Tensions in Darfur rise as clashes escalate to intense tribal wars

Oh, bird, I am not a sniper, don’t fly away from me , is a line that is being sung by the schoolchildren in Singita village, south Darfur, at the start of the day! These words sound strange from the mouths of children but this is one of their ways of pleading to the Immanent Will to cut down the massive violence they have been witnessing from the last four years. Until now, it was the battle of the Darfurians with poverty, violence, terror, diseases and death itself. Now, it has erupted among them and the tribes seem on the verge of genocide. The war has no more restricted itself among government, janjaweeds and African rebels; it has broken amongst them and has been escalating ever since. Darfur is now witnessing what we can say ‘man against man’. The Terjem and the Mahria tribes of the region who are well known for their reign of terror which they exhibit through rapes and loots are busy fighting each other in their thirst for power. In the river valley called Bulbul, there has been a relentless fight going on, bullets pouring from each side like rain drops during monsoons. Two other tribes known as the Habanniya and the Salamat are heating up too. The conflict which was first being seen as a consequence of a political move in a bid to genocide the non-Arabs of the area has altered taking a form of an Arab against Arab move, making all of the tribes settled in the region vulnerable. This mass struggle has already resulted in killing of hundreds and displacement of thousands of people. This Arab versus Arab war as per the U.N. officials has killed more people. The war is being reasoned as a struggle between various tribes for evolution as the supreme power and control of others. The nation has been started to being compared to Somalia, where a galaxy of rebel armies reside, making it impossible for anyone to escape loot, rape, molestation etc. The conflict is taking a toll on the non-Arab tribes too. Recalling the days after July 31st, when Mahria tribesman killed more then sixty Terjem men, Abakar Ahmed Abdul Rahman, a leader of the non-Arab tribe called the Fur said, ‘It was strange. A few days after the fighting, a Mahria elder came up to me and said: ‘Tell your people not to go back to the camp. They’re safe in the village. We don’t have a problem with you.’ I know these people. They killed my wife and burned my hut. I’ll never trust them.’ Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Sudan said, The fragmentation of armed groups is among our major concerns. This is making the situation even more complex, and more difficult for civilians as well as for humanitarians trying to help them. More intriguing is the argument given by the wali or the governor of South Darfur, Ali Mahamoud Mohammed. He quotes that such clashes are ‘just a natural part of the life of the tribes’ and a thing which has been there for ages and has been witnessed by almost everyone growing up in the region. What the ‘wali’ fails to understand is that the clashes have taken a form of war which has no evitable end. Moreover, the wars have intensified in their length and breadth making the warriors leave no one be it the aid workers, the villagers, the government officials or their own brothers. Unbelievable but in a true instance, there were six attacks reported in a single day in August. Traveling is no more an option as the fear of tribes or militia hovers around. Poverty continues amidst all the chaos and so does diseases, leaving the innocent people of Darfur more sinned against sin itself. What initiated four years back as a clash between a few rebels and government, gradually turned into a war among Arabs and non-Arabs has now reinstated as a war among the tribes and the tribes and the government, leaving Darfur as a place with chaos at its epitome and humans worse then the Satan’s. The same huts have been rebuilt, the same lands been recultivated, to be burnt once again, to witness spilling blood once again, to be blotched once again! Source: NYtimes Image credit: Realitybasednation