“And I Spent Year After Year Behind Militia Lines”: Journalist Mohammed Osman Breaks the Silence and Penetrates the Global Consciousness

London | Nile Post

Amid the devastating war engulfing Sudan, the international narrative—particularly in the English-speaking world—has long been held captive by brief translations, detached foreign commentaries, or biased secondary sources serving specific agendas. Filling this critical vacuum, the newly released book “And I Spent Year After Year… Behind Militia Lines (A Witness Journalist’s Account)” by veteran journalist Mohammed Osman Adam emerges as a vital, direct testimony bringing the truth from the heart of conflict to global awareness in an authentic Sudanese voice.

A Living Testimony from SUNA’s Second-in-Command

The significance of this work stems from the author’s remarkable and perilous position. Mohammed Osman is not an outside observer; he served as an Associated Press (AP) correspondent for over 27 years, a correspondent for the Pan-African News Agency (PANA) for over a decade, and held the post of Deputy Director-General and Assistant DG for Editorial Affairs at the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

Holding such a high-ranking official role was effectively a “death warrant hanging around his neck” as he lived for nearly two years undercover behind Rapid Support Forces (RSF) lines. Daily survival meant concealing his true identity, adapting, and evading immediate execution at the hands of militia fighters.

Why in English? Dismantling External Monopoly on the Narrative

Originally written in English, the book addresses a long-standing void in how Sudan’s crises are understood abroad. Global foreign policy and international public opinion are heavily shaped by English-language accounts, which are predominantly penned by non-Sudanese writers. Leveraging decades of experience with top-tier international media, Osman addresses foreign readers using familiar analytical standards while staying firmly rooted in firsthand Sudanese realities.

The Human Microscopic View: Daily Terrors

While political commentaries examine conflicts from high-level state perspectives, Osman places the reader under a microscopic lens, exposing raw, everyday civilian life under militia control:

• Unmasking the day-to-day conduct of armed fighters in neighborhoods and local markets, stripping away well-funded public relations campaigns.

• Graphic accounts from areas like “Haj Yousif” and “Kosovo,” where gunmen casually shot and looted livestock in broad daylight in front of terrified children sent out to buy breakfast.

• The targeting of domestic pets (such as the family dog, “Tiger”) inside their enclosures, and the sinister disappearance of the homeless and mentally ill, whose bodies were later found burned near neighborhood garbage dumps.

• Pervasive regional chauvinism, tribal categorization, and racist slurs hurled at anyone questioning militia narratives.

A World of Isolation: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

The book chronicles the harrowing reality of living in the 21st century for over an entire year without electricity, television, radio, or any form of communication—isolated from family and stripped of journalistic safety. It serves not merely as a military timeline, but as a living record of the terror, hunger, and vulnerability experienced by millions of trapped Sudanese civilians.

An Essential Read

Designed so each chapter functions as a standalone documentary account, “And I Spent Year After Year… Behind Militia Lines” is an indispensable resource for diplomats, researchers, journalists, and every reader seeking unfiltered truth from Sudan.