The Khartoum regime’s “disarmament” campaign in Darfur gives all signs of becoming an exercise in extended terror, discrimination against non-Arab/African populations—and the instrument by which camps for displaced persons are dismantled. The role of RSF is should be deeply disturbing, given its role in violent destruction from 2013 to the present (see especially |
“Changing the Demography”: Violent Expropriation and Destruction of Farmlands in Darfur, November 2014 – November 2015,” Eric Reeves, author, Maya Baca, research and editing (December 1, 2015) | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1P4
• North Darfur elders detained by RSF in arms collection campaign | Radio Dabanga | December 22, 2017 | SARAF UMRA
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has detained a group of elders of the native administration of Saraf Umra locality in North Darfur as part of the current weapons collection campaign over the past few days. Sources from the area reported to Radio Dabanga the elders Abdelaziz Kalas, Abakar Wadi, Hamid Madri, Mohammed Firsha, Jugo and Basher were all detained, while the RSF also summoned various native administration leaders to their headquarters in the city to interrogate them for long hours, while they have already handed over their weapons a long time ago.
They said that there is discrimination in the collection of weapons. Some groups have reportedly refused to hand-over their arms in public and are taking refuge in the El Jou mountains southeast of Saraf Umra to avoid their leaders being hunted-down, arrested or summoned. The Rapid Support Forces arrested nine imams and local leaders in Guldo locality in Central Darfur from Saturday to Monday on charges of the illegal possession of weapons. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested nine sheikhs, including three imams, from Fuldon and Joi in Guldo over the weekend. RSF members and 30 of their vehicles were stationed in Katlwa to carry out the weapons search.
• Central Darfur Governor warns arms collection detractors | Radio Dabanga | December 22, 2017 | ZALINGEI
The Governor of Central Darfur, Jaafar Abdelhakam, has announced that the sites controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) in Jebel Marra will be included in the fourth phase of the weapons collection campaign. He has also threatened to arrest all those who are inciting against the weapons collection campaign and “to extradite them from Central Darfur according to the emergency measures without any precautionary procedures.” Addressing the state legislative council in Zalingei on Wednesday, the Governor warned the critics of the arms collection campaign against negative comments about the campaign on social media sites and threatened to question and imprison them according to emergency measures. He also warned the native administrations of the consequences of not reporting to the security services on the whereabouts of tribes and weapons.
The so-called “disarmament” campaign is proving increasingly repressive and discriminatory as conducted by the brutal and ruthless Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This same militia force was responsible for the worst of the violence in Darfur from 2013 through the savage Jebel Marra campaign of 2016 that largely ended rebel military resistance. Amnesty International authoritatively established that the Khartoum regime ordered the use of chemical weapon during the Jebel Marra campaign, including against civilians nowhere near any military presence. The use of the RSF as the primary instrument of the “disarmament” campaign is ominous in the extreme. The greatest risk comes when the RSF “searches” IDP camps, looking for reasons to terrify and send residents fleeing.