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Unlike some other militia leaders in Darfur, Abdullah Mustafa Abu Shineibat is not mentioned in a prosecutor's brief to the ICC. However, eye-witness accounts indicate that he was a leader of the Arab militias and that, like the other Janjaweed leaders, attacks lead by him were motivated by violent racial hatred.

Shineibat's leadership shows how leaders of the Janjaweed work with the Sudanese government to carry out genocide in Darfur through murder and torture.

Militia and Government Cooperation

Shineibat is an Arab emir of the Beni Halba tribe. He participated with Hamid Dawai—who was widely known to have ties to the Sudanese military—in the attack on the village of Kenu. To support the attack, the Janjaweed had obtained a vehicle and money from the Sudan National Security unit in Foro Burunga. An eye-witnesses described Shineibat as, “a real military man [who] used to live in the military camp in Foro Burunga.”

Racism and Torture

One survivor recognized Shineibat in the attack on the village of Daza, located about thirty kilometers from Foro Burunga. The witness knew Shineibat because he and a group of Arabs would come to the village on a regular basis to buy things. While in the village, the Arabs would shout “Nuba, Nuba!”

In other attacks in which Shineibat was involved, witness heard the attackers shout such things as “The government wants to finish all black men and all Darfur people,” and “We don't need black people in this land—this is Arab land not African—Black people are only good for slaves.”

Torture

The Janjaweed under Shineibat were vicious. According to one man captured by militia under Shineibat's command,

They threw us on the ground at the camp and tied us to a tree. The Chief of the camp came to us. I knew him as [name deleted] …. [He] shaved my head with his knife. He cut my scalp and there was blood everywhere. I was left tied to the tree until 10 p.m.…. Other men then came and untied us. They tied our wrists to our ankles in front and then threaded a stick under our knees. They then pulled us into a tree with a rope tied to the stick. I swung upside down. Four military men then beat me with sticks. This went on for one to two hours. The same thing happened every day for seven days.

Bottom Line

Eye-witness testimony of refugees who survived the genocide in Darfur provide a damning picture of Janjaweed leader Abdullah Mustafa Abu Shineibat. With government backing, Shineibat used racism to motivate the torture and murder of the people of Darfur.

Other Keytexts from this source

Faces of Genocide in Darfur: Ali Kushayb

Faces of Genocide in Darfur: Hamid Dawai

Strategy for Genocide in Darfur

Violence in Darfur Comes in Waves