Moses Koul

As a child in Sudan, Koul's home was razed to the ground by Israeli soldiers. When he was 10 he played on the streets in West Africa with small bags of stones in his mouth. As a adult Koul worked as a reporter, reporter for the BBC and BBC Arabic, and contributor at BBC Urdu. He lives in England and Beirut.

As the world responds to the massacre at the Grand Theatre in Westgate, a district in Nairobi, Kenya, in which more than 300 people were killed by a suicide bomber, killing 71 people in its theatre, it seems only natural that Khaled Mohammed Ennker, the author of the well-known book On the Killing Field, should end by offering some reflections on what must have been a very difficult experience.

Like many Sudanese refugees, Koul was not from a rich family, and his family had lived in the Nile Delta. He was a native of the city of Tulkarem, and grew up there.

This Sudanese refugee was a product of his time, and of its history.

This was where the Battle of Khartoum was fought during the Anglo-Sudanese War in the 1890s, and it is also where the British-built, German-financed, and German-drafted British East Africa station was established in 1894.

The Sudanese community in Kenya in 1902.

It's strange to imagine something so terrifying from 30 years ago, during the time during which Nairobi was not the capital of modern South Sudan but the capital of the Middle Kingdom. And, in fact, the city was known in Africa for its role as a military staging area, not capital.

But, as was so often the case, Khaled spoke of it being a 'hideous time'. He recalled how it had been a 'victory' after being 'beaten down' by the British. 'They were all flogged for 'treason', the British High Commissioner was said to have told him. And the men were put into chains and not given the daily water rations that their mother wanted for them. It was a punishment. Men were not allowed to drink at all.'

Throughout the 20th Century, Sudan became a more settled and peaceful place.