Displaced in West Darfur still face threats that keep them from returning home

EL-GENEINA, Sudan -- The killings and burnings of homes have diminished since terrified villagers in Sudan's West Darfur state fled to camps for the displaced and African Union soldiers arrived to protect them.

But a campaign of intimidation blamed on semi-nomadic Arabs known as the Janjaweed continues, and has cut so deeply into the local psyche that refugees can't shake their fear of going home.

Many of those in the camps complain it still is not safe even to venture to the outskirts of the compound, let alone trek to far-off villages.

"If we go outside the camp, we might be raped. If we go back to the village we may be killed," said Ashya Diar Sugu, who has lived at Riad camp on the outskirts of el-Geneina since the nomads attacked her home two years ago. They killed her husband.

The confinement is intensely felt by the rural folk. A short walk beyond the edge of the camp to collect firewood has regularly left women beaten and robbed, and often raped, by attackers they say are Arabs. Men in the camps rarely venture out, saying they likely would be killed.

On a small rise at the edge of Riad camp, armed men on horses or camels are sometimes visible, grim reminders to the refugees of why they fled here and why they don't dare leave.

Raiding Janjaweed

Those men on horse- and camel-back -- the refugees call them Janjaweed, Peshmarga (for militia) or just Arabs -- are the ones accused of the killing, rapes and burning of villages in a scorched-earth campaign to drive the settled, farming population from the region.

The village farmers and the so-called nomadic Arab cattle-herders have long competed for scarce resources in Darfur. Both groups are Africans and Muslims, but the nomads are called Arab because of their cultural affinity to that ethnic group, which is dominant in the north of Sudan.

The conflict has been labeled African vs. Arab, but, much like Sudan's southern civil war, is an economic and political fight over resources and governing.

The United Nations estimates more than 1.9 million people were displaced since the violence began, and at least 180,000 people killed. The African Union has stepped in with about 3,000 peacekeeping troops -- the number is expected to rise to 12,000 -- and has helped negotiate a number of hit-and-miss cease-fires.

A sixth round of peace talks between the two main rebel groups and the government is to begin Sept. 15 in Abuja, Nigeria.

But some of the displaced women are daring to make trips home, the need for food outweighing the risks.