When the Good Guys Go Bad

摘要

As he sips tea on a dusty mat beneath the sparse shade of a thorn tree, Ahmed Hatum Shiib Ahmed recalls the day in early 2006 when his tribal village in Darfur was attacked. Men in desert-beaten pickups with mounted guns swept in at noon, strafing the market and shooting villagers. Then just as quickly, the fighters withdrew to the outskirts, cordoning the village and trapping its inhabitants. In the days that followed, they terrorized the villagers. They stole cattle and camels, eating what they needed and sending the rest on long caravans to distant markets for sale. One by one, over grievances large and small, 20 villagers were killed. On donkey and on foot, the besieged inhabitants stole away in the nights, making the arduous trip across the rock-strewn landscape in search of a safer place. "At times like this, a family has lost all of its resources," says Ahmed, a tribal elder.