FDA Urgent Appeal: Bomb  Drop  in Jabal Marra, (02/27/2003)


The Fur Diaspora Association (FDA) appeals to human rights and aid organizations to immediately intervene and rescue civilians in Jabel Marra and Kornoy. Our sources confirm that the Sudanese government dropped three bombs in Golo (Jabel Marra) on Thursday February 27, 2003 and killed six civilians. Our sources further confirm that the government is preparing to further attack both Jabel Marra and Kornoy by all types of weapons. Like most areas in Darfur, Jabel Marra and Kornoy have already been suffering from a famine. Moreover, the government soldiers and its militias had destroyed over 50 villages and orphaned hundreds of children in Jabel Marra before the situation escalated into a confrontation between the government army and some individuals among the Fur and Zagawa who had been irritated by repeated arrests, torture, and killings of their love ones.  The tragic situation in Darfur could be summarized in the following points:

1)      Almost the whole region (Darfur) has been in a famine for a longtime, but the Sudanese authorities refused to disclose it to the international community.

2)      Beside the famine, many people in several areas of the region including Jabel Marra, Kabkabiya, Wadi Saleh, Bulbul and Dar Massaleit had already lost their homes and property during the attacks of genocide by government soldiers and Arab militias.

3)      The expected attack on Jabel Marra and Kornoy by the government army will again be another adversity on the innocent civilians.

4)      The Fur and Zagawa will now be the targets of the government authorities not only in Darfur, but also everywhere in the country.  

The Fur Diaspora Association appeals to the international community to:

1)      Advise Sudanese government to avoid using chemical weapons in Jabel Marra and Kornoy since there are claims that the authorities used them in some areas in South Sudan and Nuba Mountains.

2)      Form a neutral commission to stop the war, investigate the problem and provide fair trials to those who found guilty of killing and torturing innocent civilians.

3)      Provide food and shelter to those affected by the series of tragedies.

4)      Help Dafurians hold a reconciliation conference that will give birth to a local constitution documenting rights and obligations of all Darfurians.

5)      Form a team to collect all arms and destroy them.

Albayan newspaper:

1)      The government brought together the Fur, Zaghawa and Arab to dialogue with the armed group in Jabel Marra to avoid conflict in the area.

2)      If it becomes difficult to solve the problem by peaceful means, military solutions will be used.

3)      The conference called for taking serious steps to solve problems of Darfur through dialogue and formed a committee to visit the affect areas and listen to the demands of those who picked up the arms

4)      The conference recommended revision of all previous conferences and scheduling of their recommendations.

5)      The conference requested the compensation for and reconstruction of village that have been destroyed as well as compensation for the livestock that have been rustled. 

6)      The conference recommended equal distribution of national development projects with a particular focus on infrastructure and on finding the solutions for the poor services.

7)      The conference attributed the eruption of ethnic conflict and banditry to the administrative inability of some government apparatus and procrastination in confronting the insecurity in addition to the fact that the government and the parties concerned did not implement recommendations of conferences that have been previously held.  

8)      The conference also recognized that creation of new administrative entities is one of the factors that led to conflicts

The newspaper quoted engineer Alhaj ‘Atalmanan, current governor of Khartoum and former governor of South Darfur, as saying: what is taking place in Jabel Marra has nothing do with Arab and Fur conflict but a real rebellion and it should be fought.


Sudanile News:

1)      The armed group took 8 individuals in hostage and injured hundreds of soldiers and civilians

2)      The report documents that activities of the militias increased because there are foreign authorities behind them in addition to an internal political support. The report went further that the objective of all these is to internationalize the issue.

 

Alhayat:

1)      The Sudanese government declared for the first time that there is a rebellion in West Sudan

2)      The opponents of the government argue that the latter is responsible for the insecurity in Darfur and the last incidences which resulted into the death of government authorities including soldiers are reaction of the oppression of local people who are victims of successive attacks some of whom die and others displaced from their villages that are burnt as a result of an organized plan to of displacing them form their ancestor’s lands.

3)      The armed group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Ahmed Annur occupied the headquarters of Jabel Marra province in Juldo and appointed Abdalla Kor premier to the province.

4)      The report also mentioned that there is another rebellion in Kornoy in the north.

5)      The presence agreed that most of the rebels in Jabel Marra are the Fur and most of the rebels in Kornoy are Zagawa and that they took opportunity from ethnic conflict between the farmers and herders.

 

The newspaper said that Dr. Altijani Seisei, governor of Darfur during the last democratic era, said that the government is responsible for the escalation of insecurity in the region because it armed the herders the migrated to farmers’ areas, expropriated farmers lands and gave them to herders. We have evidence that may village of the farmers were burnt to ashes but the government did try to stop that. And what is happening now is the right for self-defense.

 

The newspaper also reported Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij, former governor of Darfur and president of the Federal Democratic Alliance, what is happening in Darfur is oppression to which farmers are exposed  from herders and what is happening now is a reaction from the farmers. The governments is making a propaganda that what is happening is a rebellion but if it wants to prevent a rebellion it has to be just. The local population feel that the government is playing a role and what through these developments they feel that they defend themselves. Any way of removing the oppression is a right and we do not rule out leaders will emerge among the victims.