South Sudan: A Portrait of Ongoing Terror

    September 11, 2002

Adut Deng Chan is the widow of Kuol, a blind beggar, who was killed in the June 23 bombing of her  village, Malual Kon, located in south Sudan. 

Despite U.S. attempts for peace, the extremist government of Sudan (GOS) continues to terrorize its innocent civilians as part of an ongoing campaign to ethnically cleanse the south.  The numbers killed have reached genocidal proportions.

Adut's life is an example of this brutality. 

"My parents perished during the great famine in 1988, we lived in Nymlell in Aweil West," Adut said. "My two brothers went to the North in search of food.  One is said to be in Khartoum, the other in Port Sudan."

"I had five children, only Achol survived," she continued while holding her baby close.  "The others starved to death because we were very poor.  My husband, Kuol, was blind and had to beg for food.   We used to live in Aweil town (a GOS garrison).  We fled from there four years ago because people were afraid for their lives." 

Recurring military attacks by the government leave little hope of survival for villagers like Adut. 

"I live from handouts, I do domestic work.  While Kuol was alive, people knew him.  But now nobody knows me, and I am struggling to keep Achol and myself alive."

Photos and interview courtesy of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) http://www.csi-int.org