Child Captured in Khartoum Attack Tells Story

Posted to the web 1 July 2008 El Gaili Fatima (not her real name) thought her son was dead until she saw his name in the newspaper. He was among about 90 children listed as participants in a rebel attack near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in May, which reportedly killed 200 people and injured hundreds of others. Fatima's son, Ahmed, 15, had been missing since October. When she read of his capture, she travelled for three days from her village in Darfur to a government-run camp for children it says were recruited by the opposition rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The group denies this claim. During their reunion, Fatima heard her son tell his story for the first time. The government invited IRIN to the camp, more than an hour's drive north of Khartoum, in an isolated centre enclosed by a barbed-wire... [read full story]