“A Full Year Behind the Militia lines”
23 August, 2026
Khartoum, Sudanow (A book review)
This is a book that related the personal experience of a journalist, a Sudanow reporter caught behind the lines of the Rapid support forces (RSF) militia lines and as such it reflects the view and experience of the journalist.
However this personal experience is a miniature representation of what millions of Sudanese have experienced.
It is not a historical recording of events; rather, it is the feeling and the sense and test of the events, the daily living of events, and the recording of what it felt to live in constant apprehension. It is not influenced by what people say about the militias. It is a living record of what the writer has seen, lived, and undergone.
The book, “A Full Year Behind the Militia lines: A Witness Account” was originally written in English. This is because, first the writer has been reporting in English as correspondent for the Associated Press for over 27 years, editor in chief for the Sudanow magazine for four years, correspondent for the Panafrican news agency PANA for over a decade. It becomes easy to write in this language.
But most importantly, we have very few people writing books of general and political nature written in English. This a huge gap that people should work to fill. Almost all people writing in English, the language most used around the globe, are non-Sudanese, or at best people who hear say and depend on a second source to write about the war and the current conflict in the Sudan.
Thirdly the events, the analysis and the feeling reflected are the ones that I lived daily for over one and half year
The book draft has then been translated into Arabic, as the writer has been one of the few, very few Sudanese journalists, who lived more than a year, in camouflage, seeing, hearing and smelling the presence of people who, had they known his true profession and his position towards the war in the country, would have immediately killed him: it suffices to say that he has been deputy general manager of the Sudan news agency and Assistant General manager for editorial affairs, the second highest position in the official Sudanese news agency.
It is a death certificate hung on one’s neck.
The book relates how the writer has come in direct contact with the RSF leader, how he was lured joining militia's mediaand how he has come to know their leadership well before they developed into a full-fledged rebel movement armed to the teeth and supported by a petrodollar entity to fight a war of proxy.
In short it is a documentation of what an individual has lived within the quarters and areas controlled by the militias.
And for the first time in my life I have come to appreciate that reporters working with the news agencies are not super star, they are not even known by name except for a few. Otherwise this book would not have been written.
The RSF does not tolerate journalists from any organization. They use their own media to defame themselves, as shown by the countless videos, pictures and audios they upload and which incriminate them. However they never tolerate any non-RSF to write a single negative line about them.
The book contains the following chapters, beside the prelude, dedication which went to:
The victims of the war
Family members
Journalists and entities that supported and assisted the author
The Sudan New Agency SUNA staff
The title is :
“A Full Year Behind Militia Lines, A witness Account “
The Author: Mohamed Osman Adam
The main chapters are: -
A Disclaimer
On Second Thought: What Is Really Going On Here?
How I First Met with Paramilitary (RSF) Leaders??
What I Learned and Observed from People Talking about Daglo
Recruiting People For the RSF
Daglo Furious With the BBC on RSF Nationalities
How Did I Know Those RSF Were Non Sudanese?
The First Time the RSF “Troops “Knocked at My Door
Recruiting Journalists for the RSF
Living in Fear
Ethnicity Mattered More
A Different Type of Mistreatment of a Journalist
What was I Eating!!
Writing for Myself While in Isolation
No Place for Burial and Death by Hunger
**Mohamed Osman Adam Mohamed
Profession: Journalist
Sudan News Agency: (1984-2023)
The Associated Press (AP) (August 1992-January 2017)
The PANA Pan-African news agency: 2011- todate (Correspondent)
Sudanhorizon, Mohagig Reporter (2024- 2026)
Certified trainer, Thomson Foundation since 2014-
Collaborated closely with international trainers and visiting experts delivering training at the British council, Sudan, sponsored and funded by the Thomson Foundation 2014022
2020 -to-2021 Editor in Chief-Managing editor, Deputy General Manager: Sudan News Agency
2010-2014 Editor In Chief Sudanow magazine (SUNA: sudanow.info)
2006-todate Head and owner of Osman for Translation private company
1998-2008 Founding Member and Columnist Writer: Khartoum Monitor, Daily
Email: - belowidad@yahoo.com
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23 August, 2026
“A Full Year Behind the Militia lines”
Khartoum, Sudanow (A book review) This is a book that related the personal experience of a journalist, a Sudanow reporter caught behind the lines of the Rapid support forces (RSF) militia lines and as such it reflects the view and experience of the journalist. However this personal experience is a miniature representation of what millions of Sudanese have experienced. It is not a historical recording of events; rather, it is ...
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