They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

The Kakuma Refugee Camp was established in 1992 by the UNHCR during the Second Sudanese Civil War, following the mass exodus of the Lost Boys of Sudan from their homes. The camp is located in Turkana County in the northwestern region of Kenya. Although established because of the Lost Boys, the camp also saw refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia who had fled their countries due to civil strife. Thus, when the boys arrived at Kakuma, they were instructed to find and join the Sudanese groups.

Kakuma is one of the seven largest refugee camps in the world. More than two decades after its establishment, Kakuma has grown into an “urban center” housing numerous refugee-run businesses catering to refugees and locals alike. Kakuma is currently home to over 150,000 refugees, largely from southern Sudan and Somalia.

The term “Murahilin,” or “Murahaleen,” originally referred to young men who traveled ahead of their families and cattle to identify pasture and upcoming threats. Following the outbreak of civil war in 1983, the Sudanese government began to arm these nomadic cattle herders from southern Kordofan and Darfur in Sudan, organizing and mobilizing them for combat. The Murahilin was comprised of men from numerous tribes, including the Missirya, Zaghawah, and Rizaygat.

The Murahilin’s main agenda was to fight the SPLA in the south. To this end, the government gave the Murahilin leeway and opportunity to loot the natural resources of the south. Benson mentions the elders discussing how the government’s agenda was to strip the south of their wealth. The Murahilin were also encouraged to harass the Dinka civilians and create general instability in southern Sudan. Thus, the boys grew up hearing of Murahilin attacks on neighboring villages, with cattle being looted and civilians harmed. The Murahilin also abducted civilians and sold them into enslavement, as happened with Deng. While the government did not officially associate with the Murahilin, they did not prevent them from carrying out these crimes and even worked in concert with the militia on occasion. The rampant raids, abductions, mutilations, and killings that took place in the Bahr al Ghazal area in the late 1980s caused mass displacement. This is the authors’ home region, and they were forced out of their homes by such attacks as young boys.

Sharia law is the Islamic religion’s legal system. The law is derived from the holy book of Islam, the Quran, as well as the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, termed the Sunnah and the Hadith. Sharia law is meant to function as a code by which a Muslim may lead their daily life and covers aspects such as prayer, charity, family life, and even business and finance. Along with describing a code of conduct, Sharia law also prescribes some punishments for specific crimes, such as amputating the offender’s hand in the case of theft. There are two kinds of offenses in Sharia law: serious crimes with set punishments, termed “hadd” offenses, and situations in which a judge may decide on the punishment, termed “tazir” crimes.

Sudan has been ruled by Sharia law since 1983, when then-president Gaafar Nimeiry introduced this in the “September Laws.” While they were briefly suspended by the elected Sadiq al-Mahdi government, they were reinstated by President Bashir when he seized power in a military coup in 1989.

After Sharia law was established in Sudan in 1983, an army battalion under the leadership of Colonel John Garang de Mabior mutinied and fled into the bush. Garang rallied southerners who were disenchanted with the Sudanese government’s corruption and discrimination toward the south. He formed the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), with its political arm being the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). Salva Kiri Mayardit was another instrumental player in helping form the SPLA and SPLM, serving as one of Garang’s top deputies and eventually becoming commander.

The SPLA was the major force that clashed with the government during the civil war. They battled fiercely with the government, forcing the latter to set an Arab militia against their African rivals in the south. Benson remembers hearing President Bashir calling fresh recruits to crush the Dinka. Eventually, a peace treaty was signed between the SPLA and the northern government in 2005 that ended the civil war.