Darfur: Surviving the Antonovs

Surviving the Antonovs in Darfur

By Kamal Elsadig, Radio Dabanga

22 March 2016

EAST JEBEL MARRA, DARFUR, SUDAN

Many people in Darfur recognise the sound of the Antonov aircraft of the Sudanese Air Force. The converted Russian-made cargo aircraft are infamous in the western region of Sudan because their arrival means the indiscriminate bombing of villages. Civilians living in these danger zones in Darfur, however, manage to flee and outwit the terrifying Antonovs.

“Since the war erupted in Darfur in 2003, we have never had a rest from the Antonovs. It always circles around this area, bombing everything,” a resident of Leeba village in East Jebel Marra complains. He thinks that because of the geological structure of the Jebel Marra massif, the pilots have no idea where their bombs will fall.

The Antonovs are only capable of rolling barrel bombs out of their cargo hatch. The barrels, filled with shrapnel and high explosives, are thus far from accurate. Luckily, another villager says, people can avoid the explosions because the bombs are dropped from a high altitude. “By the time it is comes near the ground you can see it, run to the opposite direction, and hide.”

Not all of the crude barrel bombs explode. The children are taught not to approach the unexploded bombs: the adults carefully gather the explosives, circle them with thorns, and post a red cloth on top of it as a warning.

Enriched with deep caves, high mountains, and wide valleys, East Jebel Marra provides some protection from both air raids as military ground operations that are aimed against the armed rebels. The villagers in Leeba have learned to draw the attention of the Air Force pilots by laying-down shimmering metal about half a kilometre away from their farms or villages. From the air, the metal looks like the rooves of houses. “A bright metal pot will often distract the pilot because he assumes it is the target, and drops his bombs there,” a farmer says.

One of the villagers points to a small radio on which he listens to Radio Dabanga. “We always make sure that the FM is on when we hear an Antonov, so you can hear what pilots say and where they plan to drop the bombs. It helps us to run into the opposite direction. When they are distracted you can hear them shout and curse.”

Most houses in East Jebel Marra have a roof of zinc, making it a prominent target for the Air Force as it shines in the sun. Villagers started to cover the rooves with grass and straw. Others have built their houses on mountain tops, as a lookout for danger and to watch over the people living down in the valley.

Almost no one in East Jebel Marra keeps their precious property in their house, where it is at risk of being stolen by militiamen who frequently raid the villages. People have figured out a way to keep their possessions safe: buried in storage rooms dug deep in the ground.

The hole, usually about four metres deep, is dug at night so that only trusted family members know its location. It is sealed with big stones and they “are absolutely safe”, one of the villagers says. “This is our land, we are not going anywhere, and we therefore have to create new ways to encounter this situation. We have no place else to go.”