Sudan’s Nuba Mountains People Under Siege: Essays by Humanitarians in the Battle Zone

282 Pages·2017·6.521 MB·English

by  Samuel Totten (Ed.)

Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
People Under Siege
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Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
People Under Siege
Accounts by Humanitarians
in the Battle Zone
Edited by SaMUel ToTTeN
Foreword by BaroNeSS CaroliNe Cox
Afterword by iSrael W. CharNy
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
liBraryofCoNgreSSCaTalogUiNg-iN-PUBliCaTioNDaTa
Names: Totten, Samuel, editor of compilation.
Title: Sudan’s Nuba Mountains people under siege : accounts by humanitarians
in the battle zone / edited by Samuel Totten ; foreword by
Baroness Caroline Cox ; afterword by israel W. Charny.
Description: Jefferson, North Carolina : Mcfarland & Company, inc.,
Publishers, 2017. | includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lCCN 2016051900 | iSBN 9781476667225 (softcover : acid free paper)
♾
Subjects: lCSh: Nuba (african people)—Social conditions. | Kurdufān
al-Janūbīyah (Sudan)—Social conditions. | Sudan—history—
Darfur Conflict, 2003—Personal narratives. | humanitarian
assistance—Sudan—Kurdufān al-Janūbīyah. | Visitors,
foreign—Sudan—Kurdufān al-Janūbīyah—Biography. | Medical
personnel—Sudan—Kurdufān al-Janūbīyah—Biography. |
Missionaries—Sudan—Kurdufān al-Janūbīyah—Biography. |
Philanthropists—Sudan—Kurdufān al-Janūbīyah—Biography.
Classification: lCC DT155.2.N82 S83 2017 | DDC 962.404/3—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016051900
BriTiShliBraryCaTalogUiNgDaTaareaVailaBle
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-6722-5
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-2715-1
© 2017 Samuel Totten. all rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
front cover artwork: Bombings and Extreme Hunger Force Nuba Mountains
People from eir Villages and Homes,watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper
17" × 22", © 2016 Kathleen Barta
Printed in the United States of america
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
first, i wish to dedicate this book to my dear wife, Kathleen Maria Barta,
for her unconditional love, her remarkable and sustained support
in regard to my efforts in war- torn regions of the world despite
her anxieties of what may become of me, and her incredible
contributions to my efforts in the refugee camps along the
Chad/Darfur, Sudan border, and the Nuba Mountains in Sudan.
i also wish to dedicate this book to each of the individuals whose stories
appear herein.They are a unique, caring, dedicated and intrepid group of
individuals. Some are dear friends, others are acquaintances, and still others
are “colleagues” of sorts whom i either know by reputation and/or only via
email, but in the end they will always be an inspiration to me.
and last but certainly not least, i dedicate this book to the people of the
Nuba Mountains who simply desire to live peaceful lives on their ancestral
land with the opportunity to honor and practice their unique cultural ways
and way of life, to enjoy their god- given rights, including the freedom to
practice their religion of choice, to have a voice in their local, state and
national affairs, and to be treated fairly and as equals among and along
with their fellow Sudanese, no matter their “race,” tribal affiliation, color,
religion, or political leanings. Theywill always be in my heart.
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Table of Contents
Glossary ix
List of Acronyms xvii
Foreword (Baroness Caroline Cox) 1
Introduction (Samuel Totten) 11
a love for the Nuba People
ToMo KrižNar 21
Doing god’s Work
ryaN BoyeTTe 38
on the frontlines of Medicine
ToM CaTeNa, M.D. 49
in the Service of Christ: My “Tours” in the Nuba Mountains
SiSTer DeirDre M. ByrNe, M.D. 64
a Son of the Nuba: from forced exile to My return as a humanitarian
george TUTU 75
Confronting War Crimes in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan
MaTT ChaNCey 101
a Moral imperative: from Conducting research in the Nuba Mountains
to hauling food to Those in Most Critical Need
SaMUel ToTTeN 114
Sojourns Through Worlds of Suffering
JohN C. JefferSoN 160
Doctoring in the Nuba Mountains During Wartime
JohN P. SUTTer, M.D. 189
Medical Missions to the Nuba War Zone
Corry ChaPMaN, M.D. 204
vii
viii Table of Contents
Sowing Seeds of Peace: My Life at Mother of Mercy Hospital
MARGARET CAMARCA 210
A Small Town Doctor Responds to the Needs of the Nuba
C. LOUIS PERRINJAQUET, M.D. 225
Afterword (Israel W. Charny) 246
Annotated Bibliography 251
About the Contributors 259
Index 261
glossary
Abdel Aziz Adam Al- Hilu(commonly referred to as simply abdel aziz): aziz was a SPlM
commander in the south’s fight against the north (1983–2005). Subsequently, he became deputy
governor of South Kordofan, Sudan. in 2011, he ran for the governor of South Kordofan against
ahmed haroun and lost. The SPlM–North decried the election as rigged. Shortly thereafter, war
broke between the SPlM–N and the government of Sudan, with aziz serving as the commander
of SPlM–N.
Abid: “Slave” in arabic.
African Union (AU): formerly the organization of african Unity (oaU), the aU is a union
of 54 african States concerned broadly with african solidarity, development, security, sovereignty,
politics, and economics. according to the aU’s vision statement, the aU strives for “an integrated,
prosperous and peaceful africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in
the global arena.”
Antonovs: The government of Sudan planes that carried out attacks on the black african
villages in Darfur in the early 2000s and that have carried out (and continue to do so through
today) (June 2011–present or January 2017) attacks against the civilian population of the Nuba
Mountains. Purchased by Sudan from russia, antonovs are russian cargo planes retrofitted to
serve as bombers.
Arabization: a phenomenon involving ever- increasing cultural influence on a non–arab
area, gradually resulting in one that becomes arabic in speech, worship, social and political prac-
tice, education and often legally (e.g., Shari’a, islamic law). a key goal of arabization, then, is the
complete transformation of an area/society.
Ban Ki- moon: Secretary general of the United Nations from 2007 through 2016.
Bashir, Omar al-: The president of Sudan (1989–present). al-Bashir became president of
Sudan in 1989 following a coup d’état that he and his fellow military officers carried out. he is
wanted by the international Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes
and genocide for alleged atrocities perpetrated in Darfur between 2003 and 2008.
Black Africans: The arab people of Sudan refer to non–arabs as “black africans,” and the
so- called black africans refer to themselves as black africans in order to distinguish themselves
from the arabs.
Blue Nile State: a state in Sudan. Since august 2011, primarily resulting from serious dif-
ferences concerning the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace agreement in the region, a
faction in the Blue Nile State rebelled. Subsequently, the government of Sudan (goS) have carried
out wholesale attacks on the populace of the region. as a result of the attacks by the goS, massive
numbers of civilians have fled their villages.
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA):following the catastrophic Second Sudanese Civil
War (1983–2005), in which an estimated two million people died and another four million were
forced from their villages and homes, a peace agreement (The Comprehensive Peace agreement)
was signed in 2005.
Under the mediation of the intergovernmental authority on Development (igaD), the gov-
ernment of the Sudan and the SPlM/a signed a series of six agreements:
ix