Show Schools C 00 IS Paying a In I D Price I in In I Sudanese u ane e Violence 10 I IC ence Robyn Dixon Los Angeles Times The walls of the school at village were made of straw and sticks so the bullets went right through them As the children studied one morning about six months armed Arabs on camels ago village village village vil vil- and horses attacked the lage in Sudan's Darfur region and surrounded the school They raised their weapons and fired again and again gunning down the trapped children and teachers The most haunting memory of that terrible day is the sound of children screaming and weeping the shooting shooting shooting shoot shoot- I VI I saw children with ing the and stud students shouting and crying said referring referring referring refer refer- Ibrahim Abdullah 37 ring to the Arab militias children were at atthe atthe atthe Three of his the school school He tried to run to the but there with other parents horsemen too were too many bullets We We had no many them We chance to help distance to stopped from a and then we ran watch His son Adam Ibrahim r iI t w T. T 4 q r 2 t T c cL y r HI H n. n M 4 I r r. r L tr r v 7 i i i 5 I it a bt f S h s year Ten-year-old Fatna Adam takes cover from the sun in the refugee camp on the outskirts of Nyala in southern Darfur More than 1 million people are estimated to have been displaced in this part a of Sudan Abdullah 9 and an adopted nephew Haroun Sheriff 13 died in the hail of bullets Two vo daughters 8 and 12 escaped Six teachers and 36 children were killed Abdullah said Afterward the attackers burned the schoolbooks It was the third time in two years that the school had been set upon Two months before the final attack two teachers and seven students stu- stu students students stu stu- dents were slain Abdullah said The assaults on were I V Y not isolated incidents In Inmany Inmany Inmany many villages across Darfur schools have been targeted by bySee bySee bySee See Violence continued on page 7 Violence continued from front the marauding militias Some have even been bombed World opinion is divided on whether the campaign of attacks on indigenous African tribes by Arab militias in Darfur amounts to genocide US U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. L Powell accused the Sudanese government and pro pro pro pro-gt go militias militia q of oP T genocide Sudanese authorities dismissing dis- dis dismissing dismissing dis dis- missing the charge as an attempt to win African- African American votes in the US U.S. presidential election portray portray por por- portray tray the Darfur crisis as part of the tribal conflict over land between Arab herders and African farmers going back a decade But for many victims the school attacks and killings of teachers seem far from ran ran- dom In the villages of and Bindis locals say they have evidence of premeditation premeditation premeditation pre pre- meditation maintaining that Arab teachers left several days before the carnage They dont don't want our people people people peo peo- and our children to learn anything said Abdullah who now lives in this refugee camp near the town of Nyala Although it is impossible to determine whether there was wasa a policy of exterminating educated educated educated edu edu- people in a campaign that has left as many as dead the leaders of Darfur's black African tribes say the attacks fit into a continuum continuum continuum con con- of discrimination by authorities in the capital Khartoum sen sense of of injustice tice led to a rebellion by two black African groups the Sudanese Liber Liberation tion Army and the Justice and Equality Movement which took up arms early last year seeking a greater share of the country's resources And it underscores the deep reservoir of ethnic mistrust and hatred that must be overcome before peace is possible The government for its part distributed a booklet to international journalists saying saying saying say say- ing it had expanded services such as schools and medical clinics in Darfur since seizing power in a 1989 coup The chief of the Fur people in Nyala Ahmed Abdul Rahman said in an interview at his home there that the government has always failed to protect Africans from Arab attacks The government is steadfast steadfast steadfast stead stead- fast in its policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing using airplanes to bombard villages villages villages vil vil- vil- vil lages said He described the rebels as our boys They raised arms to protect our people who recounted that in 1956 he became the first pert perI per- per t I son from Darfur td let graduate i t from front t University said the level o of education among his people had since fallen The policies of the government government government gov gov- since independence in 1956 were pro-Arab pro he said We felt the government government government govern govern- ment was backing the Arab tribes over the African tribes giving them more chances to learn while the African tribes were kept as they were This feeling of segregation between African and Arab tribes became very prominent under the present regime He said most of the government government government govern govern- ment police and security posts were filled by Arabs while the level of education among African tribes was low A State Department report in September that was based on more than 1100 interviews interviews interviews inter inter- views with Darfur refugees in Chad said the Sudanese government government government gov gov- had encouraged an Arab alliance in Darfur to keep non-Arab non groups in check It disarmed non-Arabs non but allowed Arabs to keep their weapons In the early Arab militias destroyed non-Arab non villages villages villages vil vil- vil- vil lages and killed people the J UH The report found a consistent consistent consistent tent pattern of atrocities killings and rapes in Darfur It said more than villages were destroyed at least were bombed and and government military activity was closely Jemera Rone a Human Rights Watch researcher who recently visited western Darfur believes that Arab militias attacked whatever service infrastructure they found in villages including schools mosques clinics and water towers We saw a number of schools that were destroyed thoroughly trashed and van van- Sometimes they were burned she said The victims saw it as the drive to destroy everything good that they had everything that belonged to them Although many villagers see the school attacks as part of a broader effort to wipe out as many people as possible others believe the schools were specifically targeted Abdulkarim Juma 40 said the five non-Arab non teachers at the Sh thyas ci rl W t hotin their be bed be wh when H militias attacked at 6 in the morning last September Arab teachers had left several days before We found five bodies he said No one had a chance to run He saw the attack as an effort to stop black indigenous from being edu edu- people I I think the teachers were killed because of the government It was the governments government's governments government's governments government's gov gov- learning learning learning learn learn- hand to stop ing and education In an attack on the village of Bindis last August jan jan- invaded the secondary school and shot four teachers including headmaster Hassan Mohammed Nour 56 As he helay helay helay lay dying he brushed aside the water someone offered He begged his son a teacher named Khalid Hassan Mohammed to leave him to todie todie todie die and escape to safety They shot him in the head and in the stomach said Mohammed 26 When he fell I went to him He said Run to save yourself because now I am dying My brother Abdul was killed trying trying trying try try- ing to help my father last memory of oft t his father is his final struggle to speak and the last weak gesture of his hand urging hisson his hisson hisson to run son After a few minutes the came again running running running run run- ning from all sides and I ran away to the mountains on the theother theother theother other side of the village Mohammed recalled They killed any black person person person per per- son who was a teacher The purpose was to get rid of black African people with qualifications Blacks working working working work work- ing in government offices were killed too he said In in south Darfur year old Zubaida Abdullah saw saw her brother Jamar Abdul Ibrahim 50 a teacher shot down by mili mili- She said four other teachers were slain by jan- jan gunmen in the school J O J O office Dozens of students and teachers were killed by bombs that hit schools in Bindis and according to witnesses So deep is African tribes' tribes resentment against Arabs in Darfur that any Arab is seen as a potential attacker One sheik in the refugee camp Abdulkarim Adam 37 said his people did not trust the doctors or medicine medicine medicine medi medi- cine at a clinic there because the doctors were Arab We cannot believe their medicine or their help he of disease disease disease dis dis- dis- dis said Maybe well we'll die ease hunger or whatever but we dont don't need any Arab help at all |