Government Counterattacks on Gov. Charles Julu=s Residence and the Police Headquarters
The police headquarters is in central Wau, near the cathedral, between Nazareth and the bridge, and its largely Dinka forces came under retaliatory counterattack in the morning of January 29 by mujahedeen and others. One report said that, after a pause while the Kerubino and SPLA forces fled Wau, fighting resumed inside Wau. This fighting appeared to be an attack by government military, security forces, mujahedeen, and Fertit militia on local Dinka and Jur forces associated with the rebelsC the police and game wardens (wildlife services). Dinka and Jur civilians, including unarmed men, women, and children, were also attacked.246
Mujahedeen forces, according to one report, arrived by helicopter from the north (El Obeid or Khartoum) during the day on January 29. These armed men in civilian clothing, reported to be at the forefront of the massacres after the fighting was over, were identified as northern Arab Sudanese, and were believed to be associated with internal security forces. They were seen departing from the airport one week later.247
At perhaps 10:00 a.m. on the morning of the attack, January 29, there was heavy firing believed to be from a machine gun mounted on the back of a government pickup truck (a Atechnical@) in the area of the police headquarters. The police fought back. The SPLA and the Dinka police reportedly used a rocket-propelled grenade to attack this or another technical, and killed a mujahedeen chief and about fifteen other mujahedeen. This was one of two places the rebels are known to have attacked the mujahedeen.248
The mujahedeen and Tom al Nour=s forces also attacked the quarter where the Dinka police, prison guards, and game wardens lived with their families. The Dinka uniformed officers returned fire before fleeing with their families. When these Dinka fled, the mujaheeden and Fertit militia moved on to Nazareth.249
Governor Charles Julu reportedly was targeted in his official residence by his enemies in the Fertit militia, the PDF, and the mujahedeen, who took advantage of the fighting to try to eliminate him. He was saved by the Dinka police, who arrived from the bridge to rescue him.250 He was later evacuated by the government to Khartoum and while there, in April 1998, gave an interview published in Sudanow, an English language government publication, about his experiences during the fighting in Wau, omitting the important fact of the mujahedeen attack on his house.251 Julu reportedly was warned that he should not return to Wau because of possible retaliation against him there.252 He had, after all, been backed by Kerubino. He apparently spent several months in Khartoum before returning to Wau.
246 Confidential preliminary report on Wau, March 1998.
248 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, May 2, 1998.
249 Confidential report on Wau, April 1998.
250 Ibid.; Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, May 2, 1998.
251 Arop Madut, AGovernor Julu Speaks About the January Rebels,@ Sudanow, Khartoum, April 1998, pp. 18-19.
252 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, May 2, 1998.