Genocide by Attrition

The Nuba Mountains of Sudan

Samuel Totten

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351517805
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This volume documents the Sudanese government's campaign of genocidal attacks and forced starvation against the people of the Nuba Mountains in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Genocide by Attrition provides powerful insights and analysis of the phenomenon and bears witness to ongoing atrocities.

This second edition features more interviews, a new introduction, and a revised and more detailed historical overview. Among the themes that link most of the interviews are: the political and economic disenfranchisement of the Nuba people by the government of Sudan; the destruction of villages and farms and the murder and deaths of the Nuba people; the forced relocation into so-called "peace camps" and the impact of forced starvation. The book also documents the frustration of the Nuba people at being left out of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between the South and the North in 2005, President Omar al Bashir's threats against the Nuba people, and the crisis in the Nuba Mountains since June 2011.

Genocide by Attrition provides a solid sense of the antecedents to the genocidal actions in the Nuba Mountains. It introduces the main actors, describes how the Nuba were forced into starvation by their government, and tells how those who managed to survive did so. Samuel Totten provides a valuable resource to study the imposition of starvation as a tool of genocide.

Interviews

July 10, 2010

The interviewee is an older man in his late fifties to mid-sixties. His face is worn. He wears a jalabiya smeared with dirt and a small, round, white skull cap.

The interview is conducted in a rocky field of dry grass directly behind the small, rather inactive, suq in Kujur, a small village high atop a mountain ridge. The interviewee, interpreter, and I sit on the ground under a tree that provides sparse shade. Dusty paths criss-cross the field. Some lead to the suq and others to a small group of tukuls in the distance. Periodically, a person passes by on one of the paths, greets us, and continues on his or her way.

Name: Abel Anour Umandra

Date of birth: Not sure. About fifty-nine years old.

Village/Town born in: Kujur, Shabiya, Nuba Mountains

Current place of residence: Kujur

Tribe: Otoro

Education: None

Religion: Christian

Profession: Farmer

Marital status: Married, six children, one died

Interviewer: Samuel Totten

Interpreter: Ramadan Tarjan

Language of interview: Otoro

In 1988, Arabs came from the north and settled here in the Nuba Mountains. The president, [Jaffar] Nimeiri, sent the Arabs here. They were sent here to control the Nuba.

I was not happy to see the Arabs because [later] in 1989 they took the land I farmed. I was forced to move from land that was good to land that was rocky and very difficult to cultivate.

The Arabs also took all of my cows and goats, and so I was left with nothing. No land, no animals. Nothing! And I had to move up the mountain.

[All the] Nuba experienced this injustice. All people: the Otoro, the Tira, and others. There was no one to report the thefts to because the Arabs were the authorities in the area, and they were also the ones stealing.

When I arrived up the mountain, I began to domesticate cows and goats, but the Arabs who lived nearby stole them. They were not soldiers, but they carried guns—machine guns with three legs that they carried on camels. They, the Arabs, used to kill people. My uncle, Yusif Darmla, was killed during one of the attacks on cattle—that was in 1992.

During this time when the Arabs were terrorizing us, some of my relatives traveled to southern Sudan to acquire weapons so they could [upon their return] defend their animals. One was Yusif Darmla—the one who was later killed. Up to this time there were few weapons in the Nuba Mountains. [Interviewer’s note: Since at least 2005, when the Nuba were cut out of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, I was told back in January 2011, every single household contained a firearm. “Look in any tukul,” I was told, “and you will find a firearm.” The widespread ownership of weapons was a precautionary measure in case the GoS attacked the Nuba.]

Throughout this time, there was continuous raid[ing] of animals by the Arabs and killings of civilians by the Arabs. I am not educated so I cannot tell you the dates [except for the year] that the incidents took place on, or about all of the incidents, as I do not remember.

After the animals were taken the first time and then a second time, there was a loss of hope. We felt that we could not keep any other animals in our homes. Animals were our means of livelihood that we depended on, and when they were taken away there was anger in the community. So, when we heard about places elsewhere where we could work, we left our homes, but on the way there were Arabs. As some of us went in search of food and jobs in 1994, we were attacked and the brother to my wife was killed.

It was around one o’clock in the afternoon, and the Arabs, about fifty, came on camels. They were all armed with big weapons, RPGs. They began shooting at us and we all dropped our goods and began running. The brother to my wife was shot in the ribs and staggered home, but he died from his wounds, his injuries, the next day.

We could not even report such attacks because by this time there were no links [communication or friendship] between the authorities [who were Arab] and us. If you went to report anything you were just shot dead. [Interviewer’s note: This sounds very much like an exaggeration. That said, in many cases, those who reported such incidents were ignored or led on a wild goose chase. In certain cases, they were harassed and even threatened, as the police empathized with their fellow Arabs.]

At that time there was a lot of killing but mostly in the farming areas, in the valley. If you were caught by the Arabs down there you could be, were, killed.

This continued for years, through 1998. Just repeated itself. Then, in 1998, the Arabs surrounded the Nuba’s land. Many Nuba people fled and many came up here [in the mountains]. But up here there was not enough land, food, or water. It was too crowded. The animals began dying because there was no grass [due to overgrazing].

Eventually, those who fled up here returned to their homes [villages] because there was not enough food or water, but when they returned they found their tukuls had been burned down.

The worst thing in the [early to mid-]1990s is that there was no food for us. No clothes to cover ourselves, none at all. The Arabs did not allow us to access anything we needed. They chased us from our farms. They did not allow us to go the suq [marketplace] for clothes or cooking oil. They prevented us from getting water. Also, there were no schools for children. The government had been running and supplying the schools, but when the conflict began, the government shut down all of the schools.

To eat, we had to eat ambgi, a root of a small type of grass. It is poisonous and there is a risk eating it. We were left with nothing!

We put it [the ambgi] on fire three times to get some of the poison out. You put it in water and boil it a long time and then throw out the water and you do that three times. Then we removed it, dried it, and then ground it. Then we added it to the little sorghum we had.

We also ate another type of grass, ngoru. It has a big root. This one we boiled once. This you eat, the root.

We ate this way for two years. Those who were somehow weak died from this [eating in this way]. Most who died were elderly. Parents often did not eat, or ate less, in order to provide enough food for their children. During this time women even quit giving birth.

As I said, there was much fighting in the Nuba Mountains, but I only witnessed one battle with my eyes. It was in 1998 in Kauda. The Arabs attacked and burned down all of the tukuls and compounds. They killed many people; the number I do not know. They came in vehicles, lorries, open in the back where there were men and weapons, ten-wheeled vehicles. They were in uniforms, khaki, and they were carrying guns. They were sent by the head of [the] government, Omar al Bashir. He was the one who gave the orders. The attack went on for three days.

All of the tukuls with grass roofing were burned and destroyed. The tukuls with iron roofing were dismantled and stolen. There was nothing left [in Kauda].

Life is somewhat better now, but there are matters still not solved. There are still no hospitals and no [secondary level] schools for children [in many areas], and there is no water here during the dry season.

What I fear now is if southern Sudan gains its independence, the Nuba will be left hanging. There is a danger with the north because we fought against them, and if they attack us again, they will finish us.

July 10, 2010

The interviewee is a young-looking man in a t-shirt, a pair of worn slacks, and scuffed-up dress shoes. As the interpreter, Ramadan Tarjan, explains the purpose of the interview to the interviewee in Otoro, the interviewee mentions that he knows English. “Great,” I say, “then we shall proceed in English.”

The interview is conducted in a rocky field of dry grass directly behind the small suq in Kujur. The interviewee, interpreter and I look for shade from the blazing sun and choose to sit on the ground beneath a large tree.

About fifteen minutes into the interview, a young man approaches and asks Ramadan his full name. When Ramadan gives it to him, the fellow says, “I believe your father is in the next village over.” Ramadan, who has not seen his family in ten years, or since he left the Nuba Mountains and made his way to northern Kenya to obtain a better education, is, understandably, excited. I tell him, “Go on, go see your father, and return to your village if you wish, and I will meet you back in Kauda.”

“No, we are working,” says Ramadan, “and I will see my father and family later.”

I insist that he at least go greet his father, and finally Ramadan agrees to do so. After a warm and tearful reunion, Ramadan informs his father that he is working but will return to their village in two-weeks’ time for a reunion with the entire family.

By sheer coincidence, the interviewee’s name, like the interpreter’s, is Ramadan, and they are both Christian.

Name: Ramadan Awad

Date of birth: September 7, 1981

Village/Town born in: Kujur, Shabiya, Nuba Mountains

Current place of residence: Kujur

Tribe: Otoro

Education: Grade Twelve

Religion: Christian

Profession: Teacher

Marital status: Wife, three children

Interviewer: Samuel Totten

Interpreter: Not needed

Language of interview: English

In 1987, my father was taking care of the men, Nuba men, who went to the south to get weapons and [had] returned here to fight the Arabs, to fight against the discrimination and injustice we, the Nuba people, were facing. He was hiding them in a big tukul and feeding them with his own food. Someone reported his activity to the Arab troops [the soldiers of the Government of Sudan (GoS)]. They [the person or persons] told them [the GoS troops] that the sheik of Kujur, who was my father, was taking care of the SPLA soldiers. The Arabs sent a troop of soldiers here and they caught my father over there [pointing to where the hideout, a large tukul, used to be]. When they caught him, they took him to their barracks and he was put in prison for some hours. They interrogated him, attempting to see if the accusations were true. He refused to tell the truth, and claimed that the rumor and accusation were lies.

They told him, “If they’re not, then we want you to keep your eyes open to see who is hiding the soldiers [the rebels]. We want you to invite him to your home and have your wife cook him a nice meal and you then run and inform us.”

When he returned home he came up with a new plan—he left for southern Sudan immediately. He told my mother his plan, but we, the children, were not informed because we were too young.

He walked for three months before he reached Terfum. He went to join the armed forces, the SPLA. He remained there for one year, for his training. He was shot dead in 1989 in southern Sudan. From that time to this our family has experienced real suffering.

Because it was wartime there was no one to take care of us, our family. It was only God who kept us alive.

By this time, all of the farms in the area had been destroyed, and so we were just eating the leaves of the trees. We also ate the leaves [blades] of grasses. We gathered as much as we could, mixed it with a little sorghum, and boiled it.

In the 1990s, the drought began. A very serious drought, and many people died at that time. So this even caused more pain because the grasses and leaves on the trees were few. This resulted in our soldiers [Nuba men who returned from south Sudan as members of the rebel force, SPLA] not having enough food and strength, [and, as a result,] the Arabs took control of the most important parts, sections, of the area.

When 1993 came, which was still the time of the drought, most of the people had lost hope of winning the war, and [because of that] many people went back to the Arabs. They saw people, Nuba being killed every day, had no hope for food, and so they joined the Arab military.

In 1994, the SPLA came into the Nuba Mountains and forced many young Nuba men, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years [old], to join their forces. After recruiting them, they [the SPLA] announced they [the new recruits] were going to fight the Arabs. But in 1997, the Arabs came in with serious weapons and caused serious problems to the area with such arms and they managed to chase away the SPLA.

The Arabs also controlled the movement of the [local] people. At this time, many Nuba were being killed. As people, the Nuba, searched for food, water, and a safer place to live, a place to grow food, they continued to be killed by the Arabs. At this time, they, the Arabs, were raping the young ladies, girls, and even the older ladies, they were raping them too.

Not having enough weapons to fight [with], the SPLA began meeting with the people on the mountains. They told us that they were losing because they did not have enough soldiers and wanted more Nuba people to join them. They also told us not to give up. They managed to get quite a few young men to join them.

The SPLA also turned to the people, the civilians, and made them go to southern Sudan to bring [large and extremely heavy boxes of] bullets [back to the Nuba Mountains] on their heads because they, the SPLA, did not have the trucks to bring [transport the] ammunition. So a lot of men went and carried the heavy weight of the bullets on their heads. It took many days to foot it from the south to the Nuba [Mountains] and many were killed along the way.

They [the SPLA] also said that the mightiest weapon was the pen, so people needed to get educated and the people needed to build their own schools. So people began to build schools. The SPLA also encouraged families with more than one son to split them up so they could take on different roles. So, if a family had four sons, they would encourage one to join the fighting, one to go to school, one to take care of the family, and one to go to the south to bring bullets. And that is what I did. I joined the army [the SPLA] to help my people and because my father died fighting.

First, though, in 1996 I was sent to the local school, built by the community, to learn English. The school had no books, and we wrote everything on the floor, on the ground. I studied only one year because as I watched the continuance of the war I decided to join the army. I was sixteen. I saw many of my people were dying. I felt very bad that so many were being killed and were dying. Every morning you would wake up and see people dead and you wanted to stop that, so I figured I could sacrifice myself to try to stop the killing.

There were many of my age. Some even younger than me. That was in 1997. I was trained here in the Nuba Mountains. Since there was no [so little] time, since so many people were being killed, we only trained for four months. The SPLA trained us. They trained us how to use the weapons, how to fight, and how to defend our area.

I fought here [in his home village and the surrounding area]. People, Nuba, die...