Darfur, the war with nothing (26 images)

Darfur, the war with nothing

In the west of Sudan, an armed conflict: more than 2 millions of victims. USA said it's a genocide.

On one side an improvised army of young warriors from black communities involved in a rebellion asking to share the wealth of Darfur with the population. On the other side, the central government, the only authority power dominated by Arab tribes. Its answer to rebellion: strength and the arming of the « jenjaweeds » militias,...
more »

Darfur, the war with nothing

In the west of Sudan, an armed conflict: more than 2 millions of victims. USA said it's a genocide.

On one side an improvised army of young warriors from black communities involved in a rebellion asking to share the wealth of Darfur with the population. On the other side, the central government, the only authority power dominated by Arab tribes. Its answer to rebellion: strength and the arming of the « jenjaweeds » militias, « the cavalrymen of the devil ». Vulnerable, weak, the civilians of Darfur were forced to flee, to give up everything. Today, more than two millions of people were hit by those attacks. They cram in camps in hundreds of thousands. Nobody can see how to resolve the crisis in order to avoid them settling down and by doing so, starting to build ghetto cities.
Having lost everything, even their families, the young boys of Darfur have joined in mass one of the bases of their elder rebels. They are called the SLA, the Sudanese Liberation Army. They are between 15 and 25 years old they have made their choice: « save the country. And take back from the government, their meal ». They are students, teenagers in their home, they became rebels for the sake of an ideal of equality. So they patrol in villages, make their voices and arms heard. They move the camp as soon as they feel some impending danger.
For them, war means to wait. To wait for the stumble, the mistakes of the enemy. And attack the army bases in order, to loot, to plunder its ammunitions and overrun the strategic towns. They travel without drawing attention to themselves, carrying their makeshift camping equipments. Those rebels have taken up the strategy of "ghost soldiers" waiting in ambush, armed observers, ready to dash... When they aren't on patrol they spot a field, they use it as a training ground. Their out of date patched up arms such as some rocket launchers dating back to the fifties are their answer of revolutionary men.
« less