Bøker av Adier Mach Deng

November 15, 1991, the day of the Bor Massacre that killed an estimated 8000 Sudanese, is a day that many people of Sudan remember with regret and deep sadness. However this was just one instance of far too many where ethnic conflict, genocide, and tragedy ravaged the fledgling nation. The Bor Massacre took place during the Second Sudanese War, adding to the highest body count of any conflict since World War II. The slow extermination of the populace has been propelled by the main causes of war in this age: power imbalances along ethnic lines, a battle for resources, and a colonial legacy. Much like the Middle East, there are no easy answers for Sudan and the death, destruction, corruption, fleeing refugees, and external interference continues today with no clear end in sight.

We were all at the cattle camp-the boys, a few girls, the young adult men... The elders who had taught the younger ones how to properly care for our cattle already had gone to the village, their jobs finished, for this year, at least. I was about four years old, and this was my second year at the camp. It was early morning, the sun already a ball of heat in the white-clouded sky. Suddenly, we heard a noise overhead. All of us rushed out to see helicopters above us. We were excited, especially the younger boys among us, and we pointed and jumped up and down. Suddenly, the helicopters fired on us-again and again. Boys fell to the ground, blood spurting from their faces and bodies. What could we do? Where could be run to? There seemed to be no way to escape.

Is God's Sign real? Has God been talking to us? Or are we the real demagogues of our own image? Sudan has been the land of Biblical plagues, where the locusts came down upon Egypt. And Sudan has sent envoys on boats by water (down the Nile River or down the Red Sea) to Jerusalem. This included Eben-Malech, who saved Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 38:7-13) and the treasurer of Queen Candice (Acts 8:26-40). The prophecy in Isaiah 18 could well refer to Southern Sudan. It speaks of a land "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" which worships the Lord God. They are described as "a nation tall and smooth of skin," feared all over the world.