The Enough Project has released a video statement from an eye witness of the razing of Maker Abior village who said he saw combatants wearing SAF uniforms as well as other armed actors.
“Arabs attacked the village. Some were wearing SAF uniforms. Some were dressed like Janjaweed,” said Kuol Alor Kuol, a 73-year-old eye witness and resident of the village. “We will stay here because it is our land. This is our ancestors’ land.”
Multimedia journalist Tim Freccia, reporting exclusively for the Enough Project in Sudan’s contested Abyei region, filmed the video during a recent visit to the destroyed villages of Todach, Tajalei, and Maker Abior.
In Todach, which burned to the ground on February 27, 80 people were killed during the clashes. According to a source on the ground: “During the burning of Todach, the JIU units – the Joint Integrated Units of (southern) SPLA and northern (SAF) troops designed to improve security in the area – were about 500 meters just behind (the village). They didn’t do anything.”
The Satellite Sentinel Project first confirmed the deliberate burning of the villages.