Photo Credit: Refugees International
02/20/2005

A four-vehicle patrol left from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) sector headquarters in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur and headed south toward the village of Masteri, the site of a large population of internally displaced people. There are no paved roads in the area. The lead truck got stuck in the sand about 30 minutes after departure. We were not alone; vehicles were stuck along the route, which passed several villages that had been abandoned following attacks by nomadic soldiers, called Janjaweed, who are supported by the government of Sudan. It took about two hours to reach Masteri, about 25 miles away.