Giorgio Trombatore among the rebels of Darfur

By Giorgio Trombatore
A Politician among the rebels, a Darfur Story

The first time I landed in Sudan, it was on March, I do not recall precisely whether it was 2001, or 2002. I guess it does not make that much difference, but I do remember that day, because coming out from the airplane I felt the hot air and dust of the famous “Mabub” (the wind that strikes the capital Khartoum from time to time, bringing sand and making it impossible to move.
A local Sudanese came to pick me up at the airport, and after lodging me for a couple of nights in the Acropole Hotel , he took me around the city.
More than four years passed by , when I came back in Sudan, this time with an important task from my government , a role that would have taken me around all the state of Darfur (one of the provinces of Western Sudan).
I visited in the past the Darfur province, from the southern city of Nyala to the Northen Arabic city of El Fasher, and I was always amazed to see the nomads that crossed the desert with their animals.
Many times I met the Jelloul tribes, the Reezagat (all Arabs tribes) that with their camels crossed the country for search of water for their cattle.
In 2001 still the Darfur civil war was not yet erupted, despite it was already possible to see problems among the more than 200 ethnic tribes that were living alone in this Province.
It was exactly three years later that travelling the same areas I met the Janjaweed (famous Arabs tribes that attacked villages of innocent black fur Muslims.
I lived a tragedy that simply can be resumed as a ethnic war between Arabs tribes and black Muslims that live the three Darfur provinces .A problem that already exploded in the past, but never with this intensity of the 2004 civil war.
A war between nomadic Arabs that supported by the Sudanese Government clashed and looted the villages of other Muslims but of different ethnic tribe.
Thousands of people killed, hundreds of villages burnt and destroyed and millions of people forced to live in Internally displaced camps in order to avoid a sure death living outside.
But as it happens in all civil war, a counterpart has formed and several opposition groups took birth in this vast area , giving birth to different movements that fought against the government and against each other as well.
I worked side by side with the Sudanese Liberation Army (famous as SLA), and the Justice Equality Movement (known as JEM). The first one mainly split in two groups, a group composed mainly by the Fur ethnic tribe, and the second one by the Zagawa. In total the SLA had the highest number of rebels but in the same time as well most of the time the less organized, while the others one the JEM, a former group that had most of its components in the government and now hiding as rebels.
This group showed to be more organized even thoughless numbered.
For two years I travelled in rebels areas, talking with their leaders, eating with the troops, and facing with them they hardships.
My first trip to the rebel area was on October 2004, when we decided to reach the Jebel Marra (the mountain that extends between South Darfur and North Darfur), in order to meet some SLA rebels that according to our information were hiding in the villages of Fena and Kidingir.
The troops reminded me the rebels of Mozambique, precisely the Renamo (Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana), even thou I immediately noticed that these rebels had sat-phones especially their leaders in order to keep in contact among them in this vast region of Sudan.
They were some of them in rags, even if in general they looked to me pretty well dressed and feaded . Obviously they looked desperate for cigarettes and some of them for alcoholic drinks, despite they proclaimed to be all Muslims and fighting in order to let their families have the chance to go back to their villages.
The first leader that I met in Jebel Marra, was a leader of the SLA, a young man , from the ethnic tribe of the Fur, called Muru.
dressed long hair like “Rasta”. All of them wore the famous “Hijab” or “Juju” ( a sort of amulet to protect them ) that confirmed the famous syncretism between local religion and the Islam.
The rebels slept inside abandoned schools , and mainly presided the two small villages from the attacks of the Janjaweed (Arabs with horses, mainly nomads of Rezagat tribes ) and from time to time made excursion in the no-mans land between the Government areas and the rebels area.
Their armament was very modest, in fact they used stolen pick-up from the Government as a army vehicle and the remaining weapons were mainly Ak 47 and light guns.
Every time I visited Jebel Marra, I was surrounded by young rebels that were searching for cigarettes, or some alcoholic drinks. They lived basically waiting the food from the trucks of the World Food Programme, and despite few exchanges of fire with Government forces or with Janjaweed they spent all their time under trees taking naps.
They were not informed and neither seemed ideologically prepared for this war, they were simply Fur, the Africans main black tribe that is living in Darfur.
Already in my first visits, I was aware that another component of the Sudan Liberation Army was organized under the leadership of Commander Minnie Mennawie Arkwaie.
This leader, that later on I met during one of my visits in Northen Darfur, was from a Zagawa tribe, and he was a better organized leader that kept on challenging the government forces and had a very dictatorial control on the troops.
The leader of the SLA’s community in Jebel Marra, was an old Sultan, called Suleiman. Despite his warm welcome to the Italian visitors, I disliked him for his unfaithful way of looking. I later on discovered that he was paid by the Governor of South Darfur, in order to keep the rebels of the Fur tribe of Jebel Marra under control.
As I continued to move all over the three states of Darfur, I managed to meet all the involved parties from the famouns Janjaweed (the Arabs Militia) to the rebels united under the leadership of Dr. Khalil, the very well organized JEM.
My first encounter with the Janjaweed, happened in a afternoon of January 2005. I was coming back from a visit to the rebels of Jebel Marra.
I had just offloaded trucks of food in order to assist the population in the area. Most probably the Janjaweed (Arabs Militia with horses and camels), tired of my supporting the rebels, decided to punish me attacking my vehicles on the way back from the rebels area.
I was driving my pick-up, and listening to the “Bee Gees”, when I heard shots of kalashnikov, and as I looked on the side I saw about 25 Arabs in horses and camels that kept on shooting at my vehicle.
I do not recall how long they trailed me, but I was very shocked about this ambush, and finally I was somehow excited to see these famous nomads Arabs that frightened the population of Darfur.
Once I managed to get out from the ambush, I reached a nearby village (Menawashi, a village located in South Darfur, about one hour and half from Nyala)where the same Janjaweed most probably had attached the village living on the ground about 67 killed people.
I took one injured man, and brought him in Nyala for trying to get a doctor. He had two bullets on the chest, and was a fur. Some of his families member wanted to join me, and they placed the poor guy on the back of the pick-up .A very tough trip indeed, that took about an hour and fifteen minutes.
Once I reached the hospital, I discovered that the doctor, from an Arab tribe, was not so concerned to pay him a visit, and he was convinced only when he saw an Hawaja (a local word, in order to describe White People) screaming against him.
So, I think that this small example can tell a lot about Darfur. Arabs Militia that attack innocent villages mainly formed by Fur, young rebels that live deep in the bush and a part from their Leaders they fight just for the sake of fighting without really knowing why, and the government forces that are always present in this context.
But besides these actors, Darfur also offers two other important actors, which I happened to meet and work with. The famous JEM movement, that basically mainly operated from northern areas and the Zagawa groups of Minnie, the hardliners and more devoted fighters.
My first meeting with the JEM, happened in a secret location, nearby Shrigogoro in North Darfur.
A friend of mine ,called me and told me that three humanitarian workers disappeared since three months, and according to these sources they were held up by a group called JEM.
I did not know how to start up this investigation, in fact until that time, I was mainly meeting up with rebels from the SLA movement so all my contacts were not useful I thought.
First of all I decided to check whether the information was correct, so I made few calls in Jebel Marra in order to find out whether they were the one that were holding the hostages.
The man on the other phone, asked a couple of days to check within all his troops whether someone had kidnapped anyone. But after two days he did not call me up again, so I thought, “wow , that easy, they are the one”.
I call my source in the SLA, but he denied any kind of kidnapping, and told me he did not call up simply because he had no money on the phone.
So here I was, I had to start up a connection with the JEM, and better do it quickly.
In Nyala, I knew there was one representative that was living with the African Union (the African forces, mainly Nigerian and Rwandese that participated with troops in Sudan in order to keep a fragile peace).
I met this man, who seemed to me a very well and elegant person. I explained him, who I was, and told him, that in exchange of three kidnapped I could have tried to organise some help.
He told me, he knew nothing about this kidnapping, and wanted to have all the information like when they were kidnapped , where and their names.
I thought it strange, because I was expecting these answers from him, but it was a start.
A few days later, the same person gave me a number to call and he told me that from now on I had to follow the matter with this person, somebody called Omar that was somewhere in North Darfur.
Omar, I found out spoke only Arabic, and even a broken Arabic.
Transmission with the Sat is not easy, and despite the difficulty to get the line, I had problems in understanding this man on the phone that kept on asking me questions like why suddenly the Italians where so interested in getting this people freed.
These telephone calls went on for a week, at least and when I started to think that everything was lost, Mr. Omar asked me to fly to their location and meet their leaders .
Shrigogoro in the middle of the desert of North Darfur toward Libia.
The place , I checked in the map was so far away that I thought impossible for me to reach the location. Finally thanks to some connections with the United Nations air operations I managed to get a Helicopter to reach the location.
The location was in the middle of the desert as I expected.
The base of the JEM was well organized , the troops were every where, strategically positioned.
I was received by their leader, Mr. Bahar, a very gentle man. He spoke good English, had nice manners and went straight away to the matter.
We were sitting under a tent, and meanwhile I was talking with the Leader of the JEM; I saw two soldiers killing a goat. My lunch , I thought.
The Leader told me that in the last three months, many people tried to influence him in order to release the captives, but so far he never allowed because he strongly believed they were agents of the government that were caught in the village of Senet (south Darfur).
I preferred not to talk about this matter, and I rather concentrate to hear the needs of this chief that was fighting a war against the Sudanese Government.
Mr. Bahar gave me the names of few locations, and asked me assistance for water and food for his troops. He said he believed that his movement had the right to fight against this corrupted government.
We had lunch together, than after two hours I told him that unfortunately I had to leave because the Helicopter had to return to El Fasher (the capital of North Darfur).
Before living Mr, Bahar told me that in a few days he would have called me and told me when and where to go and take the three captives.
And so it was. After three days I received a telephone call from Mr, Bahar which he told me to go to the village of Senet and take the captives.
This leader gave the orders, so the very day after I flew with a United Nations helicopter and took the three hostages.
The hostages were kept in this small village of Senet , in South Darfur , and the commander of the area Mr. Hisham seemed to me more a bandit rather than a rebel.
He handed over to me the hostages following the orders from his chief Mr, Bahar, without making a comment, but I could spot from the grim of his face some kind of disappointment for the release.
I promised to bring some help for his soldiers, but still he did not look satisfied.
The hostages, instead, were very happy. All of them were from Khartoum, one Arab and two southerners probably from the Dinka tribes.
They happened to be kidnapped meanwhile they were working with their rigging machine by a group of JEM rebels held by Mr. Hisham and for the last three months they had no news about their families and frankly speaking also about their future.
I flew back with them to Nyala, and then from there they took a flight straight to Khartoum.
They seemed very happy when they got on board a the United Nations flight for Khartoum , finally their hostage was finished.
For me, I was very happy about the conclusion of this matter, and I discovered I had a sincere friend among the JEM, a strong leader that for sure Sudan would have heard his name more and more.
After one year of work in all the Greater Darfur, I met almost all the actors of the warring factions present in the country, but still I was missing the famous Minnie Mennawie , the leader of the so called Zagawa tribes.
The leader which later I discovered was splitting the SLA in two groups, and was taking distance from the President who resided in Kenya, and was trying to bring all the movement under his control.
I made up my mind, after several trips in Jebel Marra, to arrange a meeting with Minnie, so finally I asked one of representative of the Zagawa , Mr. Jibril Kora to put me in contact with Minnie.
I met Minnie in a secret location in North Darfur.
Before I started up my trip , I heard a lot of stories about this rebel, that he was very brave and in the same time very cruel with his enemies.
Some people told me that he trained in Libia, where he was under the protection of Geddafi, and now was trying to be the leader of the revolt for Darfur.
Finally, when everything was arranged, I started my trip toward this location, hiding the reason of my journey to the local government, that obviously was keeping an eye in all my movement.
From El Fasher (the capital city of North Darfur), I headed north toward the sandy town of Kul Kul.
After only 30 minutes drive from the Government town of El Fasher, I was entering the area under the control of SLA (the Sudan Liberation Army).
A log in the middle of the road, and a bunch of badly dressed Sudanese with old Kalashnikov reminded me that I was entering a land that was not anymore under the control of Governative forces, but the fear of bandits so real that often it was possible to exchange rebels for bandits.
Along the trip I made few calls via sat to the leaders of the SLA, but the reply was always keep straight, and you will find us.
After two hours of driving in the middle of a semi-desert bush, finally I reached a town called Kul Kul.
Just few huts, and few armed vehicles were the only signs of life in this remote village, and after minutes from my arrival one local commander told that I had still to drive additional one hour and half to meet the leader.
So I proceeded further, as I understood my journey was not over.
The new location was Hashaba ( a locality further north) in the middle of a bush area, where there were no signs of life.
A good place to hide , I thought.
Finally I arrived in a small town, the famous Hashaba. But I was asked not to enter the town as the Chief was waiting me outside the village nearby a Uadi (A river drought) .
The leader Minnie was sitting in a carpet under a tree, and all around him there were about seven well armed men that were sharing the carpet with him.
As he stood up to greet me all of his soldiers stood up as well, but only for respect of their leader.
He asked me to sit down with him, and offered me a cup of tea, which was very well accepted after more than five hours drive under a killing sun.
He was gentle, always with a grim on his face, and he talked about the situation of Darfur.
He complained that his movement was not united and his first goal was to bring unity among his troops. Never he mentioned the Leader of the movement that was far away in Kenia, and the few times that his name came out he seemed not so pleased about.
I told him that not long ago, I shared a tent and a cup of tea with the leader of Jem, and I told him how strange it was that these two groups were fighting each other, but to me they seemed so close.
Both mainly from black tribes, Zagawa, fighting a government that is backing Arabs tribes
“Many things we do not understand “ was his straight reply.
As the night approached fast, there is no light in the bush, and if there is no moon, darkness is fast to arrive, we prepared our tents to spend the night.
Minnie offered me a bottle of Whiskey, for a special guest, and order to slaughter a sheep.
So we spent the night in front of a fire, with guerrillas all around me, talking with these rebels, that few days before just ordered to assault a nearby town.
Frankly speaking I have to say that it is hard not to part a group when you share with them the difficulties of a life in the bush, but I noticed in him, the typical African Leader, that choose the bush, the forest, the mountain and dedicates his life for a cause.
A terrible life is after all the one that expects the rebels. No good food, no security, always on the run, and most of all the fear of bullet from an enemy or even from one of your soldiers that is sold out .
I remember , when once I called Mr. Idris, one of the highest commander of Jem, and taking in consideration that it was a Friday ,I apologize for disturbing him on that particular day, and he promptly answered on the phone “No worry Mr. George, there is no Friday for us , we are rebels”.
After that visit, it happened to me to meet Minnie several others times.
Once in the month of October, Minnie Mennawie organized a big meeting in the middle of the bush, in a locality called Haskaniza.
The meeting aimed to call all the local tribal leaders and rebels commanders of the three regions of Darfur , and get them together in one single location in order to elect the new president of the movement and approve an internal costitution.
Obviously, since so many rebels decided to meet in one location, it was kept all secret for fear that governmental forces may be aware of the location and make raids .
Minnie , despite all the difficulties, the lack of proper phone communication and transportation, managed to organize the meeting.
The meeting was also attended by some representatives of the “Diaspora”, the so called rebels that took refuge in foreigners countries such as Chad, Emirates , and even Italy and UK.
Minnie planned this meeting in order to reinforce his leadership and send a signal to the people outside in the cities , in the capital of Khartoum, that he was the big leader.
On the end of October and beginning of November 2005, finally the famous meeting of the SLA took place.
Minnie received me in a small hut, with the usual group of bodyguards.
We spoke for about 4 hours, and he never stopped to light cigarettes all of our meeting. I felt friendship for him, a true sense of admiration for this 36 years old rebel.
He informed me that he was satisfied with the Meeting, that according to his knowledge more than 730 delegates from all over Darfur attended the meeting, and that for the first time in Sudan a leader has been democratically elected.
He asked me to accompany him in the big tent that was placed just outside the village of Haskaniza where in the mid of many difficulties a meeting hall had been organized.
Minnie wanted to show all the people that even in the middle of the bush, he was able to organize a meeting with all kind of facilities.
I followed him in the visit, during the third day of talks.
The tent was located about 5 minutes walk outside Haskaniza.
All around the tent, security forces were put on place, and only delegates from the SLA movement were granted access.
Soft drinks were distributed, a micro-phone and a speaker was taking to a crowd of more than 700 people that patiently listened .
There were three translators (one in English, one in French and one in Italian, it was a for me!).
During the meeting a constitution was approved , and on the last day of the meeting Minnie was bestowed as the new president of the Sudan Liberation Army.
Finally the first dream of this young Zagawa leader of 36 years old was achieved.
The leadership of the movement.
The next step, was a total war against the government of Sudan and the Arabs Militia.