Forced to flee

Marie-José Tubiana

Description

I only met those who managed to get through. Those who witnessed the attacks on their villages, the burning down of their homes. Those who buried their dead. Those who were caputured, imprisoned or tortured. Those who crossed the Sahara. Those who worked illegally in Libya to pay for the crossing of the Mediterranean. Those who do not speak the language of the country whre they arrive. Who are these men and sometimes women who ask for asylum in France ?

Sujets

• Soudan
• Immigration
• Autobiographie
• Interculturel
• Récit
• Afrique subsaharienne
• Témoignage
• Lettres et linguistique
• Sahara
• Desierto del Sahara

Informations

• Publié par: L'Harmattan
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• EAN13: 9782140041235
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

M ARIE J OSÉ TUBIANA

FORCED TO FLEE

STORIES OF ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM DARFUR, SUDAN

Translated from the french by Philip O’Prey

FORCEDTOFLEE

Thisstudyispublished byPMCT(l’AssociationP OUR M IEUX C ONNAÎTRE LE T CHAD ) TogetherwithARESAE(Associationpourledéveloppementdela RechercheScientifiqueenAfriquedel’Est).

Frontcover:

Lorry carrying goods and passengers between east Chad, Darfur and Libya (JérômeTubiana).

Backcover:Cereal granary ripped open during the destruction of Um Buru in 2004 (JérômeTubiana).

©L’Harmattan,2017 5-7,ruedel’École-Polytechnique,75005Paris

http://www.harmattan.fr [e-mail]

Firstpublished2017.

ISBN:978-2-343-12413-1 EAN:9782343124131 GRAPHICDESIGN&LAYOUT–AnneLEBOSSÉ

PMCT - aresæ

M ARIE -J OSÉ T UBIANA

FORCED TO FLEE

STORIES OF ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM DARFUR (SUDAN)

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY PHILIP O’PREY

FOREWORD

I have traveled extensively up and down the tracks of Darfur, from Zalingei to El-Fasher, or from El-Fash er to KutumandthentoTinépassingbyAnka,Dor,UmBuru, Kornoy, heading out to Mellit in the east, to Musba t and ForawiyainthenorthandtoDarFurnunginthewest. Inthecourseofseverallongfieldtripsin1965,1969and 1970 Joseph Tubiana and myself were able to carry o ut linguistic, historical and ethnological surveys in a country thenatpeace. Theconditionsoflifewereharsh,thedroughtwas having devastatingeffects,nonethelesspeacereigned.Clashesbetween the different groups occasionally occurred, the mos t spectacular being the one which took place in 1968 when a fight between Zaghawa and Jelul Arabs, around the p ool at Jinik, led to the death of twenty-two people, eleve n on each side.The fighters were armed with guns; previously  only knives had been used in fighting. A few months late r a meeting of the chiefs of thedar, sultan,shartay, andmelik, restoredpeacebyfixingthediyaorcompensationforthedead. The investigations carried out during these various missionsamongtheZaghawaandtheTunjuraresetoutin detailinthedailylogIkept;theyprovideapictureofwhat 1 Darfurwaslikebeforethewar.

1. Marie-José Tubiana.Carnets de route au Dar For (Soudan) 1965-1970,urMaSé,a,piaS-tni 2006.

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FORCEDTOFLEE

Since 1980, we have not returned to Darfur: the region has served as a sanctuary for Chadian opponents and  their Libyan supporters, and on account of the uninterrup ted drought for several years in succession people were impelled togosouthtofindabetterlife,bothforthemselvesandtheir flocksandherds.Thesituationwasthereforenotbestsuited for our staying in the villages and pursuing our investigations.Wekeptexchangingletterswithsomeofour contactsinthe‘Africanstyle’,thatistosaywithlongbreaks in between letters. The press, particularly the Eng lish- speakingpress,keptusinformed.

It was then that we observed some worrying signs, t he harbingersofmoreseriousconflictstocome. –In1986,theal-Tajamual-arabiorganizationor‘the Arab assembly called for the Arabs of Darfur to uni te in ordertocontrolthelocaladministration. –Between1987and1989,conflictsbrokeoutbetween the For and almost all the Arab groups in Darfur: t he Janjawidages.arbAurbdntlimiastiroFllivnwo004 –Between1992and1993wemaynoteaseriesofcamel thefts involving both Awlad Zeid Arabs and Zaghawa;  the government’sone-sidedstanceinthisconflictresultedinthe settingupofthefirstZaghawarebelgroupsin2002. –In1995begantheattacksoftheArabsofwestDarfur on the Masalit farmers; in 1998 there were over 5,0 00 Masalitdeadandsome100,000ofthemfledtoChad. –August 2001 saw the founding of the Darfur Libera tion Movement, which attacked the Sudanese forces and fr om February2003calleditselftheSudanLiberationAr my(SLA). –InApril2003,therewastheSLA’svictoriousraidonEl- Fasher,thecapitalofNorthDarfur,andthebirthofasecond

FOREWORD

7

rebel movement, JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) founded by non-Arabs close to Hassan ElTourabi.Th e governmentembarkedonamassivecrackdown. Itwasthisrepressionthatwasresponsiblefortheexilein EuropeoftheyoungestDarfuris,astheywerebetterableto survive the harsh conditions of the journey. So from 2005, I sawanumberofyoungmenfromDarfur,ofvariousethnic origins, arrive at my Paris apartment to ask for he lp. They hadheardofusintheirfamilies.Theyknewwehadstayedin their country and were not strangers for them. They were countingonus. I cannot remember how the first one showed up; after that it became a matter of word of mouth. I would receive them,listentothemwiththehelpofaninterpreter,asthey quietly told me their story. My questions elicited fresh clarifications, as I encouraged them to make a plan of their village, to describe the routes they used to take to go to the various markets or to the hospital.These points would give greater credibility to their identity when encounte ring: OFPRA (Office français de protection des réfugiés e t des apatrides (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and StatelessPersons))andtheCNDA(Cournationaledudroit d’asile (National Court of Asylum Rights)). I would  direct them to a lawyer who could defend them, or even to a medicalcenter,whichwouldprovidethemwithacertificate attesting the abuse they had suffered during their detention as well as the marks of torture. Based on what I now knew aboutthem,Icouldprovidethemwithawrittenattestation confirming their ethnicity, the location of their v illage and thetruthfulnessoftheirstorywhentheydescribedtheattack on their village, their imprisonment, their escape and their longjourneytoreachEuropepittedwithobstacles.

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FORCEDTOFLEE

Itisthesenarratives,oratanyrateanumberofthem,that Iwouldliketopresenttoanyonewhomaybesurprisedby the presence of refugees in our country and thereby enable them to appreciate what these men and women have so bravelybeenthrough.IhopeImayhavethusshownthema differentwayoflookingatandtreatingthesepeople. I am above all indebted to all those who have entrusted me with their story, and who trusted me sufficientl y to confide their grief over the death of their loved o nes and theirownfeelingsofanxietyaboutwhatthefuturemayhold in store, always with great restraint, and sometime s with barelycontainedemotion.Itisimpossibletolistthemall.To protect their privacy their names are not given in the testimonies cited, but they are all present in the drafting of this modest book whose purpose is to help the reade r becomemoreconsciousofthesituation. Forbeingatmyconstantdisposalandfortheirfriendship I wish to thank the collaborators who interpreted i n the different languages spoken in Darfur, first and for emost Imam Zaki Obey, a collaborator from the earliest days, Dr Abdel-Aziz Abdallah Kodok, Aboubakar Adam and many other occasional contributors. Without them, none o f the conversationscouldeverhavetakenplace. Iwouldliketothankallthosewhowerekindenoughto readthistextandofferremarksandsuggestions,inparticular Michèle Gendreau-Massaloux, Annette Carayon, Clotil de Warin,MarcFontrierand,regardinganumberofpoints,my son Jérôme, who experienced on the ground the turmo il whichdevelopedfrom2003andpersiststothisday,despite the announcement of peace agreements that continue to be withouteffect.

I. DARFUR IN TURMOIL

I received no protection from my state where I was pursued by the army and the rebels. I cannot return to my village which was completely destroyed, where my cattle were stolen. I do not want to go back to my country where my father and mother were killed before my very eyes. I can no longer live in a country where the army wounds and tortures me instead of coming to my help. I cannot and do not want to live in a country where even refugee camps are unsafe and are at the mercy of the army, the militias the police and anyone else just because they have a rifle and the power of life and especially death over others.

ThewordsofayoungSudanese fromDarfur