By Charlotte Brudenell, ACT-Caritas Field Communicator

Abata, West Darfur, 17 March 2007 - A sand track leads north from Zalingei to the village of Abata, but these days few people travel along it.

The track is flanked by tall acacia trees, and every so often the track cuts through a group of deserted, roofless shells of buildings. The countryside is silent. Where there were villages, only the wind now speaks through the trees.

"I lived here for one year," says Awadulla, the driver, as we pass through Boulle, a village halfway between Zalingei and Abata. "Over there, eighty five people died, thirty of them women. The Janjaweed started shooting from here, on the edge of the village."

The large tobacco factory, school, shops, and homes have all been destroyed and abandoned. Apart from a group of grazing camels and their four young herders, there is not a soul to be seen.

The Sudanese government stands accused of using militias, hailing from Arab tribes in the region and known as Janjaweed, as a proxy force to brutally put down what it labelled a rebellion in Darfur by tribes of black African origin, who complained of decades of neglect from the central government in Khartoum.

Since last year's May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement, however, killings and violence in Darfur have escalated even further, and violence has become even more random an incomprehensible. "Janjaweed" can be a bandit of any origin, as so-called Arabs attack Arabs and so-called Africans attack Africans. Already questionable ethnic labels definitely no longer hold.

In Abata, at the beginning of 2004, there were over 20,000 displaced persons in temporary shelters. They had been forced to leave their villages in the surrounding area due to fighting between different armed groups involved in the conflict.

Abata could not sustain so many people, and despite the risk of further attack, after a few months, many of those people paid to travel in lorries to the more secure camps around Zalingei, where aid agencies are present.

The people of Abata no longer travel to Zalingei. They cannot. The men cannot even go to the fields. The village is their prison.

Armed militias prevent them from leaving and tax the villagers for providing a kind of 'protection' service against attacks from other armed groups. It is also reported that checkpoints have recently been set up to stop people from moving from one place to another.

The armed groups also harass and intimidate. "Those with arms can do what they want to others," says Mohammed, the sheikh of Abata. "If you are wearing good clothes or have any money on you, they will take them from you. They let their animals destroy your crops, and you cannot say anything. They can beat you or shoot you. The police cannot even do anything."

"One Thursday, a group of armed men came here and looted the shops, they took some people, beat them and forced them to give them money too," adds Fatna, a local woman.

The people of Abata are predominantly farmers. Their crops, which the armed groups need to sustain themselves, are one of the reasons they are being forced to stay in the village. Unable to reach any other market, the villagers have no option but to sell to their captors.

"We cannot go outside to get work nor sell our crops in other markets," explains Mohammed. "As a result the whole economy of the village has been affected by the conflict."

Another reason why Abata has not been attacked is its ethnic composition. In addition to the 6,500 residents of Abata, there are currently some 2,500 internally displaced persons belonging to both African and Arab tribes.

Because of the lack of security, few aid agencies have managed to provide humanitarian assistance to Abata and other communities in the area in similar circumstances.

In January, tired of the harassment, lack of security, and poor conditions, several families from villages in the area of Abata managed to reach Zalingei camps. ACT-Caritas provided blankets, wash basins, plates, soap and cooking sets as part of a coordinated inter-agency effort to assist the new arrivals.

A few days after their arrival, however, militiamen on horses and camels arrived at one of the camps, firing gunshots into the air. They destroyed the temporary shelters of the new arrivals.

Since May 2006, when the IDPs in Zalingei held demonstrations against the Darfur Peace Agreement, there has been no African Union or police presence in the camps in Zalingei. There, the presence of international humanitarian agencies is the only deterrent and protection the IDPs have.

While those in Abata remain confined to their village, paying to live in a state of perpetual fear and insecurity, other villagers are leaving their homes to escape a spate of new clashes between two armed Arab groups that began in December.

Some of the recently displaced populations are now camping on the outskirts of Zalingei town. Their presence is creating friction with the people already settled in the camps there, since these newly displaced are now occupying some of the lands belonging to the established IDPs. The new arrivals are also from Arab tribes.

Yet, just like the people of Abata, these newly displaced communities are paying armed groups to "protect" them.

Action by Churches Together International (ACT) and Caritas Internationalis (CI) are working together in a joint response to the Darfur crisis.

ACT International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations present in 200 countries and territories.

Contact: ACT Communications Officer Callie Long (mobile/cell phone +41 79 358 3171) or

Caritas Internationalis Media Officer Nancy McNally (phone: +39 06 698 797 52)