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One of the attackers had been captured and badly beaten. He was about fourteen. Another attacker had been shot in the back and was barely alive on the sand at the edge of the trees. His blood was flowing out around him and probably nearly all gone. He was also about fourteen. These were the Janjaweed Arab boys. We talked to the boy who had been beaten. I translated.
"Why did you attack this village?"
"We are from a village just over there. We have always been friends with the people of this village."
"So why, then?"
"We were told by the government soldiers that these people were going to attack our village and kill our families if we did not attack them first. They would give us money if we did this." The money was equal to about two hundred dollars, which was a lot of money--if anyone were ever really paid for it.
"Our families need this money, and we had to protect them." [1]
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Daoud Hari's good natured recounting of his experience of the horrors of the Darfur genocide, which will go on to detail a spell of torture in Sudan's security system, includes the above illustration of what in manipulative political language may be called "reflection", specifically the ascription to the victim of the murderer's intentions.
Kick in bribery for good measure, the insecure pride of children as a target that can be made into a weapon, and, of course, adult depravity, greed, sadism and the complete collapse of conscience in those who launch such crimes, and the misery in Darfur continues.
For up-to-date information: http://www.savedarfur.org/
While hot air on the matter continues at the UN, e.g., http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36965, aerial bombing has taken place as recently as November 13, 2010: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36929.
Reference
1. Hari, Daoud. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur. New York: Random House, 2008.
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