VICE News correspondent Julia Steers interviews General Omar Al Gizouli, a rebel commander who’s fought with the Sudanese Liberation Army AW faction since 2003, in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur. (Photo: Zach Caldwell/VICE News)
Mariam Ibrahim Ausher, 35, a soldier with the Sudanese Liberation Army, joined the rebels after her village was attacked by government forces and her first husband and children were killed. She fights in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur.alongside her rebel husband, General Al Gizouli. (Photo: Zach Caldwell/VICE News)
“When I remember,” he said, “I can’t eat. Still, today, it’s torture.”“Our village was completely on fire. Most of us were killed.”
Her hopes for the future are simple.“I just want everything to be back as it was before, like our homes, our farms, that [there is] school for our children.“I want them to give me my life back, my home and my safety.”Sources with UNAMID, the U.N. and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, told VICE News that local militias remain heavily armed and are supported by the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group evolved from the Janajweed. Even through ceasefires and renewed peace talks, small-scale attacks are still commonplace here, stoking fear in the civilian population crowded into camps.“I was shocked after [the attack] and now still, I’m frozen. I’ve stopped doing most things.”
The mountains of Jebel Marra, a region of Darfur that bore the brunt of government bombings and alleged chemical weapons attacks during a government-led campaign against the people of Darfur, which lasted almost 20 years. (Photo: Zach Caldwell/VICE News)