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| January 15, 2009 |
Mr Ahmed has a story worth hearing.
The Guardian Weekly, Thursday January 15th 2009http://www.guardianweekly.co.
Muhammed Ahmed was speaking to Susan Schulman in NertiHow
From my home I can see in the distance the military camp of the
government of Sudan. Originally, I am from a village near here, but my family and I had to flee when it was attacked and burned. We are now displaced people, IDPs.
I want to tell you about what happened on October 12, 2008. It was a Sunday.
On that day my two sons, one is 13, the other 15, went to the river in the valley to swim. While they were there, two soldiers found them and asked them what they were doing. They said: "We are students; we are just here to refresh ourselves." But the soldiers said: "No, you are not. You are tora bora." When someone says that, they mean rebels, the
Sudan Liberation Army [SLA]. The boys said: "No no, we are students - look, here are our identity cards to prove it." But the soldiers beat
the boys anyway. And after they had beaten them they dragged them back to the checkpoint near our house.
Several people saw them and shouted to the soldiers: "Why are you taking our boys? They're not trouble, they're students." But the soldiers refused to let them go.
At this time, my daughter was in the house and could hear the commotion. She came out and stood by the fence looking towards the shouting. On the
other side of the fence, some soldiers were standing around, watching the situation. One of them took his machine gun and fired at her. He hit her right in the heart. She fell down dead. She was eight years old. Well nearly; she was still seven.
Some of the soldiers saw what had happened and rushed over; they picked up her dead body and took it away.
I was in the town of Zalingei at the time, on Unamid business. I got a telephone call.
Some of my relatives went to the soldiers and asked them to please give back the dead body, but they refused. They asked where the father was. My relatives had to say that I wasn't there.
They kept her body at the checkpoint for two days, then they took it to Kass, a town about 40km from here. My relatives kept asking for her body, but the soldiers refused. Sometime after that my relatives went to the police station and explained that they had to take the body to the
hospital; they had to make a medical report. So eventually it was agreed and the body was returned to us.
At the hospital, the doctor said: "This girl died from a gunshot wound."And that was it.
My relatives went back to the police station to file a report, but the police refused. They said that they couldn't make a report. Later I went myself and eventually they agreed to take down the information. They
filed it under the number 1516. Yes, 1516.
The police told me the name of the soldier who killed my daughter. He is a lance corporal. He wasn't arrested. I see him around the place, like normal, sitting on the back of vehicles, moving around Kass with his commanders.
I told the Unamid officers. They made a report, too.
So, you see, the situation here is very bad for us. We can't do
anything. Someone can take your daughter from you and you can't say anything; you can't do anything. If I were to say something, they might send someone to my house to kill me, to keep me quiet. The situation here is very terrible.
We moved here from our home village because of insecurity, but now we are facing the same problem. What can we do?