The Tragedy of West Bara and the Dagalo Militia
By Dr. Hassan Mohamed Salih
The killing of civilians and the burning of their villages in the rural areas of West Bara — specifically in the villages of East and West Al-Nawm and Hilla Hamid — is a systematic act carried out by the rebel militia and its supporters from states and governments that have become accustomed to killing Sudanese people and displacing them from their lands.
It is a premeditated act, no matter how much militia fighters from the region try to shift blame onto “Shafshafa” or South Sudanese elements. The farce even reached the point where a Dagalo-affiliated Janjaweed fighter publicly threatens his fellow Janjaweed comrade from the Shafshafa group — a deceptive show meant to mislead the victims’ families and the general public.
The justifications offered by the rebels for killing unarmed civilians are simply manipulative lies — like when a rebel fighter named Sharon grabbed a martyr from Wad Al-Noura in Gezira State by the beard, pretending sympathy while committing atrocity.
The “Shafshafa” are in fact the hard-core force of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), executing most of the militia’s operations, and providing logistical support such as vehicles and stolen supplies. They receive only a portion of the loot — weapons and goods — after the RSF leadership takes its share of what’s been plundered.
If the Shafshafa were a force separate from the militia, then where do they get armed vehicles and logistical supplies? And if the attackers in West Bara were from the Nuer tribe (South Sudan), weren’t they, like other mercenaries from West and East Africa, North Africa, and even Colombia in Latin America, brought in by the rebel militia under paid contracts funded by the United Arab Emirates to fight in Sudan?
What happened in East and West Al-Nawm and Hilla Hamid is no different from what the militia did in Zamzam Camp in El Fasher, or in El Geneina, Al-Hilaliya in Gezira, Wad Al-Noura, Al-Takina, Khartoum, Salha in Omdurman, An-Nuhud, and Al-Khowei. These are systematic crimes bearing the clear fingerprints of the Dagalo militia, designed to displace civilians and uproot entire communities in a scorched-earth campaign. In the case of the villages in West Bara, the objective is to encircle the city of El-Obeid in preparation for its fall.
The angry reactions to the killing of 341 civilians in West Bara and Um Qirfa are necessary and justified. Many statements have been issued condemning these crimes against humanity. The Dar Al-Reeh Platform (Madar) issued a statement denouncing the criminal rebel militia for killing civilians and burning their villages in West Bara. Other organizations also released statements and condemnations for the atrocities committed by the rebel militia in North and West Kordofan.
There is no option left for the people of Kordofan as a whole but to declare jihad, take up arms, engage in popular resistance, and mobilize to eliminate the terrorist militia — through the will of the armed Sudanese people, who continue to resist ongoing foreign aggression in all its forms, designed to kill the Sudanese people and destroy every aspect of human life in Sudan. As for international humanitarian organizations, they are far removed from protecting civilian lives or delivering justice. Instead, they have become an extension of the global political system that supports aggression against the Sudanese people.
— Translated from “Sudanese Echoes”
