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| Africa: Horn |
| Arabs Criticize Hasty Response to Darfur -- Give Sudan Gvt More Time |
| 2004-08-01 |
| From The Sun Online ... Fatma Adam, 20, wept softly as she revealed she had become a victim of the Janjaweed militiamen laying waste to whole villages in orgies of murder and looting. ... Traumatised and homeless, farmer's wife Fatma said they raided her village at dawn — and began "killing, killing, killing". She said: At least 15 men were shot dead and our homes were burned. Then they started rounding up the young women, fifty of us. I thought we were all going to be murdered. But they put us in a truck and took us to their base. Then for three days we were kept in locked rooms and raped again and again at gunpoint. I lost count of the number of times they did it to me. They were like animals. My baby son was with me but they didn't care. I was too terrified to resist as I knew they would think nothing of killing me. One girl who fought back was shot dead and four others from my village are still missing. ... Fatma was finally released and found husband Ahmed, 30, had also survived the raid, despite suffering a terrible beating. The couple — nursing their eight-month-old son — struggled to a feeding centre near the desert town of Tawila. .... Zakia, from a village near Tawila, revealed: More than 5,000 Janjaweed came and swarmed on our village like locusts. They killed at will, burned and raped and took everything from our homes. My grandfather and uncle were shot dead and my husband Musa is still recovering from burns and a head injury. ... Asha Mohammed's two year-old son Adam has not stopped crying since the pair stumbled exhausted into the feeding centre. The mother, 25, from the northern village of Tarny, said: "Forty men and six women from my community were killed. ... Tormented Zobaida Mohammed can still hear the screams of her six-year-old brother as militiamen burned him alive. She is constantly haunted by the shrill sound of Ahmed shrieking as the dreaded Janjaweed attacked her village. Student Zobaida, 22, wept as she told of the massacre near Tawila last month. She sobbed: Ahmed was playing near our home. We were bombed without warning by planes and helicopters raked everything that moved with machine-gun fire. People were dying all over the village and Ahmed ran into our house to hide as the Janjaweed rode in on horses and camels and set the building on fire. I heard him screaming, turned and saw the building alight. I knew he couldn't get out and the screaming just didn't stop. I still hear him now in my dreams. Other survivors of the attack told how whole families were chained together and set alight as a lesson to others who were forced to watch. Teacher Ismail Mohammed, 38, said militiamen butchered two fleeing pregnant women during an attack on Kurma, near Al Fasher — then knifed their unborn children. He said: It was an unbearable thing to see. These women just fell behind in a stampede through the streets to escape. Refugees at Abu Shouk endure 110°F heat by day and swarms of malaria-carrying mosquitos at night. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |