrange a meeting in the middle of a civil war it is not an easy task.
The location for the meeting was held secret until 48 hours before it was declared open.
Abdel Wahid , the leader of the Sla was not present, and in this very meeting ,held in Haskaneza, not far from Muhajiria, the SLA movement proclaimed Minnie Mennawie new leader.
The organization was brilliant. There was a speaker, local tvs, securities and as well few international guests.
Minnie wanted that all the local and international community were present in his officialization for power.
And so it was.
It is on this date, that officially the groups slipt in two parties, one with Minnie Mennawie as a leader the other one with Abdel Uahid that all this time remained in Kenya .
As we all know months later, Minnie Mennawie signed on May 2006 the peace agreement in Abuja with the government, meanwhile Abdel Wahid faction refused to comply with the agreement.
Today the non signatories of Abuja are again fighting , this time against the government and against their former ally SLA Minnie Mennawie that is in Khartoum .
JEM, Justice and Equality Movement
The first time I came across this movement was in March 2005.
I was working in the area of As Senet nearby Muhajiria town.
AS explained above, the area of Muhajiria has been for long time under control of SLA Minnie Mennawie. The presence of Jem in this area was very limited, but as I understood very soon, their organization and as their commitment was very strong .
They shared the control of As Senet village, and were recognaizable by the fact that most of them used to cover their faces with a yellow drap, used to carry their flag on top of their pick-ups and seemed to me more organized that their colleagues from SLA.
It was during the kidnapping of the three Adra representatives along with their rigger machine that I got closer contacts with this rebel movement.
Adra , an American ngo ,contacted me because they acknowledged that I was working in the area where th kidnapping happened.
So one representative of Adra called me in order to try to find out where the people were held as hostage and as well to try to recover their equipment including a very expensive Rigger Machine for their bore-holes.
As I started my investigation, I thought that Adra guys were under control of SLA but soon I discovered that this idea was wrong.
In fact they came under an ambush of Jem, and at that time were held in a secret location.
I was a bit worried because my relation with the JEM guerrilla movement was not that strong as SLA, but I decided to try as well and to see whether there was any chance in succeeding.
After some local contacts, to tell the truth, it was thanks to an SLA commander that I found out the right way to approach the leadership that was hiding in the north of the country.
Therefore I flew north of El Fasher with an Helycopter , in order to meet some Jem Commanders and try to see and discuss for the release of the Adra workers.
The Jem leader welcomed me in a very isolated village, among the dunes of the north part of Sudan, where any village is similar to the other, and where living is almost impossible.
Everywhere desert, only desert.
The leader of JEM informed me that the workers of Adra were held hostage as possible spies from the government.
Before living for this locality I met with Adra representatives and they confirmed me that they were all technicians for the bore-holes.
So I explained to them that there was no spies, and that freeing them, it could have brought only respect and benefit to the movement.
The leaders seemed satisfied by the demands of our request to release them. With an incredible organization they gave orders and in a couple of days the captives were freed and as well the rigger recovered.
In that mission in north of Darfur, I met one of the Jem Leader, which I will call him Ibrahim (since he is still hiding away ).
Ibrahim was a remarkable figure, very great young guerrilla leader.
He was a gentle man, with an elevated cultural background, spoke about Darfur and about the enormous problems of this land, and it seemed to me a pity for this country that leaders of this charismatic talent were forced to hide in the sand of the sahara and to fight for their rights risking their life daily.
I met other leaders in this devastated land, but frankly speaking this man was exceptionally impressive for the charisma and as well for the strength of his ideas.
I regret that he is still in the bush, because as I said Sudan needs people like him, with a fervent idea and strong determination.
The Dinkas of Bilel, a silent drama
Darfur is not only the land of the Fur tribe (Darfur, dar= house of the Fur tribe), but as we have seen is also the land of many other muslims tribes that live in this part of the world.
But Sudan due to the war between the North and the South has witnessed the movement of many tribes, including the Dinkas a black tribe originally from the south.
The Dinkas are easy to be spotted, for their Nilotic figure, they are very tall, extremely slim, very black and most of the them wear the seven scars on their front-head as a mark that they receive when they are children.
But most of all the Dinkas like the Nuer tribe are Christian or animist.
In Darfur they were located in the past mainly in the area close of Ad Daien but nowadays a big community was camping in Bilel a village close to Calma one of the biggest IDP (Internally Displaced Camp) of 200.000 people.
It is in Bilel that I witnessed another silent drama of this war torn country.
A community of couple of hundreds Dinka made their huts in Bilel not far from Nyala, knowing that from this place they could get some support from the international agencies and as well the services of the nearby Sisters of Charity and as well the Comboni fathers.
A small organization of Italy in 2005 decided to fund the re-construction of a church and as well the construction of two schools.
I myself followed the works for the construction of the above mentioned projects and as well helped the priests to install the church.
On a Sunday morning of December 2005 ,for the opening day of the Church and the school, a big celebration was organized in the village.
The priest made a nice ceremony with songs and dancing, children were accompanied to see the new school and the participation was extended also to children of the muslim community.
Everything seemed perfect, a strong effort brought hope in this small village on the edge of one of the biggest IDP camp of Darfur (Kalma camp, about 200.000).
The masses went on for one month long, and as well the school were immediately open and all children were allowed to participate to the lessons, Christians and muslims , no distinction.
Bilel school. Dinka people on reconstruction
The dream did not last long, and in one early morning of February the church and the school have been attacked by arabs militia that vandalised the place , killed some people and tried to burn the church, after stealing from the interior.
I remember very well, the young Dinka that took care of the Church and the school. He was early thirties tall, strong, a black African man, everything from his body told the people that he was a southerner.
The villagers told me that on the day of the attack he defended the church and the community bravely, and one arab was killed.
Following the attack, fearing future retaliation all the Dinka community fled the area, living behind themselves the Church and a school that lasted their service only one month.
This is Darfur, a silent war , a war of miserable people with miserable means.
Today I came back in Bilel, and I met again the Dinka community .
They are rebuilding and restoring everything.
A surrounding wall is under costruction, so that next time they can face better, the attacks from the Janjaweed.
One day I admire these people, and another one I hate them.
They struggle against all odds, they lose their houses, wives killed and raped, but they hang on , and come back to the sight.
This is also their land.
