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attacking civilians, shooting dead one young man. 158 “There were no (opposition) soldiers
staying with us,” she said.
Mirmir town, north of Leer town, was also looted by JEM and parts of it burned, according
to witnesses. A village called Gap, about 45 kilometers east of Leer town, was also
attacked numerous times by the government and JEM forces. One woman who fled there
from the attack in Leer said:
They took beds, sorghum, goats. They were shooting with big guns from
cars, some were on foot shooting at civilians. Two of my relatives were
killed. Gap was all burned. All that remains is four luak (large huts).
A woman who had run to a village called Both near Leer described how JEM and
government soldiers beat her until she revealed where her stored sorghum was hidden.
“They took 6 bags of sorghum. It would have been enough for my family until the next
harvest,” she said. A man who fled Leer to the village of Beer, about 28 kilometers northeast
from Leer town, described an attack in early February: “Darfur rebels and the SPLA
soldiers attacked us … they arrived shooting at us … the gunfire was intense”. 159
People in Mayendit county, southwest of Leer, also witnessed attacks, particularly in the
area of Rubkuay a town along the road between Leer and Mirmir. Witnesses told Human
Rights Watch starting in February, and as late as April, that they saw government forces
who they described as “torabora,” [common name for Darfur rebels] enter into Rubkuay in
vehicles, shooting in the air and at people, looting animals and forcing people to flee to
surrounding bush.
Other witnesses named numerous other villages especially in Leer but also in Mayendit
county where government and JEM attacks also took place. In almost every case, survivors
said soldiers had taken foods and other property and in many cases the forces shot at
civilians hiding in the bush and burned houses and other buildings.
158 Human Rights Watch interview, name withheld, Bentiu, April 7 2014
159 Human Rights Watch interview, name withheld, Juba, March 25, 2014.
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