1985 - -Unleashing "Civilian Devastation"
Umma Party defends record
Wrangle Over "Private Armies"
Assaults Begin on Dinka Villages
Child Hire
Ad-Da'ein massacre
The Nuba
Child Servitude
Colonel X's trophies
Ngeth's children
Children are also brought from the South by soldiers and officers. These are children of Southern Sudanese ethnic groups who are poor or orphaned and serve the soldiers in their military camps. After the soldiers are transferred to the North, some of them bring these children with them.
The most notorious case was the "Toposa boys", where a military plane was reported to have brought 80 children from the South to Khartoum. These children were subsequently taken to various parts of Sudan. This documented case received some attention in the media during Sadiq al-Mahdi's government.Top
"I remember Colonel X used to come back from the south and bring with him one and sometimes two teenage "Janoubi" (Southern) boys to help his wife in cleaning the bathroom, sweeping, and carrying the heavy bags when she went to the "souq" (market).These teenagers used to sleep in the small, poorly lit storage room and eat the remains of the food. The Colonel used to boast to some of us how after entering an unsuspecting village, they would destroy anything alive.
He would use the word "clean" to describe how they eradicated the village. The "lucky" ones were the ones that came with him... these kids don't speak Arabic that well and they don't even know where they are.
Sometimes when the Colonel feels he has extra "Janoubi boys" and owes someone a favour, he would give away one of their "boys".
They enjoyed this gift giving and I still remember vividly on one of these "boy giving" days how happy the Colonel's wife looked as she sat in the front of the government "Commer" with their driver from the Nuba Mountains. The "boys" would be displayed in the back of the "Commer" like a trophy, wearing torn clothes and no shoes.
Usually these kids flee after one or two years. And when they escape they start selling cigarettes and "hot items", or become "shamasa" (street kids). As they cannot read or write and may not even speak the language, they will do all they can to survive and soon like others, they will be captured through "al-kasha" (police round-ups).
They are then sent back to the war zone in the South where they get killed by fighting their own people."Top
