Qualla: 1987 Dhein massacre

1987 Dhein massacre: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Twenty-five Dinka had gathered at the church in Dhein that Friday evening, 27 March 1987, for prayer. They were civilians - farmers, traders, domestic workers, children - who had come to the Darfur town over months and years looking for work or safety from the civil war to the south. The militia arrived at the church during the service. Before the next sundown, more than a thousand of them would be dead. Some estimates place the toll higher. A policeman had warned a Dinka leader that this was coming. Most had not believed him.

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1987 Dhein massacre: The Warning That Was Not Heeded

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 26 March, a policeman informed Ariek Piol, a Dinka community leader, that an attack was imminent. He advised the Dinkas to leave Dhein. A few heeded him on Friday morning. Most did not. The police also summoned Dinka leaders that day to advise them to stay home and avoid large...

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1987 Dhein massacre: Friday Evening at the Church

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The attack began at the church during evening prayers. The Muraheleen - a militia drawn primarily from the Baggara Arab Rizeigat tribe, armed and encouraged by the al-Mahdi government as part of its war against the southern SPLA - entered while services were underway. They opened...

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1987 Dhein massacre: Saturday at the Railway Station

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On Saturday morning, 28 March, officials decided to evacuate the Dinkas by train. They were moved from Hillat Sikka Hadid to the railway station and placed in eight railway wagons, with others kept in the station's police center. Then the Muraheleen came back, joined by large num...

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1987 Dhein massacre: The Role of the Police

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

During the massacre, the police largely abandoned their posts. Many left when the violence began. Eyewitnesses described a policeman in traditional attire actively participating in the killings, including the murder of Deng Alwel, a Dinka chief. Some officers extorted money from ...

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1987 Dhein massacre: What Remains

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Dhein - formally Ed Daein - in 1987 had a population of about 60,000. It was the principal town of eastern southern Darfur, a place where Rizeigat, Zaghawa, Dinka, Barti, and Hausa communities lived in proximity that ordinary times made ordinary. The rising tensions of the mid-19...

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