Abu Hamid Omar, 85, burned and branded in the attack, is the only surviving male in a section of his village in the city of Sayah, after it was attacked and burnt by Janjaweed and Sudanese government forces. Hundreds of thousands of African Sudanese from Darfur have fled their country following a violent civil war in Darfur that broke out in 2003, when rebel groups began attacking government targets, saying the government had neglected the region. In response Khartoum mobilised Arab "self-defence militias", or "Janjaweed," which are accused of carrying out atrocities against local black Africans.
