War and Slavery in Sudan. Jok Madut Jok
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and told never to return to Dinkaland. Ali stayed in ed-Da’ein only to look for ways to sneak back to Bahr el-Ghazal. He eventually managed to travel to el-Fasher and got on a train that took him to el-Meiram. He then walked back to Nyamlel. His account, and information from SPLA local officials and other former slaves, explain the planning of a slave expedition as follows: “The Baggara usually form a slave-raid ‘committee.’ Each willing subtribal group brings its representative to participate in the committee. The representative mobilizes men and youth to join the raiding force. The committee determines the date of the raid. And the participants gather in a previously designated location that has water resources. The militia leaders, in collaboration with the umdas and sheikhs, would prepare food supplies for the raid. Then they would go to the hukuuma (the government) for weapons and ammunition. The government has to be informed about the departure of a raiding force to northern Bahr el-Ghazal so that reinforcements could be sent just in case the SPLA attacks them.”
This structured system is strong evidence that the government has made slavery an important institution once again, just as it was more than a century ago in the same area involving the same peoples. The preparations involve plans for the journey south, the attack on Dinka villages, the destruction of homes, the burning of food stores, the looting of cattle, the killing of men who resist, and the abduction of children and women. Also of important consideration during the preparation phase is the journey back to the North, how to deal with a possible SPLA ambush, the division of the loot at some point along the way, the dispersion of the militia to their villages, and the scattering of the slaves. The distribution and scattering of slaves has to be done as quickly as possible so as to avoid accumulation of slaves in one place where they might be found and the practice exposed. Upon the return of the attackers, the slaving communities normally celebrate the successful and safe return of the militias. Bulls are slaughtered to mark the occasion. People sing, beat drums, and make joyous cries. A game of horse riding-skills is played.
In the case of the Popular Defense Forces, slave raiding is a corollary of a jihadic war against the SPLA. As mentioned earlier, their main task was to guard the train between Babanusa and Wau. It took weeks, sometimes months, to get the train ready in terms of supplies and men to take the trip to Wau. The forces were conscripted and given rudimentary training in operating the AK-47 assault rifles. They were inducted into the mentality of martyrdom in the name of Islam. A word was then sent to Baggara umdas in el-Meiram, Babanusa, and Muglad that the government was recruiting Muslim youth to escort the train south. The government paid a varying amount of money to the participating youth in addition to arms, which they kept after the train had reached its final destination. Once a Baggara subgroup or clan received the arms, these arms became the property of the group. The chiefs can collect the weapons at the end of the mission or keep the list of recipients to be called upon the next time the government makes another request. Because they went through Dinka territory, sometimes in collaboration with the Murahileen and the regular army, the paramilitary forces raided Dinka villages along the railway line. Slaves captured in the process of the train movement became the property of individual Mujahideen as payment for their venture. Although material reward was minimal for this group, compared to the Murahileen proper, they seemed to believe that the demolition of the SPLA, the suppression of southern calls for freedom, and possible extension of Islam was the ostensible reward climax of their endeavor.
In sum, the line between the slave-raiding armies of the different subtribal groups in Darfur and Kordofan, the PDF, and the Sudanese army was blurry, as far as slavery was concerned. Often the army undertook a joint operation with these militias to attack SPLA positions or villages suspected of sympathizing with the SPLA. One such operation was the 1998 occupation of Nyamlel mentioned above. It involved not only the collaboration of tribal militias and the Sudanese army, but also the top administration of ed-Da’ein Province. The commissioner of the province, the commander of the armed forces, the nazir and other local administrators were all involved in the organization of the raid, the thirteen-day occupation of the town, and the town’s destruction. This occupation, which resulted in the taking of hundreds of slaves, was filmed and broadcast on an army program on Sudan national television. Although Nyamlel is not an SPLA military base, the broadcast portrayed the occupation force as a glorious army capturing a town from the rebels.
The following is an account of the occupation of Nyamlel in May 1998. It is a summary of many statements from the survivors of the raid as well as from escaped slaves. The Nyamlel occupation was a part of an offensive by the ruling National Islamic Front. The attackers were on foot, horseback and in armored vehicles. There were about twelve cars in all. They took cattle, goats, young women, and children. Houses were burned and people were thrown into the flames. Anyang Ngong, a young woman in her twenties, was among the captives. She was from a small village between Nyamlel and Marial Baai. She explained the whole ordeal in the following words:
They beat me and tore off my clothes. They tied the hands of small boys to the horses, and took us to Nyamlel. There, we had to stay at the old rest house.17 We were guarded by security men belonging to the Popular Defense Forces [PDF]. The commander in charge of the force was named Jenet Hassan. Almost all the strong people in my village were captured and taken to Nyamlel. But there were so many people from other villages. It was difficult to know how many were there. The town, Nyamlel, was crammed with abducted people. Most people were made naked. Women and men were all in one place. The Arabs have no decency. We were kept in Nyamlel for many days. People were being beaten, yelled at, and nobody could move anywhere. Nobody ate anything throughout the whole time that we were kept in Nyamlel. At night, some soldiers would take women from the crowd, take them to the river, and [sleep] with them. Sometimes their commander would stop them from doing this. The commissioner of ed-Da’ein [Abdelrahman Kidder] arrived in Nyamlel with more cars, I think it was three days after the occupation. We were [filmed] and we felt so bad about this, for we were naked. When the time came that they were leaving, it became immediately evident that they were taking us with them. They filled up the cars with people, but there were still more people left, including me. We were divided into small groups. Many people were made to carry things on their heads. Some carried jerry cans of water, others carried bullets, and others carried the Arabs’ food supplies. And worst of all, we had to walk in the hot sun, without food. After several days on foot, we reached the Kiir River and we stayed there for two days. Then we were divided up again and put in lorries. People were packed so tightly into these cars. Children were crushed and I thought they were going to die before the last destination. Anybody who complained about being sat upon was beaten. One woman complained that someone had sat on her child, and the guards beat her and her child was thrown off the moving vehicle. We were first taken to Abu Matariq and we spent one night there. Then we went to ed-Da’ein. We were taken to the Commissioner’s house for distribution. The most fit were given to various Arabs. The weak ones were sent to the displaced persons’ camps. I was taken to Khor Omer camp. At the camp I found most of the people were from my area of Malwal Dinka. There were those from Nyamlel, Gok Machar, Marial Baai, Manyiel, and Achana [all in Aweil West County]. The camp was guarded by security men from the government. We were told that the governor of southern Darfur and the commissioner of ed-Da’ein would send some people to help us, to give us food. There was an organization run by Arabs called Da’wa Islamiyya.18 This organization is in charge of the camp. The staff of Da’wa Islamiyya are security agents, but they masquerade as relief workers so that foreign aid workers do not know their actual role. Disguised as aid workers these Arabs watch the activities of expatriate workers and report them to the government. The Da’wa Islamiyya people do not allow displaced Southerners to talk with foreigners. They pay money for captured children, and they bring these children to the camp saying that they were orphans. Children kidnapped from the South and brought to the camp with their mothers were ripped from their mothers and taken to the khalwa [Koranic school]. The women were taken to farms to work in the field, or to homes to cook, clean, and wash clothes. Some women told us that others were killed when they tried to escape. I was made to be a cook for Arab guests who came to visit the people of Da’wa Islamiyya. Some relief food was brought to the camp by different aid agencies, but the security men would take most of it and sell in town. People were treated very badly in the camp. For example, one time, a woman from the UN came to give us ration cards, and we were beaten later for talking to her. People were also often beaten for visiting and mingling with each other. Every now and