'We Had to Avoid Stepping On the Bodies in the Streets' in Darfur

A former UN staff member who worked for a decade in Sudan's Darfur region for the African Union-United Nations mission, UNAMID, has told UN News how she had to"avoid stepping on the bodies in the streets" as she fled for her life to neighbouring Chad.

"We were trapped inside our house for more than 57 days while militias systematically targeted and killed people based on their ethnicity. They did not spare women, children or elders. Life is disrupted during this time, and markets, schools and government institutions are closed. Then, when the attacks stop, people try to resume their normal lives. When the last war broke out last April, we thought it would be the same, but, unfortunately, it was different.

The war lasted for 57 days in the southern part of El Geneina, and whole neighborhoods were wiped out. The militiamen worked in a systematic way, going from house to house killing people. Snipers were also hiding on the rooftops and were targeting everyone they saw. There was death in a way I can't describe.The militiamen worked in two teams, one focused on killing people and the other on looting their property.

There is a tree in El Geneina that the militants called the 'tree of the dead', to which they used to bring people for execution by firing squad. The men refused to bury the bodies, and no one else was allowed to do so or even ask about the missing.

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