I was caught up in a battle field and survived narrowly

I was caught up in a battle field and survived narrowly 

By: Abraham Daljang Maker

Any fair minded person would not do what I had done on the January 18, 2013 in Rumbek town. It was as a normal morning just like any other day; I was sitting on the compound of my cousin brushing my teeth, suddenly there was a loud bang of a gun short. This happened at a distance of a stone throw from where I sat. 

Alas! It was a communal fighting between Ruop and Kueeth clans of the Dinka ethnic groups of Rumbek center. The cattle keepers popularly known as “Gelwong” in the Dinka dialect attacked themselves among the civilians in the suburb of the town. Bullets were flying like birds above everyone’s head, confusions engulf the whole town as women and children were yelling while running for their dear lives.  I also join the procession of the terrified masses but after a short distance; I decided to return so that I could witness what was taking place. Foolishly enough, I was neither a rescue team nor was I fighting; I was totally unarmed and vulnerable. 

I was going out of curiosity to see such horror and also to find out how journalists get stories in conflict areas, I have been dreaming of covering stories in conflict zones and this was my first venture. I followed the soldiers who were trying to separate the warring faction but I found myself in the battle field and could not retreat again, wounded men were in hiding, shooting whoever they think could betray them. I was like a rock in the middle of the river and I had nowhere to turn, it was all dangerous to return and also dangerous to advance with soldiers or to remain in the middle. Wounded people were in agony and pain, dead bodies everywhere.  I had to follow soldiers with a machine gun commonly known as PKM which was tied on a military pickup vehicle. That was my only defense and my hope for protection.  A pregnant woman was shot on the throat by a hiding wounded man and she died on pot. Before we could ascertain where the shooting came from, a student was again shot on the head dead, he was gone too. Two men were subsequently wounded by the same man; the police came and arrested him and took him to the hospital. My blood was frozen on seeing people falling as such. I was a living dead, left with no option but only to wait for a stray bullet which might hit me at any time. I decided to move on with the soldiers, Bullets were still hitting here and there, raising the dust in front or behind me. In the process three soldiers who were separating the two warring faction got wounded, I would bend or hid on tree trunk to avoid being caught by cross fire, bullets  were making a hissing sounds everywhere, I would crawl on my knees when it gets hotter. I was left with no hope but just to wait for anything that can hit me, my heart was beating faster and I could felt the throbbing sound of the heart beat which almost blew off my ribs.

At around 10:00am, the soldiers were tired and haggard but the fighters were still strong and determine to chase each other, the more soldiers shoot to get them separated, the more they kept shooting each other. Without a very good reason, one soldier turns on us the spectators and told us to return and should not follow them anymore. It was in the middle of the battle and if we return, we could get hurt by hiding wounded men, we insisted to follow them but he madly turned and shot at us mercilessly, at first he shot in the air but when he saw us running, he kept lowering his shot, I tried to hid on a tree trunk but bullet were peeling off the bark of the trunk I hide on. I threw myself down and crawl on my knees. In a few distances, a group of us stood together but all of a sudden a bullet hit between us spilling sand on us. We then realized that the danger is increasing, I told my colleague to just make a U-turn and I kept running. Eventually; I reached home but I found everyone had run away for refuge. Thinking of these entire incidences and seeing many young men lying in a pool of blood dead, I couldn’t help thinking how I would laid like them if I got caught in a crossfire or shot by that angry, nasty soldier. At the end of the fighting, a total of 35 people were killed and over 40 people were wounded. I was traumatized for about one week because of the horrible sound of that machine gun which was ringing in my mind and pictures of dead men remain in my memory for some time, series of nightmares were the order of the nights. In my dream, I would see many soldiers butchering people but I would narrowly survive.

 These two clans have an outstanding conflict over grazing land along the river bank. These communal clashes are not extra-ordinary because there are number of issues that lead to such horrible fighting; one of these is competition over grazing land, elopements of a lady without paying the dowry, cattle raiding among others. The Dinka tribes are well known for always fighting among themselves, before the arrival of guns, the Dinka used to fight with spear and clubs and all these fight usually rotate around those that are mentioned above.

After 24 hours of fear in the town, the governor of the state ordered the arrest of all the culprits and immediate disarmament process had to start, Rumors of looting the property in homes and cattle raiding are spreading like a wild fire and fear is still hovering around the town, the future and safety of the vulnerable like the elderly and the young ones plus women is still dark and unclear in this situation. Two days after the fighting in Rumbek town, the capital city of Lakes state; the President of the Republic of South Sudan Salva Kiir sacked the Lakes state governor Chol Tong and replace him with the former army major general as an acting governor until bi-elections are conducted. It was not clear why he was sacked because the office of the President did not release any statement; the governor’s fate came at the time when the government is reshuffling its leadership.