Adventures in Human Rights Activism

So a few nights ago (Apr 15) 3 thieves tried to break into my place. I was sleeping soundly when a load knock at my bedroom door rouses me and I hear my housemate Erin saying, "Um, Tarek? I think we have thieves in the house!" Great way to get your butt out of bed, ninja-style.

When I went to see what was going on I saw my guard with a nasty scrape on his back and another fellow that a bunch of neighbors were holding down about 100m away. I asked what had happened and he told me that 3 dudes armed with knives woke him up demanding any communication devices he had. When he told them he had none they kept insisting. Apparently one of the thieves had let his guard down and that's when my guard grabbed him, whipped out his own knife, and held it to his throat. He asked the men to leave but just then a neighbor came out and saw the men standing at the door. The neighbor pulled out his gun and fired a few shots in the air, frantically yelling "Thieves! Thieves!"

A scuffle broke out and my guard stabbed one man, and got stabbed in the process. The 3 men ran but the wounded one fell to the ground a few meters away. I was in shock and could only think rationally after a moment to calm myself. After checking on the health of the guard, I saw that 2 very large Sudanese came up to me. Thankfully they too were neighbors (who could have totally wooped my ass). I learned only later that they were GoS soldiers. They told me not to worry and that they would take both my guard and the thief to the police.

I went back inside to report to my housemates and let them know what was going on. We called UN security - naturally it takes them 2 hrs to respond but whatever. While trying to give directions to our place, the remaining guard came in about 30 min later and told us not to worry, "the thief is dead."

A second round of shock flew down my spine while the guard explained that he died on the way to the police. In a country known for it's tribalism and revenge killings, this worried me somewhat. And by somewhat I mean I began urinating on myself. (Not really but you get my drift.) The police showed up shortly thereafter gathering evidence. UNDSS showed up an hour later. Everyone was taking statements and the sort and finally the police carted my guard away charged with murder.

The past few days have been a series of prison and lawyer visits... and also a lot of guilt. I'm a Human Rights Officer - I should have been more careful. I should have known... forseen this happening. Lesson learned. The next time I'll have the guts to have them bring the cops first. I messed up bad... and now this asshole thief is dead. He was still a life though... Sigh.