A Sudanese genocide refugee relayed his story of escaping the massacre of his village during a speech on Wednesday, May 4, and called for students to support peace, rather than violence as a method of stopping genocide.
The refugee, Arok Garang, is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” He was the keynote speaker in an event sponsored by the Colorado Coalition for Gender Awareness and Action (CCGAA) as a part of DU’s Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Week.
Garang discussed the situation in Sudan and told his story to approximately 25 students and staff members in a Driscoll conference room. He was one of approximately 20,000 boys who escaped murder during the Second Sudanese Civil War that lasted from 1983 to 2005.
When the government declared that all of Sudan was Islamic in 1989, Garang’s tribe, the Dinkas, rejected the Islamic cultures, resulting in revolution. Shortly after, the Islamic government attacked his tribe along with many other southern Sudanese tribes, according to Garang.
“They wanted to kill all male children,” said Garang. “Our families made us run away before they got there.”
According to Garang, Muslim men came in and shot many tribe members and took women to the north.
He said he was 7 years old when he ran away with other boys in his village.
“We hid for two months with very little food and water,” Garang said. “Half of us died on
the way.”
Garang said that the survivors finally met up with United Nations humanitarian groups in Kenya and were provided aid. He later discovered that his parents were murdered, along with two of his sisters.
The war resulted in the deaths and displacement of approximately 2.5 million people. Garang was one of the 3,800 boys to be relocated to the United States and Canada by a UN and American government program formally established in 2001.
Garang said that the African country is made up of 129 tribes in the south and is predominantly Muslim in the north. He said that the Muslims still commit genocide today because the tribes do not share their religion or culture.
“The present war that started in 2005 is only a continuation from what went on before,” said Garang. “There are so many problems, including land, oil, religion and identity. The government wants to kill people who don’t believe in Islam.”
According to Garang, what is happening in Darfur, Sudan now is a very bad thing. He said that since 2005, thousands more tribe members have been killed, and that DU students can do more to prevent the atrocities of genocide by writing letters and spreading awareness.
“With groups like you, we can do more to prevent genocide and to not ignore the realities of what’s going on,” Garang said. “I don’t think military involvement is a good way to end [Omar Hassan] al-Bashir’s reign in Sudan. I think peace is the only and best way.”
