South Darfur

 

Gunmen kill fisherman in South Darfur

January 6 – 2017 GIREIDA

Armed men shot fishermen in Gireida locality, South Darfur, on Wednesday afternoon. One of the victims, a displaced man, was killed on the spot. Three others sustained injuries.

Two kilometres west of Gireida town, six armed men attacked four displaced men who went fishing at Rahad Abu Idresa on Wednesday afternoon. Some of the attackers wore military uniforms, one of the displaced in Gireida reported to Radio Dabanga.

“They opened fire and killed Abdallah Yousif on the spot. Musa Abdallah Ali and Safi Zakaria Adam were wounded.”

A group of camp residents went to the scene of the attack to pick up the wounded and the body of Yousif and bring them to a hospital. The incident has been reported to the police.

Cattle theft

In Tabit, in the North Darfur part of East Jebel Marra, militiamen stole about 150 goats from herders on Wednesday evening. A witness reported that a group of twelve militiamen on camels attacked the herders and took the stolen livestock in the direction of Numeira.

 

Two men killed, series of abductions in South Darfur

January 11 – 2017 GIREIDA / EL SALAM

Two men were killed and eight others were wounded when gunmen opened fire on the rikshaw that carried them to Gireida, South Darfur on Monday. A massive fire in a village in El Salam locality destroyed 50 houses and hundreds of sacks with food.

The rickshaw carried at least thirteen displaced people who were coming from Sergeila market to Gireida on Monday. Armed men opened fire on the group, and Adam Zakaria and Abdelrahman Yahya Osman were killed instantly. Eight others sustained injuries, a witness reported to Radio Dabanga.

Three of them suffered serious injuries and have been taken to Gireida hospital for emergency operations.

Fire in El Salam

On Tuesday morning a massive fire broke out in Safiya Umgad in El Salam locality, South Darfur. The flames destroyed the full contents of 50 houses, more than 700 sacks with various agricultural crops, and a number of livestock.

One of the villagers, Abul Gasim Saleh, told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out at 2am without causing any casualties. But there are great material losses, including property, food and agricultural crops, which he estimated at around SDG1 million ($155,000).

About 30 families have no place to live and have lost their shelter, food and cover, Saleh said.

28 abductions

The part of East Jebel Marra that lies in South Darfur has witnessed more than 28 cases of abductions, including eight cases in which people are still held hostage. The cases include two children, in an abduction that came in response to livestock theft which the owners failed to restore.

The numbers were announced during a reconciliation and social peace conference in the locality in the beginning of this week. The conference has reached recommendations including the imposition of more prestige of the state, to deter insecurity.

Also recommended was further dialogue and negotiation between the armed movements in order to complete peace, along with directing organisations with voluntary return programmes for displaced people towards Jebel Marra.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Darfur: Boy, two men killed in shootings

January 13 – 2017 KUTUM / NYALA

In separate incidents on Thursday, a boy was shot and succumbed to his wounds in the hospital of Kutum and a paramilitary was killed. In Nyala locality, a man was shot dead.

Three militiamen opened fire on a number of basic school pupils in El Kasr, east of Kutum town, a source reported to Radio Dabanga.

The seriously injured Babiker Abdel Aziz was taken to the hospital in Kutum, where he died during surgery.

West of El Kasr, three militiamen on motorcycles shot Badr Mohamed, a member of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The source said that the attackers stole his weapon and mobile phone, and fled the scene.

In Nyala locality, South Darfur, a displaced man was killed by gunmen on Thursday night.

A Sheikh of Otash camp told Radio Dabanga that three gunmen opened fire on a group of camp residents on Thursday evening. “One of them was killed immediately. Another person was wounded seriously and taken to the hospital in Nyala.”

 

(Report also in North and Central Darfur)

Two dead, nine injured, three kidnapped in Darfur violence

January 16 – 2017 DARFUR

People in North, Central, and South Darfur Darfur reported a number of violent incidents over the weekend.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an activist said that a displaced man was shot dead near Sortony in Kabkabiya locality in North Darfur on Saturday.

“A group of people living in the Sortony camp were on their way to the Rokoro Market on Saturday morning, when five gunmen suddenly began to shoot at them south of the camp.” she said.

“Ismail Adam Mohamed was killed instantly. Babikir Abdallah Mukhtar sustained serious bullet wounds and had to be taken to the Unamid clinic in Sortony.”

Stabbed to death

In Kassab camp for the displaced in Kutum locality, Arafa Mohamed Adam was murdered on Friday. “A hitherto unknown person knocked her door in the evening, and stabbed her to death,” a camp elder reported.

Beaten

In North Darfur’s Tawila locality, four women were injured in an attack on Sunday.

“Salma Ibrahim, Kaltoum Saleh, Fatima Yousef, and Aisha Abbas were collecting straw near Tabit, when five militiamen riding on camels intercepted them,” a relative of one of the victims told this station. “They severely beat them with their whips. Salma sustained various wounds on her head and Kaltoum’s hand was broken.”

He added that the Tabit military garrison was notified about the incident.

Kidnapped

A group of militiamen abducted two firewood collectors 15 kilometres south of Dubbo El Omda in Tawila locality on Sunday.

“Five members of a government militia riding on camels ambushed Nasreldin Haroun and Abdelkarim Mohamed when they collected firewood near Tirbowa village,” a relative of Haroun reported. “They took them to an unknown destination.”

Shooting

In Central Darfur, four people were injured in a shooting near Mukjar on Saturday.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that a group of seven armed men riding on donkeys opened fire at the Saraf Saada Koran school, 10 km south of Mukjar, with the purpose of stealing sorghum from its stores.

“Ahmed Bahreldin (48), Yousef Abdallah (25), Younes Osman (22), and Mohamed Ishag (21) sustained injuries, and had to be taken to Mukjar Hospital,” he said.

“People in the area managed to seize one of the attackers called Yasin Mohamed Shahad. They have handed him, together with his Kalashnikow, to the police of Mukjar.”

Released

On Sunday, South Darfur security forces managed to free Dr Abu Obeida Mahmoud, who was kidnapped in the state capital the day before.

The brother of the victim told Radio Dabanga that a group of gunmen seized Mahmoud and two of his sons in front of Ansar El Sunna Mosque in Nyala on Saturday evening. “They released the boys after a distance, and took Abu Obeida to an unknown destination.”

He explained that security forces discovered that his brother was held in a house at the Nyala-Kass- Zalingei highway. “They immediately raided the house, and released Abu Obeida. He safely returned to his home in Nyala on Sunday afternoon.”

 

Two displaced hit by police car in South Darfur camp

January 23 – 2017 FORIKA CAMP

A woman and a boy were wounded when they were hit by a police car in the Forika camp for the displaced in South Darfur’s Gireida locality on Sunday.

“The police was chasing camp resident Mohamed Zakaria inside the camp when their car accidentally hit Alawia Adam (52) and Ahmed Abakar (7),” a Forika camp sheikh reported to Radio Dabanga. “Luckily they both sustained only minor injuries.”

He explained that “The problems started when a group of about 40 militiamen riding on camels and horses stormed the camp on Saturday morning, on the pretext that on of us had stolen a cow from them.”

“The Commissioner of Gireida reacted to the raid by forming a committee composed of camp elders and militiamen that would search a number of shelters. When they did not find something, the commissioner greeted the militiamen, and left the camp.

“He returned the next morning, along with a police car. The policemen searched the home of Mohamed Zakaria and did not find anything suspect. Yet, when they wanted to take him with them, Zakaria resisted and fled,” he said.

“The policemen jumped into their vehicle and began chasing him, until they hit the woman and the boy.”

 

South Darfur displaced decry ‘bussed-in’ new settlers

January 25 – 2017 SHATTAYA

The displaced people of Shattaya have accused the local authorities in South Darfur of transferring large numbers of new settlers to the original areas from which they have been displaced since 2004.

One of the sheikhs told Radio Dabanga of the arrival of large numbers of new settlers with their families in large lorries last week.

He accused the authorities of lying to them and misleading them by the formation of a committee last year in order to return them back to their areas of origin after the expulsion of the militias which have occupied their villages and farms.

Last year, the authorities in South Darfur formed a committee for restitution to receive complaints from the displaced people of Shattaya locality about militias’ encroachment and occupation of their villages and farms since 2004.

The occupied lands have been identified as Shattaya, Kailek, Um Burum and Dodosa.

The committee committed the militias to evacuate the villages and farms of the displaced people and immediately hand them over to their rightful owners by the end of December last year.

At least 2,700 people fled from Shattaya locality to Kai and Kalma camps following militia attacks on their villages and farms in 2004.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Displaced man murdered, another ‘beaten, tortured’ in Darfur

January 26 – 2017 GIREIDA / TABIT

Abdullah Zakaria of camp Foreca was allegedly subjected to severe beating and torture by military intelligence agents after he was detained in Gireida locality, South Darfur on Tuesday.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that military intelligence agents and police officers arrived at the house of Mohamed Zakaria at camp Foreca in two vehicles onTuesday afternoon.

“When they did not find Mohammed Zakaria, they detained his brother Abdullah Zakaria. They beat and tortured him before his release – in poor health – on Wednesday afternoon.

Herders

Jiddo Norein El Tahir was fatally wounded by herders south of Tabit in North Darfur on Wednesday.

A relative of the victim told Radio Dabanga that three militant camel herders intercepted three people who were on their way back to Tabit after collecting straw. The herders demanded the people give them the straw they had collected. Jiddo Norein refused to do so, so they shot him.

Norein was transferred to El Fasher hospital in a serious condition, where he later died of is injuries.

In a separate incident on Wednesday morning, four herders assaulted and beat three women who were on their way to Hashaba village, six kilometres  south of Tabit, after collecting straw. The herders than set fire to the straw that was being carried on the backs of donkeys.

 

Minor raped in South Darfur

February 3 – 2017 MANAWASHI

Two gunmen raped a girl, 14 years old, in Musku in Manawashi locality on Thursday.

A relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga that two armed men attacked a girl when she was on her way from Um Driseih to their village in Musku, South Darfur. The men grabbed her and raped her alternately.

Locals found the girl after a couple of hours. The victim was brought to Manawashi health centre, however she was bleeding heavily and practically unconscious. She has been transferred to Nyala for treatment on Friday.

Correction 05/02/2017: Radio Dabanga initially received the report that two girls were raped but further verification has proved that one girl was raped. This update arrived after the publication time.

 

Two tribesmen killed in South Darfur

February 7 – 2017 TULLUS

Tension between two of Darfur’s tribes has resulted in the killing of two people, while one person sustained injuries in Tullus locality on Sunday.

A dispute over cattle theft between members of the Rizeigat and Ma’aliya tribes led to a shooting in which two tribesmen were killed, a source in the area told this station. Local authorities have intervened to contain the tension.

The Rizeigat and Ma’aliya tribes signed a document of reconciliation in Bielel locality in South Darfur in June last year, stipulating the payment of financial compensations for the casualties of earlier clashes in April.

Homes devoured by flames in Darfur, eastern Chad

February 13 – 2017 ASSALAYA / GIREIDA / GOZ AMER

Fires destroyed more than 100 houses and shelters in Darfur and eastern Chad over the weekend.

On Sunday, a fire destroyed the full contents of 95 houses in Assalaya in East Darfur.

“The fire could spread very rapidly owing to the strong winds,” one of the victims reported to Radio Dabanga.

He added that 13 cows and sheep burned to death, and 120 tons of groundnuts and 250 [100kg] sacks of sorghum were lost.

He appealed to the governmental Humanitarian Aid Commission, the local authorities, and aid organisations “to assist us and accommodate our relatives and children who are now camping in the open”.

In Gireida in South Darfur, fires destroyed a number of homes in two camps for the displaced on Sunday.

“24 shelters were destroyed and another 10 were damaged in Um Balula camp,” the Gireida camps coordinator reported. “In Babanusa camp, four homes burned to ashes. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”

On Saturday, four Darfuri families in Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad lost their houses because of a fire.

El Zein Mohamed, correspondent for Radio Dabanga in eastern Chad reported that the cause of the fire is still unknown.

 

Gold prospector wounded in South Darfur robbery

February 15 – 2017 UM LEONA

A group of gold prospectors were surrounded by gunmen and robbed of their valuables in South Darfur on Sunday. One of them who resisted the robbers was shot and critically wounded.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the incident targeted a group of 17 gold explorers at Um Leona area, east of Kass and west of El Khuru in South Darfur. The gunmen surrounded the prospectors and stripped them of all their possessions, gold detection devices, money, and mobile phones.

The witnesses said El Doom Abdullah refused to hand over his belongings and resisted, which led the perpetrators open fire him and severely wound him on the stomach.

They added that he was taken to a hospital to in Nyala.

 

Displaced given days to vacate South Darfur camp

February 17 – 2017 KALMA CAMP

The Commissioner of Nyala locality in South Darfur has given the residents of Centre 4 of Otash camp near the state capital less than a week to vacate it before it is dismantled.

The spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, Hussein Abusharati, told Radio Dabanga that a Land Cruiser mounted with a Dushka machine gun drove into the camp on Thursday afternoon. “It moved through the camp using a loudspeaker, calling on the displaced to evacuate the camp by February 22, without specifying an alternative place for the 14,000 displaced to live.”

The Association denounced the commissioner’s decision and held government responsible for the implementation of the decision. It renewed its refusal to dismantle the camp, and conditioned the return of displaced persons to their home by provision of security and stability in their villages.

‘Dire consequences’

Abusharati warned of “dire consequences should the decision be implemented by force”. He called on state government “to cancel the decision so as to preserve the lives and property of the displaced”.

He urged the residents of Centre 4 to approach Unamid should the commissioner order the camp to be forcibly evacuated.

He called on Unamid, the international community, and human rights organisations to protect the displaced of camp Otash “so that there will not be a repeat of the massacre that occurred at Kalma camp in 2008”. Abusharati was referring to an infamous incident in August 2008 when police attempted to enter Kalma campo by force, leaving 36 displaced people dead.

 

(Report also in West Darfur)

Darfur camp residents complain of attacks, poor services

February 19 – 2017 MURNEI / MERSHING 

Residents of West and South Darfur camps for the displaced are suffering from rampant insecurity and deteriorating services. They are calling for protection from Unamid, as the police is reportedly not able to combat the attacks by the militiamen in the areas.

“Militiamen living in districts neighbouring the camps in Murnei assault any displaced person who goes out to collect straw or firewood,” the coordinator of the Murnei camps in West Darfur told Radio Dabanga.

“In addition, they drive their camels and cattle into our farms, and stop us from driving them off by force of arms.”

The coordinator of the three Mershing camps for the displaced in South Darfur reported that the area is increasingly witnessing beatings and robberies by militiamen of displaced straw and firewood collectors.

“The authorities cannot apply the law on these militiamen who publicly challenge the police,” he said. “Only Unamid may be able to provide protection to the displaced.”

Health care

The Mershing camp coordinator further told this station that there are only two health centres in Mershing locality. “They are administered by assistant doctors who are lacking knowledge and experience.

“The authorities cannot apply the law on these militiamen who publicly challenge the police. Only Unamid may be able to provide protection to the displaced.”

“Moreover there exists a severe shortage of medicines. If there are, they are unaffordable. Most of the displaced people do not have a health insurance because of the high fees. The annual fees exceed SDBileil G 400 ($ 61).

About 90 percent of the people living in West Darfur’s Murnei camp have no health insurance.

“If a person is ill, he has to pay SDG 10 ($ 1.53) to see a doctor at the Murnei Hospital, ”the camp coordinator said. “In case the doctors prescribes medicines, they cannot afford the soaring market prices, also because they lack sources of income.”

Schooling

The Murnei camp coordinator as well pointed to a lack of schools. “There are five basic schools and one secondary school in the camps that host about 40,000 displaced people together.

“Apart from overcrowded classrooms, the students suffer from a severe shortage of teachers, seats and desks, and school books,” he reported.

Many children in Murnei camp are out of school as well. “They cannot afford to pay tuition fees,” the coordinator explained. “The schools themselves lack almost everything. Most of the teachers are volunteers.”

 

South Darfuri husband shot defending his wife

February 20 – 2017 NYALA

Gunmen shot dead a resident of Kalma camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Saturday.

Hussein Abusharati, the spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, told Radio Dabanga that three armed men ambushed a group of displaced as they were returning from the area of Um Dom village, 14 km east of camp, where they had collected firewood.

“They stopped them, and seized the wife of Jamal Abakar with the intention to rape her. When he tried to defend her, they shot him dead on the spot. Two other camp residents were wounded.”

The incident was reported to the police of Beleil.

Abakar was buried at the Kalma camp cemetery.

 

(Report also in East Darfur)

Darfur: Farmer killed, pupils robbed

February 21 – 2017 BILEIL / KUTUM / ED DAEIN

A farmer was killed and two others were abducted in Bileil locality in South Darfur, during a clash between farmers and herders. School children were robbed during class in a camp in Kutum.

As the farmer and his sister returned from working on their lands in Ashma, two herders attacked them, a relative of the victims reported to Radio Dabanga. The man managed to stab one of the assailants before the other shot him.

A group of locals traced the perpetrators, seized them and handed them over to the police in Bileil. The family member said that herders have abducted two other farmers from Ashma in retaliation of the arrests.

Pupils beaten

A number of students in the camp for dispalced people Kassab, in North Darfur’s Kutum locality, were injured after they were beaten and robbed of their mobile phones by armed men during class on Sunday. The children were revising their lessons, a camp sheikh told Radio Dabanga, when militiamen on camels arrived and started abusing the children. “They also beat a number of displaced people who went out of Kassab camp to collect straw and firewood.”

Road robbery

Gunmen attacked a commercial truck from Omdurman to Ed Daein in East Darfur and seriously wounded two people on Sunday. The truck driver, Adam Juma, told this station from the hospital in Ed Daein that four gunmen stopped him at gunpoint on the outskirts of Ed Daein.

“They took me and the passengers of the truck out and down on the ground, and stripped us from our money, mobile phones and luggage.” Juma and another passenger were then shot. The attackers left the scene and the injured were taken to the hospital.

 

(Reports also in North Darfur)

Robberies in Darfur: Attacker killed, police pursuit

March 7 – 2017 KUTUM / NYALA

A violent incident in Kutum, North Darfur, resulted in the death of a militia member and eventually, the closure of the local market on Monday. A police patrol in the South Darfur capital pusued robbers on Sunday.

Two militiamen, riding motorcycles, attempted to steal the mobile phone of Eisa Ibrahim in Kutum’s market at 4pm, a listener told Radio Dabanga. Ibrahim resisted and stabbed one of the attackers with an undefined object.

Sudanese soldiers moved all three men to the police station, after which they were taken to the hospital. One of the militiamen succumbed to his wounds on the way.

Allied militiamen then arrived at the hospital in four vehicles, seized the body of their dead comrade and abducted Ibrahim, heading west from Kutum. Residents of the town closed the market on Monday as a precaution against a possible escalation of the situation.

A witness in Nyala, South Darfur, said that a police patrol pursued six thieves who broke into one of the houses in El Malaja district. They exchanged fire and the thieves fled, causing a manhunt which sparked fear among the residents. The police managed to arrest three of the men.

In a press statement, the state police chief, Balla Mohamed Hussein, called on all citizens to speed-up licensing procedures of their private vehicles until 20 March, which he believes would increase security in the town.

 

Security force ‘storms’ South Darfur camp

March 10 – 2017 NYALA

A joint force of police and security has stormed Kalma camp for displaced people in South Darfur, causing unrest in the camp and a number of residents to flee this week.

Three vehicles with Dushka machineguns mounted on top entered Kalma, east of Nyala, at 3.30pm on Thursday, the spokesman for a Darfuri refugee association reported to Radio Dabanga.

Hussein Abu Sharati of the Association for the Displaced People and Refugees in Darfur said that another group of security agents had stormed the camp at 11am, using a tinted Land Cruiser. “Their arrival caused panic among the residents.

“They did not notify Unamid prior to their arrival,” he said, pointing out the camp administration has therefore submitted a memorandum to the peacekeeping force to condemn the incidents.

The memo mentioned incidents in 2008, which claimed the lives of 37 people in Kalma.

Camp attacks

Camp El Salam in Nyala has witnessed a series of attacks by militants against the displaced people this week.

Abu Sharati reported that at least eight people were attacked on the streets or inside their homes during robberies. Several mobile phones and money have been stolen from Abaker Yagoub, Mohamed Yasin, Hamad Ahmed and Suleiman Abakar, among others.

The refugee association appealed to Unamid to resume its patrols in and around El Salam and report abuses in the camps for displaced people to the Sudanese authorities.

The association considers the sudden arrival of joint security and police forces in the camps as a “masterminded” incident. Last month the South Darfur authorities gave the inhabitants of Centre 4 in Kalma camp a couple of weeks to vacate the area and move to a new location allocated by the state.

The number of displaced people who would be affected range between 520 families, according to the camp coordinator, and 14,000 people according to Abu Sharati.

 

‘Darfur farmer killed by soldiers’: MP

March 16 – 2017 ED EL FURSAN

A resident of the Um Janah area of Ed El Fursan locality in South Darfur was allegedly gunned-down and left to bleed to death by members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Wednesday, as he tried to protect his trees.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Wednesday, independent MP Ahmed Tahir Iseil said that the man objected to the soldiers cutting down his trees for use as firewood and charcoal. The soldiers then shot him and left him to bleed to death.

Iseil pointed out that army personnel frequently visit the area in military vehicles and cut the farmers’ trees and forests without permission from the owners.

He said he would submit a request to summon the Defence Minister, Awad Ibnaof to question him on the incident.

A source in the Ministry of Health in South Darfur announce that at least 55,000 children suffer of malnutrition, most of them undergoing treatment at the state hospitals.

Rawda Yassin El Sharif, the Director of the Department of Nutrition said that the percentage of malnourished children is very high.

She called on families and mothers with children to keep them indoors during the campaign surveying the indicators of malnutrition among children identified for three days which will begin on Wednesday.

 

(Report also in North and West Darfur)

Darfur: Merchant abducted, road robberies

March 24 – 2017 EL FASHER / NYALA / SIRBA

Gunmen abducted a man in southern El Fasher on Thursday night. The same day a man and three women were wounded in separate robberies in South and West Darfur.

Merchant Ibrahim Abdallah Osman was kidnapped from in front of his house in El Gadi district in southern El Fasher city, and taken to an unknown destination, a relative told Radio Dabanga.

At 9pm armed men arrived at his house in a Land Cruiser and took Ibrahim at gunpoint. His family has informed the police about the incident. Abdallah Osman is the owner of a grocery store in the grand market of El Fasher.

Robbery

A man and three women were seriously injured in two separate armed road robberies in South and West Darfur on Thursday.

The first incident involved a commercial vehicle driving from Kuru Kuru in El Salam locality to Nyala city. A witness in the area said that armed camel herders opened fire on the vehicle.

Three passengers, all women, were injured. The attackers stole their mobile phones, money and property.

In West Darfur, militiamen attacked a vehicle carrying gold miners from the Libyan-Sudanese border. Their vehicle came under fire in Regil Mur, east of Sirba, and the tires were shot.

One of the miners, Hasim Mohamed Omar, sustained injuries. The militiamen took off with the passengers’ mobile phones, gold detectors and money.

 

NISS attempt to cover-up South Darfur market inferno

March 30 – 2017 GIREIDA

The Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) has attempted to cover-up a massive fire that wreaked substantial destruction at a South Darfur market on Monday.

A committee of elders convened to assess the losses caused by the fire at the Abuja market for the displaced in Gireida locality, announced that 430 shops were completely destroyed. They estimate the value at more than SDG 20 million ($3 million).

When the representative of the constituency on the South Darfur legislative council, Omer Mohammad Ibrahim, visited the site, NISS agents prevented him from taking any photographs. The NISS also threatened “to take action against anyone speaking to or sending pictures of the fire to Radio Dabanga”.

 

Prisoner dies in South Darfur

March 31 – 2017 NYALA

A man died of what seems to be torture in Nyala prison after he was convicted for drinking alcohol.

The man was convicted in the public order court for consuming alcohol and sentenced to paying a fine, which he was unable to pay, a relative of the man told Radio Dabanga this week. Family members paid the fine the next day and went to get him out of prison. “There we found him dead.”

His body was transferred to one of the Turkish hospitals in the city. An autopsy turned out that his death was most likely caused by a severe rupture of the kidneys because of beatings with a hard tool. He had bruises on his head.

A former detainee said this month that prisoners are being beaten, kicked and tortured with electric cables by members of the security apparatus in so-called detention camps.

 

Deadly Sudanese army-militia clash in South Darfur

April 5 – 2017 KASS

Three people have reportedly died when elements of the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group clashed at Yama north of Kass in South Darfur on Monday evening.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that gunmen led by one called Zak,i driving three vehicles on the way from Nierteti to Kass, refused to stop at Yama military gate. The army personnel opened fire on the militiamen, killing two and wounding four others. One soldier was killed.

The witness said the situation was tense in the area and explained that on Tuesday people could not go shopping at Yama weekly market.

On Tuesday, Abdelatif Hamid Eisa was shot dead and Hamid Ibrahim was seriously wounded when gunmen opened fire on a commercial vehicle on its way from Deribat in in East Jebel Marra to El Fasher in North Darfur.

One of the relatives of the deceased told Radio Dabanga that militants riding camels opened fire on a commercial vehicle near Kator at 12.30 am on Tuesday.

 

Gunmen kill man, rob passengers in South Darfur

April 7 – 2017 BURAM

A passenger was killed and two others injured in South Darfur, when commercial vehicles were halted and raided on Thursday night.

Militiamen, riding camels, opened fire on the convoy of five vehicles on the road from Buram to Gireida in South Darfur. Abdelrahim Ibrahim Mohamed was killed immediately. Two people sustained gunshot wounds.

The passengers had gone shopping in El Nadef. The perpetrators stole the goods and property of the passengers and fled the scene.

Earlier this week bandits scourged roads in Darfur in separate incidents: on Wednesday, a man was robbed of his motorcycle on the road to Kutum. In the same area militants robbed a driver en route from Kutum to Fata Borno and stole the passengers’ belongings.

 

Bombing reported in Darfur’s Jebel Marra

April 7 – 2017 DERIBAT

On Thursday afternoon, a Sudanese Air Force plane dropped three explosive barrels west of Deribat in Jebel Marra, without causing any human casualties.

The three barrel bombs hit the area of Logi and killed a number of livestock of residents. The attack caused panic in the area.

Witnesses reported to Radio Dabanga that the plane had flown over Logi for a period of time before bombing the area.

There have been no reports of aerial bombardments in Darfur’s Jebel Marra in recent months: the latest bombing occurred in October and reportedly killed one man and scores of livestock in Deribat. In preceding weeks, renewed fighting had broken out between the Sudanese army and rebel SLM-AW combatants.

The former president of the United States’ administration announced that Sudan has reduced military aerial bombardment in the Darfur region, one of the reasons why Barack Obama ordered the easing of financial sanctionsagainst Sudan in the beginning of this year.

Displaced

The Jebel Marra mountains are a site of regular clashes between rebel forces and government troops and militias. Ongoing aerial bombardments have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, with reports reaching Radio Dabanga of ‘empty villages’ being bombed. Some of the residents have fled to camps for the displaced while others find refuge in caves in the mountains.

According to the UN and partners, 82,000 people were newly displaced across Darfur during the first seven months of 2016, when a military offensive against the holdout rebels in the mountainous region shook its grounds. Up to an additional 117,000 people were also reportedly displaced, but the UN and partners were unable to verify these figures owing to a lack of access to the relevant locations.

 

South Darfur teachers remain detained without charge

April 11 – 2017 NYALA

Four school teachers from Gireida have remained in detention for five months without charges laid upon them or trial.

The four higher secondary school teachers were detained on 10 November, without knowing the reasons. Saber Abdallah Ahmed, Shamsuldin Mohamad Harin, Mohamed Musa Daoud, and Bahruldin Adam El Toam have been transferred to Kober Prison in Nyala.

“They have not been interrogated either,” a relative of one of the detainees told Radio Dabanga. “This is a violation of the rights of detainees and blatant violation of the law.”

He called on the authorities to release them immediately or bring them to a fair trial.

The teachers were accused of organised a protest in November, held against a number of militia attacks in several villages in Gireida that month. Their arrest came under the instruction of the Commissioner of Gireida using the Emergency Measures after their protest.

 

Crime in South Darfur: Three killed, soldiers wounded

April 11 – 2017 NYALA / EL MALAM / NITEAGA

South Darfur has witnessed a series of killings in violent incidents during the weekend.

On Saturday evening four armed men attacked a television club in Duma camp for for displaced people, south of Nyala. They surrounded the clubhouse and opened fire into the air and directly at visitors of the club. Two people were killed. The attackers robbed the visitors of their money and mobile phones.

In an ambush on El Malam to Keila road, a military officer was shot dead and three soldiers were wounded. The military force is stationed in Keila in order to protect displaced people who voluntarily return from the camps in Manawashi.

According to a source in the area, militiamen stopped the vehicle of the commander under the pretext that his vehicle was showing malfunctions. They offered to repair it. As the commander disembarked the vehicle the militiamen shot and killed him.

A listener informed Radio Dabanga that armed men seriously wounded the driver of a vehicle on its way from Shearia in East Darfur to Niteaga in South Darfur on Saturday. A team of engineers of a telecommunication company were aboard the vehicle.

One of the passengers was also wounded when the attackers opened fire on the moving car. They robbed them of all the equipment, money and mobile phones.

 

Mother, child die as militiamen raid five Darfur villages

April 21 – 2017 EAST JEBEL MARRA

A woman and her five-year-old son have died and three more people wounded when militiamen raided five villages in East Jebel Marra on Thursday.

Callers told Radio Dabanga that armed militiamen, riding camels and horses descended on the villages of Jasu, Hai Mudraj, Hillet Sheikh Adu, Hillet Liba and Hillet Adam Abdelmajid, north of Mershing locality which is in South Darfur.

A woman and her 5-year-old son were killed by the attackers. Sheikh Adam Abdelmajid, the village leader of the settlement named after him, and his wife and 7-year-old son Iskander sustained injuries.

Witnesses said the attackers stripped all five villages of money, property and livestock.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Thirst growing in Darfur camps

April 23 – 2017 SORTONY / ZAMZAM / GIREIDA

Displaced living in the Sortony and Zamzam camps in North Darfur complain about a severe drinking water shortage. Residents of the Gireida camps for the displaced in South Darfur suffer from thirst as well.

Several displaced told Radio Dabanga from Sortony that two weeks ago the number of water tankers carrying water to the camp was reduced from 17 vehicles per day to two vehicles, resulting in a severe water crisis for the about 63,000 people in the camp.

“We cannot afford to buy water for SDG5 ($0.70) per jerry-can, sold by the owners of the donkey carts,” a camp resident said. “And when we leave the camp to get water from a well, we more often than not are assaulted by militiamen.”

In the Zamzam camp, south of the north Darfur capital El Fasher, people also complain about shortages of drinking water and high prices.

A Zamzam camp elder told this station that 39 of the 79 pumps in the camp are not operating. He expressed his fear that “Our thirst may become fatal in the summer, when the water level in the wells decreases, and it will be more difficult to collect enough water.”

He said that the price of drinking water doubled recently. “We now pay SDG30 ($4.20) to have a water tank filled.”

In Gireida in South Darfur, the price for a barrel of water has risen from SDG12 to SDG20 ($2.80), a resident of the Forika camp reported. “Since last Sunday, five of the water pumps in the camp have stopped working because of a lack of fuel.”

He called on the South Darfur authorities and humanitarian organisations to provide fuel to the camps.

 

‘Gireida camps to be closed’: South Darfur governor

April 24 – 2017 GIREIDA

The Governor of South Darfur has given the residents of the Gireida camps the choice between accepting the annexation of the camp sites to the town or returning voluntarily to their places of origin.

In a public meeting in Gireida, Governor Adam El Faki told the displaced people that the more than ten camps may be added to the existing residential districts or they may become new districts in the town.

In both instances, the displaced people will not be entitled any more to humanitarian aid.

The camp residents strongly rejected the options, for legal and security reasons.

“Actually the annexation of the camp sites to Gireida town means the legitimisation of the theft of our lands. In this case, the land ownership will be officially transferred to the new settlers and the government’s militiamen,” a camp elder told Radio Dabanga.

“Yet, the people are also unable to return, because of the presence of militiamen in their villages and at their farms. They prevent us from returning to our lands for farming. Even when we leave the camp for a few kilometres to collect firewood or straw, they attack us.

“So we can only return if the situation has become secure, and a comprehensive peace has been reached,” he said.

‘Baseless propaganda’

El Shafee Abdallah, Coordinator of the Central Darfur camps, told this station earlier this month that the lands and villages of the displaced people are currently occupied by government-allied militiamen, from the region or from neighbouring countries.

“The government aims to keep the displaced people where they are, after a so-called replanning of the camps,” he said. “If the camp areas are annexed to the towns and the displaced registered as town residents, they will deprived from the possibility to reclaim their land. Thus the way to legalising the new settlers’ ownership of our lands will be paved.”

“That is why the displaced people will never accept the re-planning of the camps and their integration into the towns,” he explained.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Two dead, seven injured, Imam beaten in Darfur militia attacks

April 27 – 2017 DARFUR

Two people died, seven – including two children – were injured, and three others are still missing after a night attack by armed militants on Mura and Barkoro areas west of Katur in eastern Jebel Marra. The Imam of a village mosque was beaten by bandits in South Darfur.

One of the survivors told Radio Dabanga that militants on camels and horses attacked both areas on Tuesday night, instantly killed two people, and wounded seven others, including Yousif Ibrahim Adam, Ali Mohamed Haroun and Aisha Seifeldin.

He said the attackers plundered cash, property, about 1,500 head of cattle, and then headed towards El Malam area of South Darfur.

Imam beaten

On Monday, militants attacked Birka Toli village of Abu Ajoura administrative unit in South Darfur and beat the Imam of the Haroun El Haj mosque.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that on Monday militants on camels and horses attacked the village during Maghreb prayer, opened fire in the air before they began to attack the worshipers. They stole cash, more than 18 mobile phones, and plundered Dr Adam’s pharmacy.

 

Sudan Tribune

9 killed in tribal clashes in South Darfur
April 29, 2017 (NYALA) – Nineteen people were killed and 19 others injured Saturday in clashes between armed tribesmen from Salamat and Habbaniya tribes in the locality of Buram, some 90 kilometres from the capital of South Darfur state, Nyala. Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that gunmen from Salamat tribe have stolen 150 heads of cows from Habbaniya tribesman, saying his family tracked down the culprits to retrieve the cows but they were ambushed by the latter. According to the eyewitnesses, 12 people from Habbaniya were killed in the ambush and 19 others injured while 7 people from Salamat have been killed in the clashes.

They pointed out that 85 stolen cows have been retrieved; saying 12 dead bodies and 19 wounded tribesmen have been transferred to Buram Teaching Hospital.

An official told Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity that military troops from the 4th battalion at Buram garrison have been deployed to separate between the conflicting parties and prevent further clashes.

Also, Salamt tribal chief Habib Omer Sakin told Sudan Tribune said the incident doesn’t amount to a “tribal problem”, describing it as “crime” carried out by outlaws who seek to drag the two tribes into tribal wars.

Meanwhile, an official source has held the state government responsible for the renewal of clashes between the two tribes, saying authorities of Buram locality continued to turn a blind eye on the repeated theft crimes which drag tribes into bloody clashes.

“The local authorities didn’t activate the emergency law imposed in the state and hasn’t executed the outcome of the tribal reconciliation conference,” he said Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds displaced in violent clashes between Salamat and Habbaniya tribes during the past few years. Clashes between the two sides are usually caused by the theft of cattle. Since July 2014, the governor of South Darfur

 

South Darfur gunfight leaves 11 dead, 17 injured

April 30 – 2017 BURAM

At least 11 people were killed and 17 others wounded in a gunfight between cattle thieves and a search party not far from the town of Buram in South Darfur on Saturday.

Listener Masoud Saleh told Radio Dabanga from Buram that calm has returned to the area of En Nadeef where the clash between Salamat and Habbaniya tribesmen took place.

“Everything has returned to normal,” he said, explaining that the fighting was triggered by the theft of about 150 cows from Habbaniya herders by Salamat tribesmen.

The South Darfur police chief, Maj. Gen. Balla El Hussein, told reporters in the state capital of Nyala on Saturday that the search party found tracks of the stolen cows in the neighbourhood of a village near Buram. During a meeting with tribal leaders in the area, the members of the search party were shot. In the ensuing gunfight, 11 of the thieves were killed and 17 other people were injured.

The police chief strongly denied that the incident was of tribal nature. He added that the authorities immediately sent buffer troops who separated the two parties and contained the situation.

 

Gunmen threaten to torch South Darfur camp

May 3 – 2017 MERSHING

Militants have threatened to storm and torch Keila Camp in Mershing locality in South Darfur unless the inhabitants pay compensation for livestock the gunmen claim to have lost.

One of the displaced residents of the camp told Radio Dabanga that they sought help of the locality police, but the militants threatened the police and gave the displaced an ultimatum until Saturday to return 40 cattle or the cash equivalent, or they would pillage and burn the camp.

School ransacked

On Tuesday militants broke into Kushina basic school south Tawila in North Darfur.

Omda Bosh told Radio Dabanga that militants on two Land Cruisers mounted with a Dushka machinegun 10 am on Tuesday, seized school equipment, chairs, cupboards and other school objects including doors from the headmaster and  teachers’ offices and the storehouse, loaded them into a lorry headed towards Kabkabiya.

 

Fires destroy homes, palm plantations in Sudan

May 5 – 2017 MERSHING / DOLO

A fire that broke out in a camp for displaced people in Mershing locality destroyed 22 houses where food items and crops were stored on Wednesday afternoon.

The camp Tundobai witnessed the fire at 3pm and has caused the displacement of many people who now live in the open without food, shelter or cover. A listener from the camp reported to Radio Dabanga that local authorities and organisations have been asked to help the affected people.

Northern state palm trees

On Wednesday, a large fire broke out and destroyed hundreds of palm trees at Artemi Island in Dolgo, Northern state. Residents have failed to control the fire.

A farmer said that the cause of the fire, which destroyed an estimated 500 trees, is unknown. He pointed out that Dolgo village has no firefighting truck.

According to statistics from the Nubian Development Committee, about 250,000 palms have been burned between 2005 and 2016. The government does not publicly keep track of statistics on the number of burned palm trees.

 

Darfur women welcome UN report on conflict-related sexual violence

May 7 – 2017 KALMA CAMP

Displaced women in Darfur have commended the recently published UN Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence in 2016.

“Since the outbreak of the war and the government’s support of the Arab herders we call janjaweed, there has not been a single day without news on sexual harassment,” a woman activist told Radio Dabanga from Kalma camp for the displaced in South Darfur.

“In particular when we leave our villages or camps to collect water, firewood and straw, we are in danger of being assaulted and raped.”

She said that the women group of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association support the recommendations of the report. “We entirely agree with the call for the recognition of conflict-related sexual violence as a form of persecution. This is also important for the clarification of the legal status of children born as a result of rape.

“For years now, we have been demanding the protection of displaced women, accountability of perpetrators of rape. Victims’ relatives should be able to file a complaint without being harassed, and victims have the right to adequate health and psychological care.”

Impunity

The UN Report, published in April this year, states that the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) documented 100 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, affecting 222 victims, specifically 102 women, 119 girls, and one boy between January and December last year. Ten percent of these cases occurred during displacement.

The incidents included rape, gang rape, attempted rape, abduction for the purpose of sexual assault and sexual harassment, primarily in North Darfur, coinciding with the presence of militias. Rapists in Darfur “continue to operate in a climate of impunity,” the report reads.

According to data of the Sudanese government, 112 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were reported between January and December 2016, of which 40 were brought to court, with 13 convictions.

The UN lauds the initiatives undertaken by the Sudanese government, “including amendment of the Criminal Act to make a clear distinction between rape and adultery, and the expansion of the mandate of the Darfur Special Court to include rape”, but notes that “The legally discontinued, but still widely upheld, requirement that victims obtain a specific form (“form 8”) from the police in order to receive medical care deters reporting.”

As sexual violence cases are not consistently prosecuted, many communities resort to traditional settlements, which often decree that the victim should marry the perpetrator. Despite the lasting impact of sexual violence on survivors, including those with children born as a result of rape, no reparations have been paid, the UN notes

Ministry report

According to a report of the Sudanese Interior Ministry issued in April this year, 348 rape cases were recorded between April 2016 and March 2017.

The Darfur Criminal Prosecutor reported in March that 35 complaints of rape were registered in Darfur during the first two and a half months of 2017 alone.

 

Eight dead in renewed South Darfur tribal violence

May 10 – 2017 BURAM

Sudanese regular troops have been deployed to separate Habbaniya and Salamat tribesmen at Um Maraheek in Buram locality, South Darfur, after eight people have died in renewed clashes following new incidents of cattle theft.

The situation in the locality has been tense since at least 11 people were killed and 17 others wounded in a gunfight between cattle thieves and a search party at El Nadeef, not far from the town of Buram on April 30.

The South Darfur police chief, Maj. Gen. Balla El Hussein, told reporters in the state capital of Nyala in South Darfur on April 29 that ‘buffer troops’ had been sent in to separate the warring parties.

New clashes

Witnesses reported that calm had returned to the area, however new reports reaching Radio Dabanga say that at least eight people were killed, and 18 others injured in the new clashes on Monday, which followed further incidents of cattle theft.

The acting Deputy Governor of South Darfur, Ahmed Sabeel announced in statements to the press the arrival of regular forces to the scene of the new confrontations to separate the parties. He said that “there are no gatherings or harassment anymore”.

Yesterday, Sabeel announced the formation of a committee headed by the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council and a number of heads of native administrations that will arrive to the area to calm the situation and act to address the problem between the parties.

 

Sudan Tribune

13 people killed in South Darfur after renewal of intercommunal violence
May 10, 2017 (NYALA) – 13 people have been killed in fresh clashes between Salamat and Habbaniya tribes in Buram locality, 90 km south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. Habbaniyah tribe gunmen carried out an attack on At-Tays area of Buram locality which is inhabited by the Salamat tribe, a local official told Sudan Tribune under the cover of anonymity, adding that the number of dead was 13 people and 17 injured. He pointed out that the tension in the area is still high, calling for the deployment of more security forces to control the situation before it worsens and goes out of hands. The official who is not authorised to speak to the press said the conflict which was started by a cattle raid is now turned into a “tribal crisis that is the most dangerous of its kind”. “There are tribal crowds that are gathering to prepare for a decisive battle. The state security committee must take immediate decisions to put an end to this conflict by applying the emergency law without delay to spare the area a disaster,” he stressed.

On 29 April, 19 people were killed and 19 others injured in clashes between Salamat and Habbaniya tribesmen in Buram. The Salamat reportedly had stolen 150 heads of cows from Habbaniya. Further, they killed 19 Habbaniya people who tracked down the culprits to retrieve the cows. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds displaced in violent clashes between Salamat and Habbaniya tribes during the past few years. Clashes between the two sides are usually caused by the theft of cattle.

 

South Darfur tribal skirmishes claim more casualties

May 11 – 2017 BURAM

Tensions remain high in Buram locality in South Darfur, as sporadic clashes continue between Habbaniya and Salamat tribesmen. On Wednesday morning, tribesmen exchanged fire for three hours in a series of skirmishes that reportedly left dead and wounded on both sides.

The two sides have exchanged accusations about the attack; Habbaniya accused Salamat of attacking their areas yesterday morning at Um Karadis, El Sakhala, and El Tays west of Buram, which led to several wounded who were taken to Buram hospital.

The Salamat then accused Habbaniya of an attack on their areas of El Sakhala and El Tays yesterday morning which also led to several wounded.

Conflicting casualty figures

Estimates of exact casualties in the latest outbreak of violence – that began at the end of last month with disputes over cattle theft – have been conflicting, ranging between 50 and 60 dead and wounded.

The violence was sparked when at least 11 people were killed and 17 others wounded in a gunfight between cattle thieves and a search party at El Nadeef, not far from the town of Buram on April 30.

Buffer troops

Sudanese regular troops have been deployed to the area to form a buffer between the two sides. As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, The acting Deputy Governor of South Darfur, Ahmed Sabeel announced in statements to the press the formation of a committee headed by the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council and a number of heads of native administrations that will arrive to the area to calm the situation and act to address the problem between the parties.

 

Girl raped and killed: Nyala city in anger

May 19 – 2017 NYALA

A six-year-old girl was raped and killed in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Wednesday. A shopkeeper in her neighbourhood was caught in the act.

“I’d sent my daughter to buy milk from the shop next door,” the father of the victim told Radio Dabanga yesterday. The family lives in El Wehda district.

When she did not come home, the father went to report her missing to the police. “There we were informed of a shopkeeper suspected of keeping her inside.” Upon arrival the police and the father found the shop closed from the inside, and opened the door by force.

“I found her dead, lying on the ground, with her hands tied and mouth full of paper napkins, after being raped.”

The shop owner was hiding under a table while holding a knife and trembling, the father said. He was arrested and has been imprisoned for the duration of the investigation. The girl was taken to the morgue.

As soon as the news broke people reportedly gathered in the streets of the city to hold protests against the murder.

 

Sudan Tribune

3 persons killed in South Darfur ammunition depot blast
May 21, 2017 (NYALA) – Three people were killed and more than 20 others injured on Sunday after an explosion in an ammunition depot belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State. Sudan Tribune correspondent in Nyala said the blast sent explosive projectiles and bullets for long distances killing one resident at Raig neighbourhood and two children at Al-Masanei neighbourhood. He pointed out that the deafening sound of the blast sent panic waves among the civilian population who rushed for shelter, saying the forces have been heavily deployed on the streets of Nyala.

According to him, 22 injured have been rushed to Nyala Hospital, expecting the number of the wounded may increase in the coming hours. Last April, a similar explosion occurred in an ammunition depot belonging to the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) west of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan killing two people and injuring thirteen others.

Ammo blast turns South Darfur capital into chaos

May 22 – 2017 NYALA

A huge explosion in the largest arms and ammunition storage building in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Sunday caused panic in the entire city. A young man was fatally hit by shells. Sources say that more people were killed.

“Nyala turned into one big running area,” a listener told Radio Dabanga. “People at the streets and markets fled into the nearest hiding places, and people at home hid under their beds.

“Governor Adam El Faki and his guards who were attending a graduation ceremony of a new batch of Rapid Support Forces at the moment of the explosion quickly left the stadium,” he added.

Dozens of missiles were blown over distances, killing 20-year-old Hassan Abdallah Ishag inside his home at El Rayig district, amid reports of several more deaths and wounded by shells landing in different places in the city.

The source said that the news about renewed battles between government forces and rebel combatants in the area south of the railway on Saturday, caused the people to think that the fighting entered Nyala. “Rumours about rebels entering the capital exacerbated the panic.”

On Sunday as well, a large number of wounded paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army were brought in from the nearby battle fields, amid appeals to the population to donate blood for them at the Nyala Hospital.

After the blast, El Jar Bishara, Information Minister and the spokesman for the South Darfur government called on the people to return to their houses and shops. “What happened was a normal explosion because of the intense heat. The situation has calmed down now,” he said.

In El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, six people were injured in April this year when an ammunition depot of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) exploded. Hours later, two two people were killed and 13 others injured when an unexploded remnant from the blast detonated at the El Obeid shoe market.

In early 2015, ammunition in the stores of the Ed Damazin garrison in Blue Nile state detonated, which led to the burning of a number of houses in the vicinity.

 

12 dead, homes destroyed in South Darfur ammo dump blast

May 24 – 2017 NYALA

At least 12 people have died, 18 others injured, and hundreds of homes destroyed after catastrophic explosions rocked an ammunition storage facility in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Sunday evening.

Legal expert Saleh Mahmoud told Radio Dabanga that the explosions emanated from the arms and ammunition storage of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in El Matar district in Nyala. In addition to the 12 dead and 18 injured, he says that hundreds of houses were destroyed in El Matar, El Masani, El Sinema, and El Mazad districts, leaving dozens of families displaced and homeless.

As reported by Radio Dabanga on Monday, the explosion caused panic in the city as people fled the streets and markets.

‘War crime’

Mahmoud held the authorities responsible for the dead, injured and the damage caused to Nyala.

He told Radio Dabanga that according to international law, international covenants, and national laws, keeping stockpiles of dangerous substances or explosives in civilian residential areas can endanger the lives of civilians “which amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity”.

Residents confirm that 300 houses were completely destroyed, while others suffered the collapse of roofs, doors, and windows, and hundreds more damaged by explosive shells creating holes in rooms and fragments in walls.

The victims demanded the authorities to form a committee for inventory of the losses to compensate them.

Compensation

Mahmoud says that there are two sides: criminal where the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General must file a complaint against those responsible for storing the explosives in the residential area. The second aspect is civil for the affected to prove the damage to be entitled to compensation.

He said that in the event the prosecutor does not file a complaint, anyone who has a relative who died or was injured by the explosives would be entitled to file a complaint against the body responsible for storing them inside the residential area.

Nyala witnessed robbery and thefts by armed groups during the chaos caused by the explosions. Nine vehicles were stolen, including a vehicle belonging to the official of the National Union of Sudanese Youth and Solidarity for Relief and Development. Several houses were looted, and residents were robbed at gunpoint.

The authorities have warned people not to pick up any foreign objects, especially as many of the bombs that flew from eight main storages of the rapid support forces are lying around unexploded.

 

35 children raped in South Darfur in April, May: A-G

May 31 – 2017 NYALA

The South Darfur child prosecutor’s agency received 35 reports of rape against children in the state in April and May, according to a statement by the Ministry of Justice.

Adel Mohamed Hassan, the senior attorney-general’s advisor told a news conference in the state capital of Nyala that that the court so far has adjudicated seven of the rape cases of the most serious phenomenon of their kind in South Darfur.

He pointed out that in many cases, the crime of rape is kept secret and not reported in South Darfur, for fear of the social stigma.

He called on the population to immediately report the occurrence of any crime or harassment against children.

He stressed that the fight against crime is the responsibility of the whole society without exception, especially families.

Death sentence

On Monday, The Children’s Court in Nyala sentenced the rapist and killer of a six-year-old girl to death by hanging. The victim was found dead, tied-down in his shop on 17 May. She had been suffocated with napkins and biscuits.

 

Sudan Tribune

Unknown gunmen kill peacekeeper in South Darfur

May 31, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – A Nigerian soldier of the African Union-United Nation Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was shot dead by unknown gunmen in downtown Nyala, South Darfur state capital on Wednesday. No official comment has been issued from the UNAMID on the incident. However, an official source at the Mission told Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, that gunmen shot at a Nigerian blue helmet while he was buying spare parts from the industrial zone in downtown Nyala. According to the source, the Nigerian soldier sustained serious injuries and died later at Nyala Hospital. He added the gunmen shot at the soldier despite his surrender, saying they stole his vehicle and fled to an unknown destination.

He said the incident was likely meant to press the Mission to exit Darfur region.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that three gunmen threatened the Nigerian soldier at around 2 pm (local time) and forced him to leave the car before shooting him. UNAMID death toll since the creation of the hybrid peacekeeping has risen to 64 after Wednesday’s incident.

 

Unamid peacekeeper killed in South Darfur carjacking

June 1 – 2017 NYALA

A soldier serving with the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid) was killed by unknown gunmen in a carjacking in downtown Nyala, the capital of South Darfur on Wednesday.

Unamid headquarters in El Fasher confirmed the death of the Nigerian peacekeeper in a statement today. The Mission strongly condemns the attack which it terms “a violation of international law”.

Reports reaching Radio Dabanga state that the soldier was in the industrial zone of Nyala to buy spare parts. Three unknown gunmen approached him at about 2 pm. They forced him out of his vehicle, shot him, and made-off with the vehicle, leaving the soldier critically injured.

He was transferred to Nyala hospital where he died of his wounds.

The Nigerian is the 64^th soldier to die serving with Unamid since the Mission began deployment in Darfur in 2007.

The Unamid statement says that the incident has been reported to the Sudanese authorities, and calls on the Government of Sudan to swiftly apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

 

South Darfur bandits raid village shops

June 2 – 2017 NYALA / SIRBA

Bandits broke into shops and stole money and cattle in a village east of Nyala, South Darfur, on Wednesday. In West Darfur, two women farmers were seriously injured after a beating by herders.

Several villagers contacted Radio Dabanga and reported that bandits, driving in a number of vehicles and others riding camels and horses, attacked Marla village.

They stole the goods from the shops, 85 goats, 24 horses, 90 sacks of groundnuts, and more than 80 mobile phones, the witnesses recounted, as well as contents in houses. Approximately SDG100,000 ($14,900) was robbed of the victims.

On Thursday, a number of women were injured at Saraf Jidad area in West Darfur’s Sirba locality in West Darfur, after being beaten by herders. A witness told Radio Dabanga that several herders beat a group of women who were tilling their farms at Saraf Jidad. They seriously injured the two sisters Hawa El Nagi Abdelkarim and Um Bagar El Nagi.

The witness said that the attack on the farmers was explained by the fact that the farmlands now should be used for grazing.

Farmers in North Darfur’s Kutum locality have complained of herders who drive camels into their farms, sometimes threatening the farmer by force of arms. The shortage of food in Darfur, driven by drought and displacement, is exacerbated by frequent raids on farms by herders who allow their livestock to graze on farmers’ crops.

 

(Report also North Darfur)

Murder, abduction by militiamen across Darfur

June 8 – 2017 DARFUR

A man has been murdered, four abducted in two separate incidents, and 20 displaced people fired upon in incidents of banditry across Darfur.

On Thursday, Abakar Mohamed Abdallah was shot dead east of Mershing in South Darfur. One of the sheikhs told Radio Dabanga radio that armed militiamen opened fire on Abdallah as he returned to the camp after the funeral,. He was killed outright. The gunmen then made off with his donkey and other possessions.

On Wednesday, armed herdsmen abducted Adoma El Haj and Kajil Abulgasim from the Kila district north of Mershing because of a missing camel.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, armed militiamen driving a vehicle mounted with a Dushka machine gun abducted Mohamed Yagoub Ibrahim and his son Ismail from the Khitir area in eastern Jebel Marra.

Collecting straw

On Thursday, 20 displaced women were attacked by armed militiamen in Darfur, along with the killing of a number of donkeys.

Omda Mukhtar Bosh told Radio Dabanga that militiamen opened fire on the women who were gathering straw in the Mundo area south of Tawila, killing three donkeys on the spot, while the displaced women miraculously survived. Bush said militants threatened to hit, assault, and kill them if they returned to collect straw.

The security forces on Wednesday arrested merchant Abdelmajed Abdallah Bakhit from ithe market of Kutum in North Darfur and took him their offices. A camp sheikh told Dabanga radio that members of the security services raided Bakhit, a merchant in the camp.

The sheikh expressed his fear that the victim was subjected to torture and ill-treatment by members of the security services, and appealed to the human rights organisations to intervene to release him.

Ein Siro

For the second week in a row, militiamen have continued to steal money, property, and livestock of residents of Ein Siro and the areas north-west of Kutum in North Darfur.

Residents told Radio Dabanga said that the attackers plundered Mustariha village before burning it on Tuesday.

They said the militants stole ceilings, doors and school equipment and at the same time cut mango and orange trees.

On Tuesday and Wednesday 60 displaced families arrived from Deleiba and Mustariha areas to Kutum, in addition to the arrival of other families to the Abdelshakour area.

A number of them told Radio Dabanga that dozens of families are preparing to leave, but have no means to transport their animals and vehicles.

Panic

The population is gripped by panic, as reports of robberies increase. Witnesses say people are robbed as they move on their own in the markets and roads.

The commander of Kutum Garrison in North Darfur, Brigadier El Sadig El Mahdi Abdelrahman, acknowledged that the Ein Siro area and the surrounding villages were exposed to burning and theft by what he called outlaws whom he said “have come from all directions, especially Kutum and Kabkabiya”.

 

Nine villagers kidnapped in South Darfur

June 13 – 2017 MERSHING / ZALINGEI

Nine people were kidnapped from a village in South Darfur. Carjackers in Central Darfur were intercepted by a military force on Monday.

Gunmen found the dead body of one of their relatives last week, a sheikh in Jurof, east of Mershing, told Radio Dabanga. In retaliation, they rode their camels to Jurof, attacked and kidnapped nine villagers.

They demanded SDG160,000 ($23,829) for the release of Abdelgader Saleh, his brother Mustafa Saleh, Saddam Hussein, Tawfig Adam, Tahir Abusakin, Adam Mohamed Adam, Abdallah Mohamed Abdallah, Younis Eltaher, and Abdelrazeg Mohamed Adam.

The families of the kidnapped villagers have appealed to local authorities and human rights organisations to intervene to release them, and to stop the abuses by gunmen.

Soldiers arrest car thieves

On Monday, militiamen intercepted two commercial vehicles on the Zalingei-Um Dukhun road in Central Darfur. They robbed the passengers of their goods. A local military force managed to recover the stolen items and capture two of the thieves.

 

Deadly clash over stolen cattle in South Darfur

June 15 – 2017 TUR

At least three people were killed, several others injured, and five people were kidnapped in an attack by gunmen on a group of civilians in South Darfur yesterday.

Witnesses from the area told Radio Dabanga that armed men riding motorcycles and others on camels side opened fire on a group of people east of Tur in Kass locality. Provocation for the attack was the alleged theft of some cows from the gunmen.

Abakar Bahreldin (70), Degesh Adam Hamed (35), and Suleiman Mohamed Haroun (28) were killed and several others wounded.

After the attack, the gunmen abducted five people. The wounded were transferred to the hospital of Tur.

ACJPS: ‘Detained South Darfur activists may be subjected to torture’

June 18 – 2017 NEW YORK

Three activists from Ed El Fursan in South Darfur are detained incommunicado by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) without charge or access to their families.

A lawyer contracted by the activists’ families has expressed concern for their safety and well-being as they may be subjected to ill-treatment and torture, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) states in a report on Thursday.

They are currently being held in the NISS section of the Nyala Prison in South Darfur, after having been transferred from NISS custodies in Ed El Fursan on 26 May.

Azrag Mousa, Ahmed El Sadig, and El Hadi Abdelrahman were detained from their homes in Ed El Fursan on 25 May, a day after they led a peaceful protest in the locality against the deficit of basic services, in particular a shortage of clean drinking water and electricity.

According to ACJPS, there is no legitimate cause for the three activists’ detention. “Their arrests are solely based on their organisation and participation in peaceful demonstrations calling for the provision of services in Ed El Fursan by the local authorities. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly are all guaranteed under Sudan’s Interim National Constitution,” the report reads.

Violations

“The lack of access for lawyers and family members to the detainees, together with the well-documented use by the NISS of torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees, particularly whilst held in unknown locations, gives rise to serious concerns for their safety [..].

“The practice is in breach of Sudan’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular the prohibition under Article 5 of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment. Under the 2010 National Security Act (NSA), detainees can be held for up to four and a half months without judicial review.

“This incommunicado detention of the three activists, alongside other recent incidents of arbitrary detention documented by ACJPS, diverges significantly with the current image projected by Sudan to normalise its relationship with the international community and as the United States prepares to review Sudan’s sanctions next month.

The African Centre calls upon the Sudanese government “to grant the detainees immediate and unequivocal access to their lawyers and family members, and release them in the absence of valid legal charges consistent with international standards. If such charges exist, the three individuals should be brought promptly before an impartial, independent and competent tribunal and guarantee their procedural rights at all times”.

 

Hijack amid deteriorating security in Darfur

June 27 – 2017 NYALA / BIRKAT SEIRA

Gunmen hijacked a vehicle with its owner from a camp for displaced people in South Darfur on Sunday.

On the first day of Eid El Fitr, the festival marking the end the fasting month, militiamen in a Land Cruiser without number plates abducted Musa Suleiman and his companion Abdallah Basher at gunpoint from Otash camp.

They released them three kilometres from Nyala, after they stole the vehicle, money and mobile phones from the victims.

North Darfur security

Residents of Birkat Seira in Saraf Omra locality have expressed their discontent at the locality commissioner’s non-response to their demands for security, health and education.

A number of people told Radio Dabanga that they presented a package of demands to Locality Commissioner Hamdan Bilal during his visit to Birkat Seira on the first day of Eid El Fitr.

“The commissioner and members of the Sudanese security service, escorting the commissioner, focused during their visit on the distribution of forms to the residents. The forms stated to join the National Congress Party (NCP, ruling party) instead of donating money to the people of the area or resolving their problems,” a listener said.

Last Saturday, paramilitary Border Guards members kidnapped two people in Saraf Omra.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Strike after woman beaten in South Darfur hospital

July 4 – 2017 GARSILA / GIREIDA 

An employee of a hospital in Central Darfur was beaten by a militiaman on Sunday, prompting her co-workers to enter into a general strike the next day.

The militia member severely beat the hospital worker in the hospital of Garsila on Sunday. The assault sparked her colleagues to stop working in protest of the violence, a visitor in the hospital told Radio Dabanga.

In October 2016, cases of abuse of medical personnel spiked a nationwide strike of doctors in hospitals throughout Sudan. They demanded the improvement of the working environment, provision of aides, and protection of hospital employees during their work.

Farmer wounded

On Monday morning, farmer Dalil Ibrahim was wounded in a shooting by a herder at Um Gantoura area in South Darfur. Other farmers told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the shooting took place 10 km east of Gireida, when a farmer tried to force livestock out of his farm. An armed herder shot him.

A farmer said that Dalil was taken in a serious condition to Nyala Hospital after filing the incident to the police in Gireida.

 

Farmers abducted, vehicles seized in South Darfur

July 6 – 2017 GIREIDA / NYALA

Militiamen kidnapped two farmers at Rahad Zarroug in Gireida locality on Tuesday. South Darfur security authorities have seized “hundreds of illegal vehicles” from abroad.

Militiamen in Rahad Zarroug, 15km west of Gireida, threatened displaced people who were farming, on Tuesday at 10 o’clock in the morning. The men rode camels and carried weapons. They abducted farmers Haidar Adam Guma and Adam Daoud from Abyei camp for displaced people.

The attackers stole a horse and cart before heading west with the abductees. People reported the incident to the police in Gireida, which did not move on the pretext of lack of fuel, a witness told Radio Dabanga. A rescue team consisting of locals then set-out to search for Guma and Daoud. They went as far as ​​Sergeila area in Tullus before returning empty-handed.

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, authorities carried out a large security campaign to seize the illegal vehicles, allegedly coming from neighbouring countries – Libya in particular. The government attempts to put an end to the phenomenon of bandits roaming the streets in illegal or unlicensed vehicles, a contributor to the insecurity in the state.

Other states in Darfur also started or completed campaigns for the registration of unlicensed vehicles, in an attempt to decrease the number of illegal vehicles.

The South Darfyr security authorities have managed to seize hundreds of illegal vehicles in the security campaign that took place in the streets of the city and its entrances. Many vehicles (popularly known as ‘Boko Haram’) are believed to be smuggled from neighbouring Chad or Libya.

“At least 400 vehicles have been seized by the 16th Infantry in Nyala, to force their owners to legalise and then license them,” a security official told the press in Nyala. He added that there are more than 9,000 unlicensed vehicles.

Libyan news media reported early this year that authorities in the country allow the shipments of vehicles from Libya to Sudan through EgySouth Darfur police evacuate detainees under RSF pressure

 

July 13 – 2017 NYALA

Police in South Darfur evacuated one of their largest detention facilities north of El Masani districts in Nyala under pressure from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who claim that the land on which it stands was purchased by their commander, Mohammed Hamdan Hemeti.

On Monday the police carried-out the evacuation on a voluntary basis for fear of clashes. The RSF had given them 48 hours to leave the building.

According to sources the police transferred all the detainees to the police station in Nyala North and all the furniture to the police headquarters.

The sources confirmed that four armoured Land Cruisers of the Rapid Support Forces are guarding the buildings of the police station after the evacuation.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Killings, hijack in South Darfur, Jebel Marra

July 16 – 2017 NYALA / FALLUJA

On Thursday, a soldier was shot dead in the South Darfur capital of Nyala. The shooter surrendered to the police. In North Darfur, herders killed a woman farmer on Friday.

“Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldier El Rasheed Gasim was shot dead in the El Jeer district,” an uncle of the victim reported to Radio Dabanga. “He and his comrade from the RSF had a heated argument with a man in front of his home in El Jeer. The man then took his gun and shot El Rasheed dead on the spot.”

He added that the killer “immediately handed himself over to the police”.

On Thursday afternoon, a group of gunmen hijacked a Toyota at the El Geneina market in Nyala.

“The janjaweed stopped the driver of the Toyota that belongs to the Nyala locality. They ordered him to disembark at gunpoint, and took the car with them to an unknown destination,” he said.

Eastern Jebel Marra

Sara Yahya Juma was killed on Friday afternoon in Falluja in North Darfur’s Tawila locality, popularly known as eastern Jebel Marra.

“Sara was tending her farm when two armed herders on camels appeared who untied her donkey. When she protested, they shot her dead,” another farmer reported to this station.

 

South Darfur merchant kidnapped for ransom

July 18 – 2017 KASS

Gunmen kidnapped a merchant from his farm in South Darfur on Sunday. Merchants at the market of Kass closed their shops in protest against the kidnap.

A relative of Adam Abdallah told Radio Dabanga that the perpetrators of the kidnap have demanded a ransom for his release. “A team of locals set out to search for him. Police nor government officials have aided them so far.”

Abdallah, a well-known merchant in Kass, was kidnapped by armed men on his farm north of Kass. The group was able to trace their tracks which led them to the east of Gunmeiza.

“The kidnappers said that they have tied down Adam with shackles to a tree at Adam Kik,” the relative said.

Last week militiamen kidnapped two farmers at Rahad Zarroug in Gireida locality. South Darfur security authorities have seized “hundreds of illegal vehicles” from abroad.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Police detain, block South Darfur market strikers

July 21 – 2017 KASS

Shop owners in Kass, South Darfur, refused to open their doors for the fourth day in a row. Security service members tried to break their strike by apprehending residents and blocking shop doors.

The continued abduction of merchant Adam Abdallah, who was kidnapped by militiamen on Sunday, sparked the protest. Northern Kass locality witnessed three separate abductions this month, all of which involved ransom.

Sources in Kass reported that the strike was continued on Thursday, while police and security service put pressure on the shop owners. Security agents closed the doors of a number of shops in the market with padlocks, without notifying the owners.

Policemen detained several residents and merchants. A man named Shummein was detained for four hours, a source said.

A crowd of people held a sit-in in protest against the insecurity in the area and the abductions at the house of Amir Tijani yesterday. The protest coincided with the arrival of the new loclity commissioner who addressed the crowd. He listened to the complaints about the repeated kidnappings and deprivation of the displaced people.

People also complained about the issues for farmers, in particular north of Kass, were herders reportedly let their cattle graze too early in the harvest season and repated abductions take place.

Several witnesses speaking to Radio Dabanga accused the security service to be behind the frequent abdutions. An activist claimed: “The security apparatus causes crises, especially in the trade of flour and fuel. They employ militiamen to conduct the abductions of traders, also in Nyala.”

East Jebel Marra

On Wednesday, gunmen kidnapped Ayoub Yousif Abakar and Abdel Halim Osman Hamed near Katur in East Jebel Marra, and demanded the payment of SDG150,000 ($22,385) for their release.

One of the relatives of the kidnapped told Radio Dabanga that four bandits, riding camels, intercepted the two men while they were on their way from Katur market to Bura village on Wednesday.

He said the militants took the two men by force of arms, to an unknown destination. “The kidnappers then called the families of the kidnapped and demanded them to pay the ransom.”

 

Sudan Tribune

Five IDPs killed by pastoralist gunmen in South Darfur

July 22, 2017 (NYALA) – Five Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were killed and six others seriously injured on Saturday at Hegair Tono area, Baleel locality, some 25 kilometres south east of Nyala, South Darfur capital. The deputy chairman of IDPs and Refugees Association Adam Abdallah on Saturday told Sudan Tribune that 10 gunmen on camels and horses backs have attacked IDPs from Kalma camp as they were planting at Hegair Tono area, killing 5 people instantly and injuring 6 others, mostly women.

He pointed out that the attack came in revenge for a woman who was injured after she fell off a camel as the farmers were trying to push out a herd of camels that has encroached into their farms forcibly. Abdallah added the culprits left the incident scene after they threatened to prevent the IDPs from practising their farming activities and return them back to the camps. It is noteworthy that IDPs often leave the camps to plant their crops in nearby farms during the fall and return back to the camps after the end of the growing season. During the rainy season, usually, various clashes erupt between herdsmen and farmers leading to violence and killing. These clashes are triggered by herdsmen attempts to graze their animals on agricultural fields.

 

(Report also in Central)

Herders attack South Darfur farmers, kill five

July 24 – 2017 NYALA

Militant herders shot five South Darfur displaced farmers dead and wounded nine others south-east of the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Saturday. Two women were attacked on their farm near Zalingei in CentralDarfur.

“The problems started when Arab camel herders took an injured woman of their tribe to the police on Friday, filed a complaint against the people of Hejeir Tono, and then transported her to the Nyala Teaching Hospital,” the deputy omda of the village told Dabanga Radio.

“The women fell off her camel when the farmers were trying to chase camels from their land near Hejeir Tono village,” Sheikh Abakar Rahma explained.

He said that the Abbala tribesmen demanded from the villagers to hand the attacker of the woman.

“We told them several times that we do not know the culprit, but they did not believe us. The next day, without any warning, large numbers of militant Abbala on camels and horses entered the farms of the village and began shooting around them.

“Khadija Babikir Abdeljabbar, Abdallah Daoud Adam, Shummo Adam Adamo, Abdo Babikir Abdallah, and Adam Saleh Hamid were killed,” he said. “Nine others were wounded, some of them seriously, and had to be taken to the Nyala Teaching Hospital.”

He said that many of the villagers who recently returned from the Kalma and El Salam camps for the displaced in the South Darfur capital, fled to the camps again.

Saleh Abdallah, Secretary-general of Kalma camp told this station that on Sunday 120 families from Hejeir Tono, about 25 km from Nyala, arrived to the camp on foot and on carts.

“Now they are staying at Block 8 without any food or shelter,” he said.

Zalingei

Two women farmers sustained bullet wounds in an attack by gunmen on their farm near Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, on Saturday.

The coordinator of the Central Darfur camps for the displaced, El Shafee Abdallah, told this station that a group of gunmen on horses shot displaced women farmers Najwa El Nour and Maryam Ahmed Eisa. They were taken to the Zalingei Teaching Hospital after the incident was reported to the police.

The coordinator called on Unamid to conduct daily patrols “to provide the least protection for the displaced persons inside and outside the camps”.

 

Woman injured in South Darfur rape attempt

July 28 – 2017 MERSHING

A displaced woman from camp Hashaba in Mershing locality in South Darfur was severely injured when gunmen attempted to rape her on Sunday.

A sheikh told Radio Dabanga that gunmen on camels attacked and attempted to rape three women working on farms two kilometres south of the camp.

The women resisted which prompted one of the gunmen to stab one of them in her thigh and stomach.

The screams of women calling for help forced the gunmen to flee.

The sheikh said the stabbed woman was seriously injured and taken to Nyala Hospital.

He appealed to the commissioner of the locality to secure the farms of the displaced.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Robberies in North Darfur capital

August 4 – 2017 EL FASHER / GIREIDA

Bandits attacked and robbed three traders of their money near a bank in El Fasher on Thursday. Visitors of a market were robbed of their money and phones in South Darfur.

Masked gunmen, driving a Land Cruiser, opened fire on three cattle traders who had just left the bank in El Fasher city. They stole more than SDG10,000,000 a member of the legislative council of North Darfur, Adam Ishag Manan, told Radio Dabanga.

One of the traders was shot in the head while the other two were injured in their legs. They are in the hospital in critical condition.

Manan: “There are more acts of theft and chaos after the last Eid El Fitr, following the stability the state witnessed in the preceding period.” He noticed that more people in El Fasher have fallen victim to robberies.

In addition he reported that an armed group stole a large sum of money from people in Um Beitein, a village in El Fasher locality, on Wednesday. “Another group hijacked a vehicle owned by the government on its way to Kutum three days ago.”

Another incident involves armed men attempting to hijack an ambulance from Ghurair. “They failed to do so because the driver of the vehicle resisted the hijack.”

Robbery South Darfur

Gunmen stole the mobile phones and money of thirteen people in Gireida in South Darfur after they returned from the market in Joghana. The incident took place on the road to Magrana.

A number of gunmen stormed the house of Zakaria Douda in Joghana and stole a horse at gunpoint, a woman reported to Radio Dabanga on Thursday. On their way back they opened dense fire into the air and stole the mobile phones from five people.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Violence in Darfur: Shooting, abduction, robberies

August 6 – 2017 GIREIDA / TAWILA

Two farmers and their son were shot and robbed in Gireida in South Darfur on Friday. In North Darfur’s Tawila, two farmers were kidnapped and the passengers of four commercial vehicles were robbed.

“On Friday morning, three militiamen riding horses suddenly appeared at Donki Abeer Raghib, 30 kilometres north-west of Gireida,” an eyewitness told Radio Dabanga.

“They began to fire randomly at the farmers working in the area. Ali Yagoub, his wife Hawa Suleiman, and their son Adam were hit. As Ali was seriously wounded, he was taken to the Nyala Hospital, while his wife and son are being treated at the Hospital of Gireida.”

He said that the attackers stole Yagoub’s horse. The incident was reported to the police of Gireida.

Ambushed

On Thursday evening, a group of seven militiamen wearing military uniforms driving a Rapid Support Forces Land Cruiser mounted with a Dushka machinegun intercepted four Land Cruisers.

The commercial vehicles were on their way from Fanga in Tawila (eastern Jebel Marra) to the Zamzam camp for the displaced south of the North Darfur capital of El Fasher.

“The paramilitaries stopped us at gunpoint in the area of Guwa Gouno,” one of the passengers reported.

“They beat us with their rifle butts, and robbed us of our money, about SDG 13,000 ($ 1,940) in total, mobile phones and blankets. They took the spare tires of each vehicle as well.”

Kidnapped

On Friday, herders kidnapped two farmers at Dubbo El Omda in north-west Tawila.

“The herders came in two Land Cruisers and on two motorcycles, to the farms of Ibrahim Abdeljabbar and Mousa Badawi,” a relative of one of the victims told this station.

“They accused them of stealing their camels and took them with them by force to an unknown destination.”

He said that the families of the abductees gathered in front of the Dubbo El Omda army garrison, demanding the troops to hunt down the kidnappers, but the garrison’s commander told them that he is not authorised to do so, and told them to go to the Commissioner of Tawila instead.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Man killed, girl gang-raped in Darfur

August 20 – 2017 KUTUM / HIJEIR TONGO

On Thursday, militants shot a construction worker dead in North Darfur. A displaced girl was gang-raped and abducted in South Darfur.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported from Kutum in North Darfur that unknown gunmen “suddenly shot dead builder Jamal Yagoub Abdallah in Damrat El Gubba on Thursday”. The reason is unclear.

The source said that in another incident, goat keeper Ahmed Shumein was injured in an armed robbery in the area of Desa, north-west of Kutum.

Gang-raped

A 16-year-old was raped and abducted by five gunmen in the area of Hijeir Tongo, south of Kalma camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Thursday.

Saleh Eisa, Secretary-General of Kalma camp, said that five masked militants riding on camels intercepted the girl and her father when they were on their way back to the camp after tending their farm.

“They repeatedly raped the girl in front of her father who they had tied with ropes, and then left, taking the girl with them.”

The incident was reported to the police of Hijeir Tono.

Eisa strongly condemned the incident, which he described as “a kind of war used by the government and its militias to humiliate and insult the displaced people of Darfur”.

He demanded the release of the victim and the arrest of the perpetrators, and called on Unamid to act to protect the displaced in the conflict-torn western region.

 

Man killed, others beaten in farming-grazing disputes

August 25 – 2017 ABBASIYA / MERSHING

Incidents involving livestock grazing on farms resulted in the killing of a farmer in Abbasiya, South Kordofan, and the beating of a number of people in Mershing, South Darfur.

Witnesses reported to Radio Dabanga from Abbasiya that two herders let their cattle feed on the crops at the farm of Ismael El Zubeir, west of the town. They threatened the farmer with their weapons, but he refused to let the cattle graze. One of the herders shot him dead.

In Darfur, herdsmen let their livestock graze on farms of Mershing in South Darfur by force of arms. A farmer told Radio Dabanga yesterday that multiple herdsmen have done so since the beginning of this month. “They beat the people who stand in their way.

“More incidents took place early this week. Herdsmen expelled farmers from all farms located around Mershing, and led their livestock to trespass the farms,” the farmer said.

Several farmers filed more than ten complaints to the police in Mershing, he said, but no action has been taken so far. “They told us that the herdsmen are large in number and carry heavy weapons, and the police cannot confront them.”

 

South Darfur town in panic after pre-Eid market attack

September 3 – 2017 MERSHING

Residents of the town of Mershing in South Darfur are taking shelter in their homes and even stayed away from Eid Al Adha prayers after militants terrorised the town’s market on Thursday evening.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that a group of militants driving a Land Cruiser opened dense fire in the air over Mershing market. Amer Adam Abdallah was wounded. And        non-Arab

Police intervened and arrested one of the perpetrators. As a result, large numbers of militants riding camels attacked the market. They did not steal anything but the attack led to the people fleeing and closure of the market.

The attack led people refrain from going out to perform Eid Al Adha prayers for fear of more attacks on Friday.

 

Deadly attack by gunmen in South Darfur

September 3 – 2017 TULLUS

One man is dead and another seriously wounded after gunmen attacked a group of herders in Tullus, South Darfur this week.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen exchanged fire with the herders in the area of Sergeila. Adam Omer was killed and Adam Ismail was seriously wounded. Several cows also died in the crossfire.

Reports from the area say a local rescue team managed to recover a number of stolen cows, but none of the perpetrators have yet been apprehended.

 

Militia ‘show of force’ causes panic in South Darfur’s Kalma camp

September 6 – 2017 KALMA CAMP

The residents of Kalma camp for the displaced in the South Darfur capital of Nyala are reportedly in a state of panic after a group of militiamen entered the camp in heavily armed vehicles on Monday morning.

Yagoub Abdallah Furi, the General Coordinator of displaced and refugees camps, told Radio Dabanga from Kalma camp that the incursion by armed men with heavy weapons caused panic among the camp residents. He called on Unamid to protect the camp from the “terrorist tactics” of the militants.

Furi said the armed group which included Land Cruisers mounted with ‘dushka’ machine guns drove several blocks into the centre of the camp. The vehicles later left. He warned the government against “the consequences of terrorising the displaced persons in the camps by the use of a military show of force”.near

He considered this as an indication of the government’s attempt to dismantle the camps.

‘Undercover agents’

Furi accused the government of earlier “sending undercover security agents in civilian clothes to camps for the displaced in Darfur to identify the homes of the leaders in order to eliminate or assassinate them… the security agents fled the camp after the disclosure of their plan”.

Furi’s statement says the return of displaced to their villages is conditional to disarming militias, expelling the settlers, bringing the perpetrators to justice and individual and collective compensation for those affected by the war.

 

(Report also in North and Central Darfur)

Darfur: Three dead, two injured in violent crimes

September 7 – 2017 KABKABIYA / GIREIDA / KUTUM / KHARTOUM

Three men are dead and a child and a youth have been injured in separate violent incidents across Darfur this week. Hamdi Osman Jofoun was shot dead at Mat Keru village west of Kabkabiya in North Darfur on Tuesday evening when he came to the rescue of a neighbour gunmen were allegedly attempting to abduct.

An activist from Kabkabiya told Radio Dabanga that on Tuesday evening three gunmen tried to kidnap Abdallah Osman from his house at Mat Keru village. He called-out to his neighbour Hamdi Osman Jofoun for help. When Jofoun intervened to save him one of the gunmen opened fire on him and killed him instantly. Bystanders managed to arrest one of the alleged perpetrators while the other two escaped.

Robbery in Gireida

In Gireida in South Darfur, Jamal Mohamed Kileish was allegedly stabbed to death by an army soldier on Wednesday.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that one of the soldiers attacked Jamal Kileish on Tuesday evening at El Salam district where he asked him to hand over his possessions. When Kileish refused, the soldier reportedly stabbed him with a knife and then took the amount of SDG 500 ($75) and his mobile phone.

He said Kileish died of his injuries at Gireida hospital on Wednesday morning.

Child injured in crossfire

On Wednesday morning, seven-year-old Adam Hassan Haroun was seriously injured when he was shot in the head in the crossfire during a clash between camp gate guards and militant members at camp Kassab in Kutum locality of North Darfur.

The camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that a group of militants using motorcycles exchanged fire with gate guards between the camp and Kutum. Haroun, a first-year pupil of basic school, was hit by ‘a stray bullet’.

The exchange of fire between the guards at the gate and militants has entered its fourth day in a row which caused panic among the camp residents.

Farmer dead in Tawila

In Eastern Jebel Marra, Abdeljabbar Ishag Hamid was shot dead and his son Mohamed was wounded by militants at Dolo area south of Fanga in Tawila locality on Tuesday.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that four gunmen riding camels opened fire on Abdeljabbar Ishag and his son while they were working in a farm in the Dolo area. The father died instantly while the son was seriously wounded.

The witness added that the gunmen then made-off with Ishag’s camel, two donkeys and the food stuffs in their possession.

Presidential visit

In Khartoum, the Governor of South Darfur, Adam El Faki, announced that President Omar Al Bashir will visit the localities of Shattaya, Gireida, and camp Kalma for the displaced during his visit to the state from September 21 to 22.

Governor El Faki’s statement followed a meeting with Sudan’s First Vice-President, Bakri Hassan Saleh, in Khartoum where they meeting discussed the arrangements for Al Bashir’s upcoming visit to South Darfur.

El Faki described the situation in South Darfur as “stable and experiencing a great security stability, especially after the collection of weapons”.

 

Attack injures five South Darfur farmers

September 8 – 2017 KASS

Five residents in Kass, South Darfur, were injured in an attack by camel herders on Wednesday.

According to the residents in Krukuli village, the reason for the attack was that the farmers refused to let the herders’ camels graze on their farms.

“After they threatened the farmers, the camel herders attacked the farmers with sticks and injured five of them.”

A farmer in Krukuli said that the incident followed the announcement of the Sudanese government to collect weapons in Shattaya.

Krukuli village is one of the villages where about 27 families returned after the reconciliation and coexistence conference that was held in Shattaya last year.

 

Man shot dead in South Darfur armed robbery

September 11 – 2017 KASS / TAWILA

A man was killed and another wounded in an armed robbery in Kass in South Darfur on Saturday. A number of people were stripped of their belongings in North Darfur’s Tawila.

Abulgasim Abdelkarim was shot dead and Khalid Adam was wounded by three gunmen in Kass on Saturday evening.

An eyewitness told Radio Dabanga that the attackers intercepted the two men when they were returning home, and told them to hand over their money and mobile telephones.

“When they refused, the gunmen immediately shot at them. Abdelkarim was killed instantly. Adam was seriously injured and was transferred to Nyala for treatment,” he reported.

Tawila

In North Darfur’s Tawila locality, passengers of a commercial vehicle were robbed on the road between Khazan Tunjur and the Zamzam camp for the displaced on Saturday.

“In the area of Jarangu, north of Tabit, armed men in a Land Cruiser mounted with a Dushka machinegun stopped our car,” a passenger explained to this station.

“They robbed us of our money, about SDG2,000 ($300), our mobile phones, and took the spare tire of the car as well.”

He said that the robbery was preceded by another one in the area on Friday afternoon.

“Militants in two vehicles mounted with Dushka machineguns intercepted a bus carrying residents of Zamzam camp for the displaced from Tawila to the camp after shopping,” he said.

A camp elder confirmed the attack, and said that the robbers took SDG8,000 in total from the passengers, their mobile phones, and the items they bought on the market.

 

Girl raped in South Darfur city

September 14 – 2017 NYALA

A 13-year-old girl was raped in the western part of Nyala city on Wednesday, the child’s father said.

A rickshaw driver is accused of raping the girl, her father reported to Radio Dabanga by phone. The victim is in the hospital for treatment.

The police have arrested the suspect and already completed their investigation into the case. “The police told me to come to the children’s court next Sunday with my daughter and the birth certificate for the trial session,” the father said.

Impunity

A UN Report by the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence published in April this year, states that the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid) documented 100 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, affecting 222 victims, specifically 102 women, 119 girls, and one boy between January and December last year. Ten percent of these cases occurred during displacement.

The incidents included rape, gang rape, attempted rape, abduction for the purpose of sexual assault and sexual harassment, primarily in North Darfur, coinciding with the presence of militias. Rapists in Darfur “continue to operate in a climate of impunity,” the report reads.

According to data of the Sudanese government, 112 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were reported between January and December 2016, of which 40 were brought to court, with 13 convictions.

The UN lauds the initiatives undertaken by the Sudanese government, “including amendment of the Criminal Act to make a clear distinction between rape and adultery, and the expansion of the mandate of the Darfur Special Court to include rape”, but notes that “The legally discontinued, but still widely upheld, requirement that victims obtain a specific form (“form 8”) from the police in order to receive medical care deters reporting.”

 

Ten people killed in attack, clash in South Darfur village

September 15 – 2017 EL SALAM

Ten people were killed and eleven were wounded in the village of Tombassi in El Salam locality on Wednesday, in a clash that involved paramilitary forces. In southern Libya, four Sudanese were killed by gunmen.

Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by a colonel called Um Jalumba, attacked Tombassi on Wednesday. Two villagers were killed while other people were wounded, a witness told Radio Dabanga yesterday.

Soon after a group of villagers set out to chase the perpetrators. “But they ambushed the group and killed seven of them, and others were seriously injured. One RSF member was killed in the clash,” the witness said.

The attack on Tombassi allegedly came against the backdrop of the commander of the RSF, Col. Um Jalumba, who asked to marry a girl in Tembassi. “But the girl refused to marry him because she wanted to marry someone else in the village,” a source told this station.

“The colonel arrived at the market of Tombassi on Sunday and attempted to kidnap the person the girl wanted to marry with. Villagers foiled the attempt. But the colonel returned with members of the RSF on Wednesday to attack the village.”

Libya shooting

Four Sudanese were killed and three people went missing on Wednesday following an attack by gunmen on the road between Um El Aranib and Wasafha, in southern Libya. The Sudanese were in a Land Cruiser which carried a number of them in the south of Libya.

A relative of one of the victims, Mohamad El Ruzeiki, told Radio Dabanga that the attack took place during the return journey to Sudan. Among the dead are two brothers, Abdallah Saghiroun and his brother Mohamed Saghiroun.

“All the dead and missing persons come from Saraf Umra locality in North Darfur,” El Ruzeiki said. Abdallah Saghiroun is a militia leader, known as Kajam.

 

Sudan Tribune

10 people killed by gunmen in South Darfur

September 15, 2017 (NYALA) – Ten people have been killed and eleven others injured by gunmen in Timbay village, Al-Salam locality, 100 kilometres south of Nyala, South Darfur capital, said, traditional leader. In press statements on Wednesday, native administrator, Ali Mahmoud said gunmen in military uniform commanded by a Colonel attacked Timbasy village, killing 2 residents and injuring several others before fleeing. He added the residents chased the perpetrators due to the late arrival of the police forces, saying however the culprits ambushed the villagers killing 8 of them and injuring 7 others before fleeing again. Mahmoud accused the locality official of dragging feet on tracking down the culprits despite the early notification by the villagers, calling to capture the perpetrators as soon as possible.

He added the same gunmen last Sunday attacked Abu Salala market near Tambasi and attempted to abduct one of the residents but they failed due to the protests by the shoppers. “However they came back again on Wednesday and killed two residents which prompted the villagers to track them down,” he said. South Darfur State and its capital Nyala, the largest town in the region, have been witnessing a state of security breakdown in recent years.

 

South Darfur camp protest turns deadly, Unamid calls for restraint

September 22 – 2017 NYALA

(UPDATE 17:20) Reportedly five people died in protests against a visit of the Sudanese president near Kalma camp in South Darfur. The African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur is treating the wounded.

The Kalma camp coordinator released a statement earlier today reporting that five people were killed this morning, and 26 people sustained injuries. The coordinator provided the names of the deceased and said that the wounded are being treated in the Unamid base in the camp. At least three people were killed and approximately 26 people were wounded, according to the Unamid peacekeeping mission in a press statement received by Radio Dabanga.

The deadly incident occurred this morning after forces of the Sudanese government dispersed a group of displaced people who were protesting against the visit of the Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir to South Darfur. ‘For security reasons’ the presidential road show had decided to avoid Kalma camp and diverted to Beleil locality instead, which is nearby Kalma camp Centre 1. Smoke from the clashes can be seen in the background of photos of the road show, which Radio Dabanga received through WhatsApp (photo left)

In its press statement Unamid urged all conflicting parties to exercise utmost restraint and “is doing everything it can to deescalate the situation.

“I call upon everyone involved in this situation to restore calm as soon as possible. A peaceful resolution of differences is the only way forward for the Darfuri people,” said Unamid Joint Special Representative, Jeremiah Mamabolo.

A medical team from Unamid is currently in Kalma camp to assist local authorities in treating the injured, the mission stated. Furthermore, the mission engages with the state government and leaders of the displaced communities in an attempt to peacefully resolve the issue.

Al Bashir addressed a mass public rally in Nyala yesterday, where he spoke of the return of the displaced to their villages of origin, and encouraged the state to develop formal housing for those who are eligible.

Unamid protection

On Monday, dozens of representatives of the camps for displaced people met in Kalma and handed a letter to Unamid with the request to secure the peaceful marches that displaced people plan to hold, without the risk of being subjected to repressive or violent actions by riot police. The statement continues explaining that displaced decided to hold peaceful marches for a period of three days from today until Thursday – for this, they called on Unamid to provide security during these days.

The request of the representatives to Unamid to provide protection during the days of protests in September 2017

‘Not welcome’

Representatives of the displaced in South Darfur have been unambiguous in their rejection of Al Bashir’s visit. Sheikh Ali Abdelrahman El Tahir, the head of camp Kalma which has seen four days of protests, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that “President Al Bashir is not welcome in the South Darfur camps for the displaced,” he said. “We don’t want to see his face here.”

Yagoub Abdallah Furi, the Coordinator of the Darfuri Camps, confirmed to Radio Dabanga that “the demonstrations will continue with the same force on Friday in conjunction with the announced visit of Al Bashir so that both local and international opinion will know what Kalma is talking about”.

 

Sudan Tribune

Several IDPs killed in protests against al-Bashir’s visit to South Darfur camp
September 22, 2017 (NYALA) – At least three Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were killed and dozens of others injured Friday in clashes between security forces and IDPs who protested in Kalma camp in South Darfur against a visit by President Omar al-Bashir to the camp.

Al-Bashir is touring Darfur region ahead of a U.S. decision next month on whether or not to permanently lift two-decade-old economic sanctions on Sudan. The youth official at Kalma camp Salih Dodain told Sudan Tribune that “government forces and militias fired heavily at the protesters killing 8 and wounding 27 others mostly women and children”. The government of South Darfur had deployed large military reinforcements including tanks and armoured vehicles near the Kalma camp to prevent protesters from reaching the site of Al-Bashir’s reception ceremony.

Protests of Kalma IDPs since Wednesday have forced the South Darfur government to transfer the reception area to Beleil locality, 2 kilometres south of the camp. According to Dodain, the injured have been rushed to the clinic of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) inside Kalma while the dead were buried in a mass grave at the camp. He pointed out that the government planes are flying over the camp to monitor the movement of the protesters. On the other hand, IDPs spokesperson Hussein Abu Sharati said 5 IDPs have been killed and 24 others injured during the clashes.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Abu Sharati has condemned the incident, calling upon the international community to intervene immediately to stop what he described as “the genocide massacres”.

The camp’s residents; mainly from the Fur ethnic group, are known as highly politicised and supporting the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur. Government forces targeted the camp in an August 25, 2008 raid that killed 36 residents and injured 13 others

UNAMID CALL FOR RESTRAINT

For its part, the UNAMID has expressed deep concern over the clashes at Kalma camp, saying it has “led to the death of at least three IDPs and injuries to some 26 others”. It pointed out that the “incident reportedly occurred this morning after Government of Sudan forces dispersed a group of IDPs protesting against Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir’s visit to South Darfur”.

 

Medical assistant killed in South Darfur robbery

September 25 – 2017 BURAM

A man was shot dead and two of his companions were injured in an armed robbery in Buram on Saturday evening.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that a group of seven militiamen intercepted the vehicle the victims were riding in near Wadi Gargash, 25 km from Buram town.

“They started shooting at the car. Younis Mohamed Saleh, a medical assistant, was fatally hit. Adam Ali Mousa and Muhid Yagoub Hasan sustained injuries,” he said.

The attackers seized the vehicle and fled.

 

‘Security blocks movement in Kalma camp’: Darfur Documentation Centre

September 26 – 2017 NYALA

Sudanese security forces in Kalma camp in South Darfur have been ‘conducting searches and arrest operations against individuals suspected of playing a role in organising the public protests against the visit of President Omar Al Bashir to the area last week’. Free movement and inflow of products to the camps reportedly are prevented.

The death toll among the victims of the demonstration near Kalma camp for displaced people on Friday “has now reached nine as more people died due to bullet wounds sustained during the attack”, according the Swiss Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC). “The number of victims of injuries that currently need medical attention stands at over 30 people, some of them in critical health conditions.

“At present, the security forces are besieging the main entry points to Kalma camp thus preventing free movement of people to and from the camp.” The documentation centre added that searches by the security service members at the camp gates, the vicinity of Kalma and the marketplaces in neighbouring Bielel and Nyala, resulted in a number of arrests of displaced people.

“The security forces are reportedly terrorising the merchants and transport workers and preventing the inflow of food items and other daily necessities from Nyala and other localities into Kalma camp. The security forces are especially seizing food items such as sugar, millet and sorghum, flour, fuel and medicines.”

The report of the civil society group follows a press statement the centre issued on the day of the deadly incident. Residents of Kalma camp, located near Nyala and with an estimated population of 120,000 people, went to the streets to protest against the planned presidential visit. On the day of Al Bashir’s visit to Kalma, security forces violently dispersed the peaceful demonstrators.

At that time of reporting five protesters were killed and at least 26 wounded. Medical staff of the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) intervened and assisted with the treatment of the wounded. Before the peaceful demonstrations started, on Tuesday, representatives of South Darfur camps officially requested Unamid to protect their protest marches.

Unamid meeting

On Friday, a Unamid delegation met with Sudanese government officials and representatives of the United Nations including the under-secretary general for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and the African Union in New York for the Tripartite Coordination Mechanism meeting, to discuss the activities of Unamid.

The Government of Sudan, led by the undersecretary of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elghani El Naim Awad Elkari, requested details on the establishment of the temporary operating base in Golo, to which the Unamid delegation headed by Joint Special Representative Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo committed to reply.

Furthermore all parties welcomed the progress made by Unamid in the implementation of the first phase of the mission’s reconfiguration plan.

 

South Darfur: Five Kalma camp injured still critical

September 27 – 2017 KALMA CAMP

Five of the displaced people who were wounded when Sudanese forces violently dispersed a peaceful demonstration at Kalma camp in South Darfur on Friday 22 September, are still in critical condition at the Unamid headquarters. Two others were transferred to the Turkish hospital in the state capital of Nyala.

Six people were killed and 28 other wounded when, in the morning of 22 September, for the fourth consecutive day, peaceful protests took place against a visit by President Omar Al Bashir near Kalma camp. Sudanese forces violently dispersed the demonstrators near the location of the presidential roadshow, in Bielel locality.

The incident prompted a chorus of international condemnation, with Unamid calling for restraint, and a harsh rebuke issued by the US Embassy in Khartoum.

Hussein Abusharati, the spokesman for the displaced persons and refugees association, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that Unamid has discharged 18 of the wounded and handed them over to their relatives at Kalma camp for further recovery.

He explained that two cases have been transferred to the Turkish Hospital in Nyala, as there were no ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists available at Unamid headquarters.

Unamid delegation

Abusharati said that on Tuesday, a delegation from Unamid in South Darfur, headed by the head of the mission accompanied by the army commander, heads of protection and civil affairs, humanitarian affairs, and political affairs visited camp Kalma to offer condolences to the families of the victims.

He said that a representative of the camp administration addressed the Unamid delegation and thanked them for the treatment of the wounded and handing the bodies of the dead to their families.

Yet, the representative of the camp administration criticised the statement issued by the mission about the massacre and described it as wrong.

He accused Unamid of lack of credibility and called for its immediate departure and replacement of its forces. He also called for fact-finding on the massacre and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

He called on all activists at home and abroad to unite and stand together against the violations at the camps.

 

Three dead in South Darfur dawn raid

October 4 – 2017 FOGALI

Three people were shot dead during a raid by militiamen mounted on horses and camels in Fogali area of East Jebel Marra locality in South Darfur on Monday morning.

Residents of Fogali told Radio Dabanga that the attack at around 5 am also led to the theft of more than 100 head livestock. One person was abducted but managed to escape from the gunmen after they reached Keila valley near El Malam.

They named Omar Baker (39), Ali Ateem (53) and Mousa (55) as the dead men.

‘Protection’

Militants led by Osman Abdellatif have imposed royalties on the displaced of camp Fata Borno of Kutum locality in North Darfur on the pretext of protecting the farms.

According to sheikhs, the militant’s commander ordered each family to pay the amount of SDG 20 ($3) to be collected by the sheikhs in order to protect their farms from trespassing by livestock.

Revenge campaign

A sheikh told Radio Dabanga that the leaders refused to pay the royalties which prompted the militants to carry out revenge campaigns against the displaced between September 28 and October 1.

He said the militants entered camp Fata Borno at night and stole 15 livestock, barred the way of the displaced people returning from Kutum market, seized 15 mobile phones, forcibly led their cattle graze in the farms and beat those who tried to drive them out.

He said the militants also stole all the contents of the health insurance centre on which the displaced depend for treatment services.

 

Farmer killed, South Darfur robberies continue

October 6 – 2017 FANGA / GIREIDA

A farmer was shot dead and his wife was seriously injured in the eastern part of Jebel Marra. In Gireida town, militiamen continued comitting atrocities against locals and displaced people, injuring two women on Friday morning.

In Dulo, north of Fanga in the area popularly known as eastern Jebel Marra, armed shephers opened fire on farmers Hawa Ibrahim Hussein and Shadia Harun Suleiman. They tried to keep the herders from entering cattle onto their farms.

Hussein was hit and died on the spot while Suleiman sustained serious injuries from the attack. She has been taken to the hospital to receive treatment, one of her family members told Radio Dabanga.

Gireida raids
Two displaced women were seriously wounded west of Gireida on Friday morning by militiamen. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that three of them opened fire on the sisters Halima Musa and Khadija Musa, who were working on a farm in Um Asal.

The farmers sustained wounds in the thighs, hands and legs, and have been transferred to a health centre for treatment.

Also in Gireida, bandits robbed the passengers of a commercial vehicle on the Santa-Joghana road on Thursday evening. A source informed this station that about 15 gunmen, wearing camouflage uniforms, opened fire on three vehicles en route from Santa to Joghana. Aboard were people who returned from the markets.

“Stopping one of the vehicles, the attackers robbed SDG10,000 ($1,488) in cash of Mustafa Daoud, and SDG5,000 ($744) from Idris Issa. They also took mobile phones, goods, and other property from passengers,” the source said. The bandits then completely destroyed the vehicle.

In the past days people in Gireida in South Darfur have complained of continuous militia raids on farms and roads. A witness told Radio Dabanga that the area has witnessed a series of attacks in the past two days, the latest of which was carried out on Wednesday.

 

Boy loses fingers in South Darfur ammo blast

October 9 – 2017 NYALA

A boy was injured when a piece of unexploded ordnance (UXO) detonated in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Saturday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an eyewitness reported that the boy had crept into the abandoned arms and ammunition stores of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Nyala.

“The child found a strange object. When he tried to extract the copper wires from the thing, it exploded and amputated his fingers,” he said.

The source added that the boy, who also sustained a head wound, was immediately taken to the Nyala Teaching Hospital.

On 21 May, a huge explosion at the largest arms and ammunition storage building in Nyala caused great panic among the residents of the city. Dozens of missiles were blown over distances, killing a 20-year-old man in his home amid reports of several more deaths and wounded by shells landing in different places in the city.

The South Darfur Information Minister said the explosion was caused by “the intense heat”.

According to the opposition Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC), led by former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, new RSF arms stores have been built in Um El Gura in South Darfur’s Mershing locality.

 

Three people killed in South Darfur

October 10 – 2017 NYALA / ED DAEIN

Three people were killed in separate robberies and clashes in South Darfur this week. Also in East Darfur the forced collection of weapons from civilians is at hands.

Gunmen shot and killed a trader in Nyala in South Darfur on Monday evening, witnesses reported to Radio Dabanga. Ishag Shorom, one of the businessmen in the capital of South Darfur, was driving his vehicle when the gunmen intercepted him.

“They shot him dead and fled the scene. It happened in Sabrin market, from where Ishag’s body was taken to Nyala hospital,” a witness said.

Also in Nyala, a woman in the Sakali district was harassed by a member of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday night. She resisted when the armed man tried to rape her. He shot and wounded her.

The woman has been transferred to the academic hospital in the city in a serious condition.

Clash

In Kasora in Niteaga locality, South Darfur, two members of the paramilitary Border Guards were killed in a clash with members of the RSF on Monday. The clash came against the backdrop of a search the RSF members conducted in Kasora, a source reported to this station.

Robbery

Bandits burned down one of the commercial vehicles in Gireida locality after stealing the goods it was carrying on Friday. The incident happened in Wadi Gurgish in Gireida locality.

Listeners in the area told Radio Dabanga that the Land Cruiser was on its way back after shopping in El Nadeif. It disrupted and passengers disembarked at Wadi Gurgish, 15km south of Gireida. Five men on camels arrived at the scene, stole all the goods from the vehicle and torched it. The police in Gireida has been informed.

Forced arms collection

South Darfur will start with the forced collection of weapons from civilians as of mid-October. In particular areas such as camps and prone to tribal conflicts can expect these inspections, said the state governor.

Also in the capital of East Darfur, Governor Anas Omar, announced the start of the next phase of the collection of weapons in the state this week. The forced arms collection starts this weekend. Police chief Hashim Abdelmutalib said that all preparations for the enforced collection have been completed.

 

South Darfur bus drivers strike

October 17 – 2017 NYALA

Drivers of mini-buses in public transport held a strike for the third day in a row to protest the killing of a bus conductor in the transport station in Nyala on Saturday.

Drivers of the northern bus lines of Nyala decided to continue their strike after the deadly attack by a member of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. They demand the arrest of the perpetrator, one of the striking drivers told Radio Dabanga.

“We will continue until Tuesday,” he said. On Sunday the state governor addressed the strikers and promised to provide them with security.

Cart owners

In eastern Sudan cart owners in New Halfa in Kassala complained about the locality authorities’ banning them from entering the market starting Sunday.

A number of cart owners told this station that the authorities did not take into account the situation of hundreds of families who live on the income their carts provide. One of them said: “The locality authorities have not given us alternatives, despite their promises to provide us with rickshaws, but they have not kept their promises.”

They demanded that the authorities review their decision and postpone it until appropriate income-generating alternatives will be available.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Marauding militants rob and rustle in Darfur

October 26 – 2017 DARFUR

Three people were shot dead and three others were wounded in an attack by militants on Fara village in Tullus locality in South Darfur on Tuesday. The attackers stole a number of cattle.

In a separate incident, militants intercepted two vehicles at Bismillah gate near Mellit in North Darfur on Tuesday and robbed the occupants at gunpoint.

At Um Geigou area south of El Fasher, militants stole 30 camels belonging to a trader, while a number of farmers were injured in a clash with the herders at Azum area of Central Darfur on Wednesday. A woman and a man were taken to Ronga Tas Hospital.

East Jebel Marra

A number of people were wounded, three of them in serious condition in an attack by gunmen on Fogni village north of El Malam in south Darfur’s East Jebel Marra on Tuesday night.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday night gunmen on camels and horses attacked Fogni village, opened dense fire in the air during the attack and wounded a number of people.

Three of them were seriously wounded including: 12-year-old Hawa Younes Ibrahim, Aisha Mohamed Ibrahim and Musa Hamid Ibrahim.

Witnesses said the gunmen seized money, property and livestock of the villagers.

They pointed to the displacement of a number of the villagers to El Malam in East Jebel Marra locality, and and Dubo El Omda in Tawila locality in eastern Jebel Marra.

 

Herders attack, kill farmers in South Darfur

October 30 – 2017 MERSHING / GIREIDA / KHARTOUM

Two displaced farmers were shot dead in the area of Mershing on Saturday. On Sunday, herders attacked and injured two women farmers near Gireida. The ongoing disarmament campaign in Darfur should prioritise the collection of weapons from tribal groups armed by the government in the past two decades, says the Communist Party in Khartoum.

“About 20 herders on camels opened fire on farmers because they were trying to remove livestock from their land near Mershing on Saturday afternoon,” a resident of Hashaba camp for the displaced reported to Radio Dabanga.

“Mohamed Abakar from Tuntubaya camp and Adam Hasan from Hashaba camp were killed instantly.”

The farmers formed a search team that traced the herders, and found them in a nomad settlement in the area of Kerengo, seven kilometres from Mershing, on Sunday morning.

“The janjaweed then opened fire on the team members. This prompted a military force to go out to the settlement. After an exchange of gunfire with the herders, they captured three of them and took them to the Mershing police station,” the source said.

The people of Mershing closed the town market in protest against the repeated attacks by herders on farmers.

Gireida

In an attack by herders on farmers in Gireida on Sunday, two women farmers were injured.

An activist told this station from Gireida that 10 herders wearing military uniforms grazed their cattle on farms in the area of Sennar, seven kilometres south of Jokhana.

“When the women attempted to chase the livestock from their land, the herders fired in the air to intimidate them. They then began to beat Khadija Adam, and broke her right hand. Her sister Hanan sustained head injuries. They were both taken to the Jokhana Health Centre.”

He cited a previous incident at Donki Sagur, 30 kilometres south of Gireida, where a group of seven gunmen ambushed farmers and robbed them of their mobile phones, a horse, and 20 goats.

‘Disarmament’

On Sunday, Mohamed Mukhtar El Khateeb, Political Secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party said in a press conference in Khartoum that the government should “show its seriousness by first collecting weapons from the tribal groups and militias it has armed in former years”.

According to El Khateeb, “The reasons that led to the insurgency in the marginalised western region should be tackled first. The root causes of the crisis in Darfur and other areas in the country have to be addressed to achieve security and stability for all”.

In July, Khartoum announced the start of a large disarmament campaign in the country, to begin with in Darfur and Kordofan.

The army and the allied Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia have been tasked with collecting illegal arms and unlicensed vehicles from civilians in the regions.

 

Sudan Tribune

Sudanese forces briefly surround Darfur Kalma camp

November 2, 2017 (NYALA) – In a show of force before to launch the compulsory arms collection campaign on Friday, Sudanese government forces surrounded South Darfur largest camp for displaced people on Thursday for some time before to withdraw. Sudanese government officials point to the presence of arms in the restive Kalma camp located outside Nyala. Also, they speak of the presence of rebel supporters in the camp, saying they are connected to the rebel leaders.

“More than 140 four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles loaded with arms and soldiers, armoured vehicles and tanks, surrounded three blocks in the southern part of Kalma camp, but left after a quarter of an hour,” Adam Abdallah the deputy chairman of displaced persons and refugees association told Sudan Tribune on Thursday. Adam said the encirclement of the camp with the military, armoured vehicles and tanks caused fear and panic among the camp residents.

The IDPs representative accused the South Darfur government of targeting IDPs in retaliation for their protest against the visit of President al-Bashir to the highly politicized camp last September. Police killed three residents and dozens of others injured during a visit of the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir to the area. The IDPs forced the state government to move his public meeting far from the camp. The governor of South Darfur, Adam al-Faki, had previously ordered the search of Kalma camp to arrest gunmen who opened fire on regular forces, killing three and injuring six others.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Two dead, man’s hand hacked-off in Darfur robberies

November 3 – 2017 NYALA / KUTUM / GULDO

A displaced man was killed, and his brother’s hand hacked-off on the road between camp El Salam and Kalma camp near Nyala, South Darfur on Tuesday evening. In separate incidents, a man was shot dead in North Darfur, and a woman seriously injured in Central Darfur.

Yagoub Furi, Coordinator of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association told Radio Dabanga that on Tuesday evening four gunmen attacked brothers Suleiman and Hassoun Abdallah while they were on their way from camp Kalma to camp El Salam for a visit of some relatives. The gunmen opened fire on Hassoun and killed him instantly.

They then cut-off the hand of Suleiman with a knife, took the amputated hand with them and fled.

He explained that the incident was reported to Beleil police and Suleiman Abdallah was taken to Nyala Hospital.

Kutum locality

Gunmen shot dead Siddig Suleiman, resident of Kassab camp in Kutum locality in North Darfur at noon on Wednesday.

A camp sheikh told Radio Dabanga that gunmen riding camels attacked Siddig Suleiman while he was winnowing grain on his farm at Jumbo area north of the camp. They tried to take his grain and when he refused, they fired two bullets at him which killed him instantly.

Displaced people and residents of Fata Borno of Kutum locality in North Darfur have complained about continued attacks by the militias against the residents and their cattle trespassing the farms by force of arms.

Yesterday displaced persons and residents of Fata Borno told Radio Dabanga that large numbers of militias after being driven out of Kutum by the rapid support forces have moved to Fata Borno and stationed there.

A farmer said that 10 days ago these militias began taking their livestock to graze in the farms by force of arms and assaulting the residents in the market, the camp and the districts of Fata Borno.

The farmer demanded government forces to speed up removal of these militias from the area.

Guldo

A woman named only as Amina was wounded in a shooting at Guldo in Jebel Marra in Central Darfur on Thursday.

One of Amina’s relatives told Radio Dabanga that one of the herders shot her while she was trying to drive the camels from her farm.

He said the shooting caused serious wounds to her thigh, abdomen and shoulder and that she was taken in a serious condition to Guldo Hospital.

 

Young farmer raped during South Darfur harvest

November 9 – 2017 MERSHING

A young woman was raped was raped by militiamen as she harvested crops in Mershing locality in South Darfur on Monday.

The victim’s brother, who is a soldier of the Sudan Armed Forces, told Radio Dabanga that on Monday three militiamen attacked his 16-year-old sister while she was harvesting groundnuts at her farm, and raped her at gunpoint.

He said that he took his sister to Mershing Hospital, but the hospital officials did not examine her for a whole day. This prompted him to put on his military uniform and go to the doctor’s house. He says “the doctor examined her after a long argument and confirmed the rape, but no one has moved to hunt down the perpetrators”.

Kabkabiya

On Tuesday a herder assaulted a displaced woman and seriously injured her in Kabkabiya locality in North Darfur.

A woman activist from the camp told Radio Dabanga that one of the herders beat Fathiya Adam Hasan while she was trying to stop camels from entering her farm and caused her a deep injury on her head.

She was taken to Kabkabiya hospital.

The farmers of the Wadi Bari area have complained of the armed herders’ trespassing their farms with cattle by force of arms.

They pointed out that camels and cattle have caused extensive destruction and damage to crops and that the most affected areas were Dori, Kala, Khartoum Jadeed and Saga.

 

Five Darfur children injured in grenade blast

November 9 – 2017 NYALA

Five children were injured, some of them seriously, when a grenade they found at Sham El Naseem district in Nyala on Tuesday detonated.

The father of one of the injured children said that one of them found the grenade and picked it up. The children began to play with it when it went off.

He said the children sustained various injuries, some of them were serious, and were taken to Nyala hospital.

He said the residents of the northern districts of Nyala have filed numerous complaints to the authorities to clear the neighbourhood of the unexploded ordnance (UXO) that have been scattered near their houses since an explosion at the stores of the Rapid Support Forces. He lamented that the authorities have not responded to their complaints and demands.

Years of conflict have left Darfur and other war-torn areas of Sudan littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO). Radio Dabanga appeals to listeners throughout the region (and elsewhere in our reception area) not to touch any ‘unexploded’ grenades or other ammunition found in the field. Mark its position clearly to alert others, and report it immediately to a camp elder, Unamid and/or the local police.

 

(Report also in West Darfur)

Darfur camp residents, farmers wounded in attacks

November 10 – 2017 GIREIDA / SIRBA

Militiamen wounded three students in a camp for displaced people in South Darfur on Thursday, where a fire destroyed a number of houses three days ago. In two separate incidents, armed men with livestock attacked groups of farmers.

One of the victims, all higher secondary school students, told Radio Dabanga that armed men injured a group of young men in Gireida camp who gathered building materials from the Abola area, east of Gireida. The material would be used to re-construct the buildings that were burned on Tuesday.

The attackers opened fire into the air, wounding students Fathi Idris Siyam, Mohamed Adam Ali, and Saeed Adam Ali. “Fathi Idris was seriously wounded and taken to a hospital in Nyala.”

On Tuesday a fire broke out at a camp in Gireida in South Darfur and damaged 25 houses and a quantity of crops.

Herders, farmers clash

On Thursday, armed herdsmen opened fire on a group of farmers and wounded two of them south of Gireida. A witness informed this station that they attacked the farmers when they attempted to chase away cattle that the herders released onto the farms. Mohamed Eisa and Ibrahim Daoud were injured.

“The herders’ livestock has destroyed large areas of agricultural crops south of Gireida,” the witness reported, adding that the areas which were affected the most are called Sennar, Banaya, Ous and Joghana.

Local police has been informed about the incident, the witness said, but has not moved to drive the livestock out of the farms.

On Sunday, armed men also attacked farmers in Gireida. An activist in the area reported that the men were herders and wore military uniforms. Two women were injured.

Displaced attacked

A group of armed men attacked four displaced women from Abu Suruj in Sirba, West Darfur, on Thursday. The men attacked the farming women reportedly to assault and rape them.

The coordinator of the Sirba camps told Radio Dabanga: “When they resisted, they beat the women and caused them varying injuries. Two of the women were taken to Abu Suruj hospital.”

The victims are Hawa Abdallah Abakar, Maryam Mohamed, Kaltoum Abakar and Aisha Abakar El Nur.

 

Four children die in South Darfur ammo storage explosion

November 13 – 2017 NYALA

Four children died in their family’s house when an ammunition storage exploded in the South Darfur capital Nyala on Saturday.

The children all belong to a family that lives in the residential district El Maasani. A fifth child was seriously injured by the explosion.

The South Darfur government announced that a joint police and military intelligence committee will inspect and collect remnants of the exploded ammunition storage in El Maasani and surrounding areas.

The incident took place 150 metres from where an arms storage exploded in May this year. This explosion emanated from the arms storage of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killed 12 people and wounded at least 18 others. State government authorities largely remained absent in the days following the incident, which led to condemnations by victims and relatives of the deceased.

Yesterday the state’s deputy governor called on people to stay away from the affected area and not to touch any foreign objects in the street. “There may be some explosives that have not ignited yet,” he said in a statement to the press.

Legal expert Saleh Mahmoud told Radio Dabanga in May that according to international law, international covenants, and national laws, keeping stockpiles of dangerous substances or explosives in civilian residential areas can endanger the lives of civilians. Therefore the government authorities should be among the responsible for the casualties and damage caused to Nyala.

Waste ban

Meanwhile the Nyala municipality commissioner, El Aagib Mohamed Ismael, issued a local order that banned the dump of household waste and dead animals in Nyala Valley. Violation is punishable by a fine of SDG500 ($75).

Added in the order is the decision that the means used to transport waste in the valley shall be confiscated together with the removal of waste.

Ismael also issued a local order that forbids the manufacture of bricks at residential districts and valleys in Nyala locality. The order stipulated that anyone who contravenes the matter shall be fined SDG1000 ($150).

Arms collection

The collection of weapons that were illegally held by militiamen and civilians in Nyala city has resulted in 3,200 seized weapons so far. These are different kinds of light and heavy weapons. 6,000 weapons have been collected from the South Darfur localities.

State Deputy-Governor Sabeel Ahmed Sabeel spoke at the arms exhibition set up by the armed forces of Nyala. He said that the forced arms collection started last week and he stressed that it “will reach all people, without the exception of anyone”.

The campaign resulted in West Darfur, El Geneina locality alone in the collection of 2,500 firearms by the first of October and police seized a total of 2,000 unlicensed vehicles without number plates last week.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Three dead in Darfur gun violence

November 20 – 2017 KUTUM / TULLUS / EL SALAM

Three people have died in separate incidents of gun violence in Darfur over the weekend. A farmer was gunned-down in North Darfur, while government forces collecting arms in South Darfur.

Witnesses from Farok area north of Kutum in North Darfur told Radio Dabanga that gunmen opened fire on Abdallah Adam while he was tilling his farm at Farok area north of Kutum and killed him instantly. The motive for the shooting us unclear.

In separate incidents, government forces engaged in the campaign to collect arms in Darfur fired on a group which killed two people and injured six others after severely beating them in Tullus and El Salam localities in South Darfur.

 

Dead, injured in Darfur road accident, shooting

November 22 – 2017 NYALA / GIREIDA

Dead, injured in Darfur road accident, shooting

Three people have died and six more injured in separate incidents in South Darfur on Tuesday; a road accident in Nyala and a shooting in Gireida.

Two people died and five others sustained injuries in a traffic accident involving passenger vehicles in Nyala on Tuesday. The injured were transferred to Nyala hospital.

On Tuesday armed herders opened fire on a group of farmers, shot dead Adam Abdallah Abakar and seriously wounded Adam Ismael Samoud at Sagor area of Gireida in South Darfur.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that on Tuesday morning about 10 armed herders on camels trespassed their farm at Sagor village south of Gireida and when the farmers tried to take the camels out of the farms, they were shot at.

The incident was reported to local police but no suspects have been apprehended. 

 

South Darfur: Three injured, 16 held in RSF market raid

December 20 – 2017 DATO

Three people were injured, 16 others arrested, and a quantity of cash and goods seized in a raid on the market of Dato in Gireida locality, South Darfur by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Dato residents told Radio Dabanga that on Monday, a large force of RSF troops came from the state capital of Nyala and raided the market and districts of Dato administrative unit on the pretext of collecting weapons.

They said that the RSF troops “indiscriminately beat a large number of residents in the market and the districts with rifle butts and sticks, causing injuries to three people who were transferred to Gireida hospital”.

They allege that the RSF men stole cash and a number of mobile phones from the residents of Dato market.

The residents said that the rapid support militia arrested 16 people, including a number of notables and took them to unknown places, this along with forcing the residents to stay indoors.

Elders of Dato administrative unit suggest that the raid was carried out against the backdrop of the RSF accusing Dato residents of being members of the opposition (Torabura), as well as being behind the events between the localities of Gireida and Yassin in which two people were killed and another was injured on Saturday.

 

Arrests, cash seized in ongoing RSF siege of South Darfur market

December 21 – 2017 DATO

Reports that reached Radio Dabanga yesterday from Dato administrative unit in Gireida locality in South Darfur say that a siege of the market by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) troops has entered its third day.

Three people were injured, 16 others arrested, and a quantity of cash and goods seized in an initial raid on the market of Dato by members of the RSF on Monday.

By Wednesday the RSF siege continued. Callers from the area told this station that four Omdas have been arrested bringing the number of detainees to 20. The allege 350 mobile phones and money estimated at more than SDG 1 million ($150,000) has been seized.

Residents of Dato told Radio Dabanga that their humanitarian situation and livelihoods have been severely compromised by the RSF closure of roads and market and by ordering people to stay indoors.

They pointed to the depletion of food, sugar, and medicine as a result of the stop of grain mills, bakeries, pharmacies, and shops.

The residents of Dato allege that the RSF continued to attack the residents by beating them with rifle butts, sticks and directing verbal and racist insults.

They called for ending the siege on the area which they described as unfair and releasing the detainees immediately.

Among the detainees were Omdas El Rayah Adam Abbas, a basic school teacher, Mahjoub Mohammed Ahmed, Yahya Ibrahim Madibbo, Ibrahim El Ghali, a basic school teacher Khaled Adam Abbas Ali, student El Hadi Yousif Mohammed, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, Abdelrahman Adam Suleiman and Obeid Ibrahim Ahmed owner of a mobile shop who had 80 mobiles stolen from his shop.

Kereinik

On Monday the RSF arrested 17 people in a raid on Kereinik locality in West Darfur and released them collectively on Wednesday.

Witnesses said among the detainees were native administration leaders and traders.

The number of detainees in the framework of the campaign to collect weapons in North, Central and West Darfur within five days from Saturday to Wednesday has amounted to 45 detainees, including students, Omdas, sheikhs, mosque imams and traders.

 

RSF militiamen rob displaced in South Darfur

December 25 – 2017 GIREIDA

On Saturday, members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s largest government militia, attacked six displaced people near Gireida, and robbed them of their belongings.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a resident of the Abola camp for the displaced near Gireida reported that a group of RSF militiamen riding in two vehicles stormed the camp at about 9 am.

“They attacked six people, among them the main camp sheikh. They beat them with their rifles, causing varying degrees of injuries,” he said.

“They then seized SDG 6,500 ($ 925) from them, jewellery from Fatima Adam Yahya worth SDG 10,000 ($ 1.420), and gold from Saadiya Adam Mohamed worth SDG 5,000.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

RSF raids wound at least ten in South, Central Darfur

December 26 – 2017 GIREIDA / WADI SALEH / TULLUS

Militiamen carried out a raid in Gireida locality in South Darfur and wounded nine people on Saturday. Money and phones were stolen during a raid in a Central Darfur camp.

Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) surrounded Sadoun in Gireida from all sides, witnesses told Radio Dabanga. “They brought the women, children and men to one place where they beat them with whips and sticks,” a witness said. Nine people were injured.

In addition, 20 people were arrested. A total of SDG 7 million ($994,412) and 14 mobile phones were seized. Among those arrested were Ahmad Gamar, Jedo Mohamed Ahmed, Bashir Abakar Hassan, Abdelrahim Yagoub, El Ghali Haroun, Adam Yagoub, Azraq Mohamed, Adam Daoud Adam and others whose names were not identified.

The motive for the raid is unknown, the witnesses said. The residents called on the local authorities to form a committee of inquiry that researches the attack.

Central Darfur

In Wadi Saleh locality, RSF members attacked the Abuja market in Ardeba camp for displaced people. A number of displaced people were robbed of their money and mobile phones.

The militiamen beat some of the camp residents and wounded Abdelmahmoud Ibrahim, among others. A merchant named Ahmad lost SDG 7,000 ($994) to the militiamen. 17 phones were stolen.

The incident has been reported to the police and the prosecutor in Garsila, a witness said.

Residents of Tullus locality in South Darfur also reported being assaulted by RSF members in the past week and said they were forced to confess their possession of weapons. Reportedly eleven people were subjected to beatings.

Arms collection

In July, Khartoum announced a large disarmament campaign in the country, to begin with in Darfur and Kordofan. Members of the Rapid Support Forces, Sudan’s main government militia, and the army began collecting illegal arms and unlicensed vehicles from civilians in the regions the following month. The campaign has entered the stage of compulsory collection of weapons by the reinforcements of RSF and the Sudanese army. In North Darfur alone, 12,500 RSF and police have been deployed to assist with the arms collection and the controls of unregistered vehicles.

 

Darfur returnees forced to remain in insecure area

January 1 – 2018 EL MALAM

On Thursday, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia, prevented dozens of formerly displaced South Darfur villagers to flee again.

Two weeks ago, about 300 people returned from the Shangil Tobaya camps for the displaced in Tawila locality to their home villages in the area of El Malam in northern South Darfur.

When they discovered that militiamen and other gunmen are still roaming in the area, dozens of them decided to return to the relative safety of the camps. RSF troops, however, prevented them from leaving, and detained four village sheikhs who protested their action.

“Ismail Azhari, Yagoub Younis, Adam Hamid, and Adam Suleiman are now being held at the prison of El Malam,” a returnee told Radio Dabanga from the town. “The South Darfur governor will decided on their fate, as well as the fate of 71 villagers who were prevented from leaving.”

The source said that the area of El Malam is “devoid of any security”.

‘Safe and secure’

In July 2011, the Sudanese government signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur with the Liberation and Justice Movement -formed a year earlier by 19 breakaway factions of the main Darfur rebel movements.

The peace talks were brokered by the Government of Qatar. In April 2013, Qatar hosted an international donor conference for the reconstruction of Sudan’s conflict-torn western region. The Gulf state itself pledged to support the peace process with development projects, including the construction of model villages intended to house displaced Darfuris returning to their home areas.

In February 2016, the UN and the government of Sudan signed documents worth $88.5 million in contributions from Qatar for projects in all Darfur states over a period of nearly two years. The majority would be spent on model villages. In August 2017, Doha granted another $70 million for the construction of model villages in Darfur.

Most of the Darfur displaced categorically reject returning home or relocation to model villages as they consider the situation far from secure enough to leave the camps.

In August last year, Khartoum started a massive disarmament campaign in the five Darfur states in an attempt to stabilise the region. The RSF and the army are tasked with the collection of illegal weapons and vehicles.

The results are not meeting the expectations, the North Darfur governor acknowledged last week.

 

Sudan Tribune

Two militiamen injured in clashes with IDPs in South Darfur

January 2, 2018 (NYALA) – Two elements from the government militia Rapid Support Forces (SRF) have been seriously wounded in clashes with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Monday at Otash camp, some three kilometres east of South Darfur State capital, Nyala. Deputy Chairman of IDPs and Refugees Association Adam Abdalla Idris told Sudan Tribune Tuesday the clashes occurred after two RSF elements refused to pay for a meal had eaten at a restaurant inside the camp, forcing the restaurant owner to inform the camp police. He added the police sought to arrest the RSF elements but they resisted their orders and fired at them until they ran out of ammunition.

“Then a group of IDPs attacked [the two RSF elements] and harshly beat them, causing them serious injuries,” said Idris According to Idris, the police barely pulled off the two elements of the hands of the IDPs and rushed them to hospital. He pointed out that the situation at the camp is calm but expressed fear of a possible revenge by the RSF, calling on the government to enhance police presence in the camp to prevent targeting of IDPs. A reliable source told Sudan Tribune the North Nyala Police hasn’t completed the filing of the charges because the injured RSF elements are being treated.

 

Two injured in South Darfur market shooting, women beaten by herders

January 3 – 2018 OTASH CAMP

At least two people were injured when two members of the Rabid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia, opened fire at market in Otash camp near Nyala, capital of South Darfur on Monday. Seven women were severely beaten by herders north of the camp.

One of the sheikhs of the camp told Radio Dabanga that two RSF militiamen raided Komboi market where they threatened the shoppers to hand over their money and mobile phones. However, when one of the displaced people confronted them, one of them opened fire on him and seriously wounded two people.

The sheikh said the displaced people pursued the attackers, arrested them, and handed them over to the authorities.

Herders

In a separate incident near Otach camp, armed herders beat and injured a number of displaced women.

One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that five herders attacked seven displaced women who went out to collect firewood north of the camp, beat them with sticks, them and caused them varying injuries.

Two of them, Fatima Juma and Makkah Mohammed were taken to Nyala Hospital.

 

South Darfur market stalls demolished in surprise RSF raid

January 4 – 2018 KASS

A contingent of the main Sudanese government militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has demolished market stalls and subjected displaced people to abuse in a surprise raid on the market of Kass in South Darfur.

The RSF were reportedly under the supervision and guidance of the Commissioner of Kass locality, Abakar Mohamed. Callers told Radio Dabanga “the RSF broke dozens of shops in the southern market, the majority of which are owned by displaced people without any announcement or notification”.

Witnesses said the RSF raid was also accompanied by widespread abuses against the residents and shoppers who happened to be in the market. Tne RSF reportedly ripped the young men’s trousers with a knives on the pretext that their trousers were ‘indecent and not commensurate with the public order’.

They also subjected women to abuses.

Those affected said the campaign on the market has caused severe losses to the merchants without compensation

Camps

The displaced in Kass and activists said that the RSF also inspected some camps under the pretext of searching for weapons without coordinating with Unamid or the presence of the mission’s troops.

The activists confirmed to Radio Dabanga from Kass that the inspection was accompanied by violations, including seizing of property such as cash, blankets, telephones, and light weapons, this along with ripping the identity documents of some people.

The activists also explained that on Monday evening the locality commissioner visited the camp south of Kass and threatened the displaced that he would evacuate more than 10 schools and move them which is threatening with a humanitarian disaster in the event of non-intervention of international entities to stop what they called “the locality commissioner’s absurdity”.

The displaced people of the Kass camps confirmed that they are in favour of collecting weapons, provided that it should in a legal manner under UN supervision and Unamid participation, so that the collection process would not be a sham as it is now.

They also pointed to the absence of coordination with Unamid as many of the spots that pose a security threat to Kass and Shattaya localities have not witnessed any weapons collection process.

On Wednesday activists from Saraf Omra reported to Radio Dabanga that the RSF in Saraf Omra in North Darfur have threatened to arrest and imprison any travel agent transporting more than two sacks of millet or sorghum outside the locality.

Merchants have considered the decision unfair and contrary to the policy of price liberalisation announced by the government.

In the same context, the locality Commissioner Abdallah Abdallah Bilal charged a fee of SDG 2,645 for each shopkeeper as a renewal of the license for the year 2018 and retroactive royalty charges for two years.

Activists in Saraf Omra said the Commissioner had given merchants a week to remove the umbrellas and the cottage shops built with local materials. They pointed out that the fees and royalties they collect are not spent on services but on the commissioner and his affiliates.

 

Sudan Tribune

Two police officers killed by gunmen in South Darfur
January 8, 2018 (NYALA) – Two police officers on Monday have been killed in gun clashes with pastoralists in Sergaila area, Tulus County, some 86 kilometres south of Nyala, South Darfur State capital. A government official told Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity that a local resident notified the police that armed herders have infringed on his farm and threatened to kill him. He added the police dispatched a force to the incident scene, saying the armed herders refused to obey police directives on the grounds that they belong to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “They [the armed herders] fired at the police killing the force commander and another police officer instantly,” he said

The same source pointed out that the police were unable to arrest the perpetrators, saying reinforcements moved quickly from Buram County to track down the culprits. Last week, two elements from the government militia SRF were seriously wounded in clashes with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Otash camp, three kilometres east of Nyala.

 

Camel herders kill two policemen in South Darfur

January 10 – 2018 TULLUS 

On Monday, two policemen were shot dead in Tullus locality in South Darfur.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a farmer reported from Sargeila in Tullus that a group of militant herdsmen wanted to graze their camels on the land of his neighbour, and threatened to kill him if he would chase away the amimals.

After having received a complaint from the farmer, the police of Sargeila sent a lieutenant-led force to the site of the incident, which ordered the herders to leave the farm.

The gunmen however refused to comply on the grounds that they were members of the Rapid Support Forces militia, and started shooting.

The force commander and a policeman were killed instantly, the farmer said.

 

Sudan: Reports of torture in South Darfur, South Kordofan

January 15 – 2018 GIREIDA / DELLING

A pharmacy worker was reportedly tortured to death in Gireida in South Darfur. His body has been transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital of Nyala for autopsy. Students in Delling in South Kordofan have reportedly been tortured by security officers.

Pharmacy employee Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed was detained by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) last Monday, together with five other employees of the Gireida Hospital. They were accused of illegaly selling medicines from the hospital’s pharmacy.

On Friday, Ahmed’s body was transported from the NISS offices to Gireida Hospital. His relatives however refused to receive the body for the funeral, an activist reported to Radio Dabanga.

“Because it was evident that he died as a result of torture, his family requested an autopsy. The body was then moved to the Turkish Hospital in Nyala,” he said. “A forensic doctor will soon arrive from Khartoum to do the autopsy.”

The family has filed a complaint to the Commissioner of Gireida about the practices of the security apparatus. They have demanded the authorities to prosecute the killers of Ahmed, and the removal of the NISS from the locality.

Delling

According to students of the University of Delling in the northern part of South Kordofan, NISS officers have detained 54 fellow students from the university campus. 68 others have been arrested by the police.

The students were held after they set fire to university buildings on Friday, in protest against the killing of two of their colleagues by an army soldier the day before. The soldier entered the campus with a gun hidden underneath his clothes, and began to shoot at the students. Two were hit and died instantly. The shooter then committed suicide.

After the incident, the university was closed for an indefinite period of time. Students residing in the university’s boarding house were expelled.

“They spread to the neighbourhoods, and are living in a dire situation,” a student reported. “Others who decided to return to their homes in other states were persecuted by security agents, even in the buses.“

He said that the students detained by NISS agents suffered “various sorts of torture”.

The 68 students held in police custody face charges related to sabotage, damage of state buildings, and public nuisance.

 

Released Darfur detainees ‘forced to report daily’

January 16 – 2018 NIERTETI

Sudanese authorities have released more people whom had been detained in Nierteti, Central Darfur, since the beginning of this month. Several of them were forced to pledge not to leave Nierteti and report to the security offices daily.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Sudanese Military Intelligence has released several of the 25 detainees who have been placed under arrest for unknown reasons since January 6.

An activist in Nierteti told Radio Dabanga that on Sunday, the Sudanese security service forced ten of the released people to sign a pledge not to leave the town, and to report to their office at 12pm every day.

The Military Intelligence unit in Nierteti detained the 25 people, including a sheikh, in the past weeks. No reason was provided. Out of the 25 people who were detained, 13 were released on Wednesday.

A source told this station that one of the detainees, named Mohamed Abaker, was beaten severely. The reason, according to the source, was that Abaker had a photograph on his phone of Amin El Toro, a ex-rebel leader who had signed an internal peace agreement with the government.

The detentions coincided with searches for illegal weapons in Nierteti, where sources reported that soldiers beat fourteen people during a raid on 11 January. Two sheikhs were arrested at the time.

Nine detainees who are still held in the office of the security service are: Tijani Seifeldin, Ibna Mohamed, Abakar Mohamed, Adam Hamid, Ahmed Abdallah, Mohamed Ahmed, Abdelshafi Eisa, Ezeldin Hussein and Rashid Osman.

Kass detainees

In Kass in South Darfur, military intelligence arrested four people in Nama and handed them over to the office of the security service the same day.

The arrests followed a protest in Nama, against the army’s construction of water toilets. Demonstrators claimed that digging such toilets would contaminate the area and thus harm human and animal health.

An activist in the area told Radio Dabanga that the military intelligence arrested Sheikh Musa Hamid Adam (60), Ali Sharafeldin Adam who is a teacher at the school in Nama, Salah Saleh Abdelrakim who is a higher secondary school student, and the displaced Abuhazeifa Yousif Adam (25).

 

RSF commander accused of abductions in South Darfur

January 16 – 2018 EL SALAM

The alleged abduction of three girls by a commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in South Darfur on Saturday sparked a demonstration against the repeated abductions in the area.

Members of the RSF, the main pro-givernment militia in Sudan, abducted three girls from their family houses in Birkatuli village in Abu Ajura, El Salam locality, on Saturday at 9pm. The girls have been taken to the RSF base 2 km south of Birkatuli by its commander, named Abdelrahman, villagers told Radio Dabanga.

“The commander entered the three houses and took three girls (aged 14, 15 and 17), and then moved to where he is based, south of the village,” one of the villagers said. The commander kept the girls at the base until releasing them the next evening at 8pm.

Residents of Birkatuli confirmed that the abduction of girls happened “by force of arms carried out by the RSF commander”. They claimed that this is not the first incident of its kind:

“This incident is the seventh of its kind at the hands of captain Abdelrahman. He has taken a number of people, including ten girls by force over the course of the year,” a villager said. He said that the incidents happen over farms, water resources and roads.

“We have been silent about the incidents throughout this period, out of fear for his vengeance and threats to hurt anyone who files a complaint.”

This time, however, the residents said they decided to hold a demonstration that condemned the incident. They filed a complaint to the police in Donki Dreisa and asked the state authorities to conduct an investigation in the area.

 

Autopsy confirms death by torture of Darfur detainee

January 19 – 2018 GIREIDA

An official medical report has confirmed the death by torture of a pharmacy employee during his detention by security officers in Gireida, South Darfur.

Six pharmacy workers in Gireida Hospital were detained on 8 January for their alleged illegal selling of medicines from the hospital’s pharmacy. Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed was one of them. On Friday January 12, his body was transferred from the security service’s office to Gireida Hospital.

A family member of Ahmed spoke to Radio Dabanga yesterday. The autopsy revealed a rupture of the kidneys, breaking of the testicles, removal of nails and a cut in the spinal cord. His death was the result of torture.

His relatives refused to bury Ahmed right away and requested an autopsy by a forensic doctor because his body showed marks of torture. The doctor, coming from Khartoum, arrived on Tuesday to do the autopsy. Ahmed was buried in Nyala the same day.

“Before his burial, we received the medical report at the court in Nyala in the presence of the prosecutor of Gireida,” the relative said. “We demand the security service officers who are responsible for his death in detention, to be punished.”

 

Fire destroys nearly 70 homes in South Darfur camp

February 4 – 2018 OTASH CAMP

Major fires that broke out in Otash camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, last week, completely destroyed 67 homes and 47 stalls.

A camp sheikh reported to Radio Dabanga that the first fire broke out at the camp’s market at about 9 pm on Wednesday. “47 market stalls and sun shades were destroyed. Owners of cafes and small restaurants, butchers, and leather workers were the hardest hit.”

On Thursday evening, another large fire developed in the camp.

“In addition to the 67 homes that burned down, we had to dismantle 54 other homes to stop the fire from spreading further,” the community leader said. “If we had not reacted quickly, the flames would have destroyed the entire camp.”

 

Security agents detain omda in Kass, South Darfur

February 5 – 2018 KASS

Officers of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) held Omda Suleiman Khamis Abdelkheir, nicknamed Suleiman Saki, from his home in El Majlis district in Kass at 9 pm on Friday.

A relative of the mayor reported to Radio Dabanga that they took him to the NISS office in Kass. On Sunday, he was transferred to NISS offices in the South Darfur capital of Nyala.

“We don’t understand at all why he was held,” he said.

He added that Abdelkheir was suffering from health problems and lying in bed when he was detained. His family went to the NISS offices in Kass and Nyala but they were not allowed to see him.

Gunmen establish ‘administration system’ in South Darfur

February 5 – 2018 ABU AJURA

Formerly displaced people in Abu Ajura in El Salam locality in South Darfur are suffering from “an administrative system” set up by a group of gunmen in the area.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Hussein Abusharati, Spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, reported that a militant gunman named Aheimer, together with 27 men from the Shatta created a kind of administrative rule in the area of Abu Ajura by force of arms.

“Apart from pushing aside Omda Mohamed Yagoub, the official native administrative leader in the area, they established a kind of court. This court imposes sentences such as lashes and fines on the displaced people who were forced to return to their lands because of hunger in the camps,” he said.

“The fees for planting a piece of land amount to SDG 700 ($ 39*). When the people want to cut trees to cultivate land, they have to pay SDG 1,500 per tree to Aheimer and his group.”

Abusharati criticised the Sudanese government for leaving weapons in the hands of militias. “Khartoum announced this large disarmament campaign, but left the implementation to militant groups. They now carry out threats, plunder homes, and violate the rights of others with the knowledge of the authorities – who do not interfere.”

He added that a policeman was shot dead and another seriously injured in Bulbul Dalal El Angara, 56 km southwest of Nyala on Saturday. They were attempting to arrest militiamen who had plundered a village in the area.

* Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CboS)

(Report also in North Darfur)

Darfur crimes: Three men killed, firewood collectors abducted

February 9 – 2018 EL MALAM / TABIT

Three people were killed in violent events in South Darfur’s El Malam on Wednesday. Armed men abducted four women and a man and reportedly raped several of them near Tabit in North Darfur.

Hasaballah El Nur, Nureldeim Yousif Fadul and one of the herders were killed at Keila area 12 kilometres west of El Malam in South Darfur.

Two herders attacked three women on their way to Keila, 12 kilometres west of El Malam, after collecting firewood. The women later reported that the assailants attempted to rape them, a sheikh in El Malam told Radio Dabanga.

The women resisted and one of the herders was hit with an ax in the head, leading to his immediate death. The other herder escaped. Afterwards the women handed themselves and the weapon of the dead over to the police in El Malam.

According to the sheikh, seven relatives of the killed herder went out the same evening to look for his body. “The relatives encountered a group of people returning to Keila after collecting firewood. They shot dead Hasaballah El Nur and Nureldeim Yousif Fadul on the spot.”

This incident has also been reported to the Keila police. “But the police has not gone out to track the culprit, as the corpse is still lying out in the open, they said,” according to the sheikh.

People abducted, raped

On Wednesday, four women and a man were abducted from Kondro area, 18 km west of Tabit, in North Darfur. Family members of the victims told Radio Dabanga that the abduction was carried out by seven armed men in military uniforms, driving a Land Cruiser.

The men intercepted a group of five women and three men who were returning after collecting firewood near Kondro. Two men and a woman managed to escape while Aisha Adam Abdallah (15), Khadija Ahmed Abdallah (25), Maryam Abakar Ibrahim (27), Fatima Ahmed Khatir (32), and Zein Adam Zein (35), were seized, put in the car and taken to an unknown place.

The family members explained that a force of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) moved out after they filed a report about the abduction, to hunt down the kidnappers.

They found Fatima Ahmed Khatir and Khadija Ahmad Abdallah out in the open, whom had lost consciousness and their bodies showed marks of rape. The women have been taken to Tawila’s health centre.

The fate of the three other abductees is unkown at this time of reporting.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Man, boy killed by armed herders in Darfur

February 11 – 2018 SHATTAIA / NIERTETI

Four people were killed and wounded in Central Darfur in two separate incidents last week.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a farmer reported from Shattaia locality in South Darfur that armed herders on horses raided the land of his colleague Yasin Zakariya Siraj on Thursday.

“They immediately began to shoot,” he said. “Yasin was killed instantly. His wife Halima Mohamed Suleiman and his brother Jaafar were seriously wounded.”

Collecting straw

Ibrahim Adam Daoud (12) was shot dead near Nierteti in north-western Central Darfur on Friday morning.

A listener stold this station that militant herdsmen attacked a group of displaced people who were returning home after collecting firewood west of Nierteti. “They seized two of their donkeys loaded with wood and straw.”

“A rapidly formed search posse hunted down the thieves,” he said. “In the ensuing gunfight, Daoud was fatally hit by a stray bullet.”

(Report also in West Darfur)

Man bayoneted to death in Darfur, others injured in clash with RSF militia

February 18 – 2018 SIRBA / ED EL FURSAN

A resident of the Kendebbe camp for the displaced in West Darfur’s Sirba was killed by an unknown gunman on Thursday. In Ed El Fursan in South Darfur, five people and two members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were wounded at the town’s market.

On Thursday evening, a gunman intercepted a group of men living in the Kendebbe camp on their way home after having prayed at a mosque in the neighbourhood.

“He pointed his gun with a bayonet at us and ordered us to hand him our money and mobile phones,” one of the victims told Radio Dabanga.

“When Jamal Andak Yahya protested, he stabbed him three times with his bayonet,” he said. “Jamal died instantly, after which the attacker fled.”

Market

Five visitors and two RSF militiamen were injured in a fight at the market of Ed El Fursan in South Darfur.

The head of the Bani Halba tribe, El Tom Eisa Dabka, reported to this station that the reasons for the clash are not clear. “Suddenly the people were fighting and stabbing each other.”

He explained that the RSF men are wreaking havoc in the area since the government militia took over the Ed El Fursan base from the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) in October last year. “The people living in the area protested but the RSF Deputy-Commander, Esam Fadil, replied that the Presidency gave him the right to take over the mission’s base.”

Unamid sites

In June last year, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2363 that renewed Unamid’s mandate with another year, yet with a reduction of more than a third of the nearly 19,000 Unamid military troops and police officers present in Darfur.

The Mission’s team sites are handed over to the Sudanese government or appropriate private parties as per lease agreements signed by the Mission, Unamid said in a press statement in September.

Unamid responded to claims by Darfur rebel movements that it had handed its sites in El Malha and Mellit in North Darfur “to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) government militia”.

According to rebel movements, the agreement signed between Khartoum and Unamid on the reduction of the peacekeeping troops stipulates that any property left by the mission is should be handed to the local authorities, and is to be used for civilian purposes only.

Militiamen assault displaced people returning to South Darfur

February 20 – 2018 BIELEL

Militiamen assaulted a number of displaced people who had returned to an area in Bielel locality last week, which is considered to be their home area. Five people were seriously wounded.

The militiamen beat and stabbed an unknown number of people. In total, 600 displaced people had left Kalma, Dereig and El Salam camps in South Darfur to return to Marla in Bielel locality.

One of the injured people told Radio Dabanga that “militant tribal members” attacked them after arriving to the area on Tuesday February 13. “They beat us with rifle butts and robbed us of our possessions.

“The militia members told us that our return here is not welcomed,” the victim said. Reports vary whether the majority of the people have returned to the camps or were able to stay in Marla.

Returning home

The return of displaced people and refugees to their areas of origin in Darfur remains a challenge for both the Sudanese government as the displaced themselves. Insecurity caused by roaming militias and the abundance of weapons, as well as the danger of running into armed new settlers in the home areas has kept at bay many of the displaced people living in camps.

Early January, Radio Dabanga received reports from other returning displaced people in South Darfur that a paramilitary force prevented them from leaving again. About 300 displaced people had returned from the Shangil Tobaya camps in Tawila locality to their home villages in El Malam in northern South Darfur.

When they discovered that militiamen and other gunmen are still roaming in the area, dozens of them decided to return to the relative safety of the camps. Paramilitary troops, however, prevented them from leaving.

Dismantling camps

Voluntary return is one of the options which the Sudanese government gives to the about 2.7 million people in Darfur who have been displaced by the armed conflict that erupted in 2003. Khartoum has been seeking to empty or abolish camps and it also makes plans for the transformation of the camps into residential areas, or to make camps integrate into existing cities and towns.

The South Darfur state government, among others, has started planning the transformation of El Sareif camp for displaced people, south of Nyala. The camp would be turned into a permanent town for the displaced to settle permanently.

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Govt. militia beat, rob residents of South Darfur camp

March 4 – 2018 GIREIDA / NIERTETI

A number of people were injured in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Gireida camp for the displaced on Wednesday. Herders robbed villagers in Nierteti in Central Darfur on Thursday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a resident of the Gireida camp for the displaced in South Darfur said that a force of RSF militiamen in five vehicles stormed the camp on Wednesday evening.

“They searched for Adamo Adam, Ageel Mousa, and Mousa Mosbil. When they did not find them at home, they asked their relatives and neighbours about their whereabouts, and severely beat them with their rifle butts and sticks,” he said.

“Some people were seriously injured, in particular Sawarin Adam Osman, who had to be transferred to Gireida Hospital in critical condition.”

The source said that the attackers stole SDG 23,000 ($ 1,270*) cash from the house of trader Adamo Adam, and a number of mobile telephones from the displaced.

He added that they filed a complaint with the police of Gireida.

Herders

A group of militant herdsmen intercepted a number of villagers north of Nierteti in Central Darfur on Thursday.

“We were on our way home in Jebel Marra, after shopping at Nierteti Market, when the janjaweed stopped us and beat us with their whips,” one of the victims reported. “They then took all the foodstuffs we bought, our mobile phones and our money.”

* Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

(Report also in Central Darfur and Jebel Marra)

Gunmen shoot man, fire destroys school in Darfur

March 6 – 2018 TABIT / GIREIDA

Gunmen shot and wounded a firewood collector in Tabit in eastern Jebel Marra on Monday. A fire in Gireida, South Darfur, destroyed buildings of a higher secondary school on Monday.

Ibrahim Khatir Suleiman was wounded by gunmen near Sharfa village, 15 km south of Tabit in Tawila locality. A family member member of Ibrahim told Radio Dabanga that three gunmen on camels shot him while he was out to collect firewood.

Ibrahim sustained a leg injury and has been transferred to Shangil Tobaya medical centre for treatment, after reporting the incident to the police.

The family member said there was no apparent reason for the assault.

Fire

A huge fire that broke out at Gamareldin higher secondary school on Monday afternoon also torched four houses. A teacher in Gireida told Radio Dabanga that the cause of the fire is not known.

 

South Darfur: ‘Four to six reports of sex assault on children a day in 2017’

March 9 – 2018 NYALA

Figures from South Darfur on sexual violence against children in 2017 released this week paint a dismal picture, with four to six new cases reported to police in the state every day. Government sources acknowledge that the actual number might be far higher.

According to official statistics released in the South Darfur state capital of Nyala, there were 1,800 reports of sexual assaults on children in the 21 localities of South Darfur during 2017.

A government source said that 70 per cent of the complaints were filed by the newly established children’s court in Nyala, set-up in response to an increase in cases. Other reports have been filed to the police and prosecution as a result of incomplete investigations.

Social stigma

An official source at the family and children’s office said the rate of sexual assaults on children ranged from four to six cases a day.

He pointed out that in reality, the number might be far higher as many cases are not reported so do not fall within these statistics. “The social stigma means many such crimes are settled among families before reaching the police or judicial system, on the grounds of concern for the reputation of the victim.”

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Two women dead, two men injured in South Darfur livestock raid

March 19 – 2018 GOKO

Two women were killed and two men injured in an attack by gunmen on Goko village north of Nyala, capital of South Darfur on Saturday night.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen riding camels and horses attacked the village, and stole 81 head of cattle and 35 goats and sheep. When the owners of the livestock confronted them, they opened fire and killed Aisha Yagoub and Maryam Suleiman and seriously wounded Hamid Mousa and Hamid Yousef.

Abduction

On Thursday three displaced people were abducted by militiamen in Central Darfur. The kidnappers  have demanded a ransom of SDG 30,000 ($for their release.

El Shafee Abdallah, the coordinator of Central Darfur camps reported that on Thursday militias attacked three displaced people while collecting firewood at Sinan Kar area west of Zalingei, took them to an unknown destination, called their relatives and then demanded a ransom of SDG 30,000 (*$1,666) for the release of Suleiman Ibrahim, Adil Mohamed and Fuoad Mohamed.

The coordinator said they reported the incident to the police who did not move to rescue the abductees and arrest the perpetrators.

* Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

 

(Report also in East and West Darfur)

1,000+ homes destroyed in East Darfur camp inferno

March 19 – 2018 ED DAEIN

A massive fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in the displaced camps district of Ed Daein on East Darfur. No human casualties were reported, however the four camps of Dabanga, Areida, Garnaya, and Um Sauna suffered extensive damage.

The fire completely destroyed 15 shops and storage facilities at Dabanga Market. One of the camp sheikhs told Dabanga Radio that at least 1,000 families have been affected and that the preliminary inventory estimated the damage at about SDG 40 billion (*$2 million).

The Commissioner of Ed Daein, Ali El Tahir, said “the fire has been the largest of its kind in the recent period as it has destroyed the whole contents of about 1,000 houses.

West Darfur

In a separate incident, fire broke out at Konge village of Kereinik locality in West Darfur and destroyed more than 20 houses.

North Darfur

Another fire that broke out at camp El Salam in Nyala destroyed the houses of dozens of displaced people and caused great property losses.

Many of the homes and shelters in Darfur camps are built of wood and sticks, and most cooking perfiormed on open fires so there is a significant hazard.

* Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

Child dead, entire South Darfur district destroyed by fire

March 20 – 2018 GIREIDA

A young child has died and three school students were injured in a devastating fire that broke out in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Sunday.

Residents of Gireida told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out at 5 pm on Sunday at El Baraka area east of Mima district and lasted more than an hour.

Four-year-old Halima Ibrahim was burned to death, while basic school pupil Ahmed Mohamed and two higher secondary school students Mohamed, Abdelmajid Ahmed and Hussein Yousef were injured in the blaze.

A resident said the fire destroyed all of the homes in the Mima district that accommodate about 800 families. Large quantities of food stores and agricultural crops were also burned, leaving the families destitute.

The monetary value of the damage is still being assessed.

Three dead, two wounded, as police, militia clash in South Darfur

March 23 – 2018 EL RADOOM

Two members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia as well as a policeman died following a gunfight at Umjadwal village 20 kilometres west of El Radoom in South Darfur on Thursday. Two more policemen were wounded.

The reasons for the exchange of gunfire between the police and militiamen is unclear, but witnesses confirmed that an additional joint force of police and army went to the scene and took control of the situation.

The dead policeman was identified as Mohammed Ali. The wounded policemen, Mohamed Adam and Mohamed Yagoub, were taken to El Radoom hospital.

Returnees arrested

On Wednesday, the RSF arrested seven people from Kutum in North Darfur who were previously displaced but have voluntarily returned. The people were reportedly cleaning their farms. Herders reported that the returnees were cutting trees which is illegal according to the law.

The seven detained include Mohamed Abdelkarim Osman, El Mahi Abdallah Ismael, and Adam Abdelshafi, and four others who are unnamed. All of them have been transferred to El Fasher.

(Report also in East Darfur)

Six dead, many injured in Darfur violence

March 27 – 2018 DIMSU

Three people were killed and six others were seriously wounded in two separate incidents in Dimsu of South Darfur.

In the first incident, the commissioner of the locality, Saleh Adam, confirmed that gunmen opened fire on two vehicles, killed one person, and wounded two men and a woman.

In the second incident, Haj Abdallah Eisa and Adam Hashim were killed and four people, including a woman, were wounded in a clash between a local rescue team and thieves who stole 60 goats.

In East Darfur, 12 people were killed or injured in clashes involving edged weapons (knives and machetes) between youths from Karo area of Bahr El Arab. Exact casualty numbers are still unknown.

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Videos: Devastation in Darfur’s Jebel Marra

March 30 – 2018 FEINA

Updated 17:00 – Video showing the destruction and devastation at Feina village in South Darfur’s East Jebel Marra by government forces and militias showed completely burnt houses and the village completely abandoned after its inhabitants fled to the mountain caves for security and protection.

A resident of the village standing at the ruins of his house, said the militias burned everything and left nothing, not even livestock.

He said that the villagers are still in the mountains caves in a very bad humanitarian situation.

Brothers Ismail and Ayoub Hussein Yahya were seriously wounded when a bomb hit their house at Sawani area in East Jebel Marra on Wednesday night.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the Rapid Support Forces stationed at Libei launched several missiles on Wednesday night where shells hit the house of Hussein Yahya, wounding his sons, 12-year-old Ismail and 13-year-old Ayoub.

Witnesses said the shells also killed five sheep, four donkeys and caused panic among the residents who fled to mountains, valleys and nearby forests.

On Wednesday evening secondary school student Hasan Hajar was killed in an attack by armed men in the Khor Shingo area on a Hilux moving from Singo area of El Radoom locality to Agbash in South Darfur.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that four gunmen intercepted the Hilux, searched the passengers, robbed them of their possessions and money and shot dead 19 year-old student Hasan Hajar because of his resistance and refusal to hand over the mobile and cash in possession.

They explained that the incident was reported to the police unit of El Radoom locality which failed to capture the gunmen

SLM-MM

The Sudan Liberation Movement of the leadership of Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) called the declaration made by President Omar Al Bashir on Tuesday extending the cease-fire for another three months as a false and misleading both home and international public opinion.

Yesterday the movement said in a statement that the militias are still killing civilians today in large areas of Jebel Marra, looting their property and forcing them to flee their villages.

The statement added that the same terrorist practices, bloodshed, looting and confiscation of property are taking place in Central and North Darfur.

The movement’s spokesman Mohamed Hasan said in the statement that Khartoum regime took advantage of Unamid’s weakness and the absence of its monitoring mechanisms, as well as handing over its headquarters to the regime, which in turn handed it over to the Rapid Support Forces to become their bases.”

He said that the government exploited all these circumstances to continue its violations and then issued a declaration to extend the cessation of hostilities in order to cover these violations.

The movement called in its statement the international community to reconsider the decision to reduce the joint mission “Unamid” and not to believe Al Bashir’s lies in the decision to extend the declaration of cessation of hostilities.

In its statement, the movement demanded that the international community ascertain for itself what is happening on the ground in Darfur of killing and displacement through commissions of inquiry and the visits of international officials to affected areas.

On Thursday witnesses reported the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces that were attacking the sites of the Sudan Liberation Movement of the leadership of Abdelwahid in southeast Jebel Marra to El Malam and Umelgura in East Jebel Marra which are the headquarters and hometown of the commander of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan (aka Hemeti).

President Omar Al Bashir said that the three-month ceasefire he declared on Wednesday was aimed at creating a conducive climate and that hands are extended to all to stabilise the country.

South Darfur camp market destroyed by fire

April 1 – 2018 NYALA

A huge fire that broke out at the market of El Salam camp for the displaced near the South Darfur capital of Nyala, has destroyed more than 450 shops.

“The fire erupted at the market at 3 am on Friday. Because of the strong wind, the flames could spread rapidly,” one of the victims told Radio Dabanga.

“More than 450 shops were destroyed, including groceries, perfume shops, shops selling building materials, in addition to restaurants, cafeterias, and a number of stores.”

The losses that were being counted on Friday afternoon are estimated at tens of thousands of Sudanese Pounds.

The source said that most camp residents suspect arson. “They say the authorities are behind the fire. The government wants to impoverish the displaced as they intend to dismantle the camp”.

Gunmen shoot, rob voluntary returnees in South Darfur

April 9 – 2018 GIREIDA

A community leader sustained bullet wounds in an attack by gunmen on voluntary returnees in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Saturday.

“Five gunmen ambushed a group of displaced from the Gireida camps on Saturday evening,” one of the victims reported to Radio Dabanga. “The people were on their way back to Um Balola village.”

“Omda Ahmed Ali who was heading the returnees was hit by bullets. The attackers the seized our money and mobile telephones, and fled,” he said. “The omda is currently being treated in the Nyala Teaching Hospital.”

(Report also in East Darfur)

More fires in Darfur camps: Dozens of homes destroyed

April 10 – 2018 NYALA / ED DAEIN / EL GEDAREF

Three separate fires on Sunday and Monday caused the destruction of dozens of houses in two camps for displaced people and a cotton production site in Darfur and El Gedaref.

A fire broke out in Kalma camp in South Darfur on Sunday, destroying 51 houses. Dozens of families are left in the open without shelter, a Sheikh in the camp reported.

Mubarak Mohamed Ahmed told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out in Block 8 at 11 am. Twelve other homes were partially destroyed. “The damages are still being counted. The cause for the fire has not yet been identified.”

More large fires are reported in Darfur in this time of year, when the wind easily spreads flames – for example from cooking fires – through the dry grass and roofs. A shortage of fire-fighting equipment exacerbates the damage.

El Neem camp

On Monday morning, a large fire broke out in El Neem camp for displaced people, north of Ed Daein in East Darfur. Reportedly more than 700 homes were destroyed, a basic school, as well as large quantities of crops.

One of the camp residents who have lost their homes told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out at 10 am on the eastern side of the camp. “The flames spread and destroyed about 750 houses, in addition to El Salam basic school. The destruction has displaced more than 3,000 people.”

The affected people live in the open without food, shelter or cover, he reported. It was the third fire in three months to ravage El Neem camp.

In March, Radio Dabanga reported that about 373 families in El Neem were still living in the open after a huge fire that broke out in the camp two weeks before.

El Gedaref

A huge fire broke out at El Faw complex in El Gedaref on Sunday evening, and destroyed 4,200 bales of cotton that were ready for export.

The executive director of the Sudanese cotton company, El Tayeb El Tahir said that the fire has resulted in the destruction of about 17,000 quintals (a historical unit of mass, usually referred to as an uncommon measure of 100 kilogrammes) and estimated the damages at more than SDG 30 billion ($1.6 billion, based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan).

More than 100 South Darfur camp homes destroyed by fire

April 17 – 2018 GIREIDA

The number of fires in camps for displaced people in Darfur has flared up in the past two weeks, raising concerns for their strength and leaving dozens of families in the open.

On Sunday, the camps in Gireida locality, South Darfur, saw another fire at Babanusa which led to the destruction of 102 homes.

Displaced people in Babanusa camp informed Radio Dabanga that the fire caused burns to 60-year-old Aisha Musa. About 43 homes were partially destroyed.

The camps of Kalma and El Salam, both in Nyala, and El Neem in Ed Daein, among others, have recently suffered fires that destroyed dozens of houses. Large fires are reported in Darfur in this time of year, when the wind easily spreads flames – for example from cooking fires – through the dry grass and roofs. A shortage of fire-fighting equipment exacerbates the damage.

(Report also in North Darfur)

Darfur shootings injure farmers, firewood collector

April 17 – 2018 KASS / DUBO EL OMDA

Ten people were injured in two separate attacks in South and North Darfur on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday afternoon gunmen attacked a group of farmers in Sankta in southern Kass locality, South Darfur.

A woman of one the injured told Radio Dabanga that the incident took place after armed herdsmen opened fire, right over the farms. She said that the attackers, some of whom drove motorcycles, camels and horses, attacked the farmers using sticks and axes.

Farmers Mousa Khatir, Omar Ahmed Khatir, Teirab Hussein, Adam Mohamed Ali, Abdelnasir Adam Mohamed, Ayman Adam Mohamed, Bashar Eisa Suleiman, Ahmed Tobi and Mohamed Adam Siddig were injured.

Dubo El Omda

In Tawila locality in North Darfur, armed men shot a man collecting firewood on Monday afternoon. The incident took place near Mashrou Abu Zeid, 8 kilometres east of Dubo El Omda.

A family member of the victim, Mohamed Yousif Mousa, told Radio Dabanga that Mousa was collecting firewood with Yousif Hamid Saleh. The gunmen opened fire on them, wounding Mousa. He has been transferred to the military garrison of Katur to receive treatment at the emergency unit, where the incident was also reported.

Earlier this month, a man was killed by gunmen 15 km south of Dubo El Omda while fetching water for his cattle. Two days earlier two villagers were killed by armed herders west of Dubo El Omda.

Again voluntary returnees killed in South Darfur

April 22 – 2018 KATILA

Unidentified gunmen killed four returnees and wounded six others in an attack by unknown gunmen on the village of Jamra in South Darfur’s Katila on Thursday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Abakar El Tom, South Darfur MP for Katila locality reported that unknown gunmen ambushed a group of residents of Jamra village, who had earlier returned within the Voluntary Return Programme.

“They suddenly began shooting at the villagers on Thursday evening,” he said. “Omda Abdelmanan Omar, Sheikh Jibril Wad Kursi, Abdelrahman Abudilli and Daoud Ahmed died instantly. Six others, including the Omda of Katila, Mahmoud Jibril, were injured.”

The wounded, two of them in a serious condition, were transferred to the Turkish Hospital in the South Darfur capital of Nyala.

Abakar added that the security authorities have been informed. “They have taken the required legal measures,” he said.

Voluntary return

Voluntary return is one of the options which the Sudanese government gives to the about 2.7 million people in Darfur who have been displaced by the armed conflict that erupted in 2003. Khartoum plans to transform the camps into residential areas, or integrate them into existing towns.

In February, Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir instructed the acceleration of the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Chad and the return of Chadian refugees in Sudan.

The Voluntary Repatriation and Reconstruction Commission in Darfur announced earlier this month that it will conduct a comprehensive survey among those people who have already voluntary returned to their places of origin, to identify their basic needs.

The region has witnessed a growing trend of returns of refugees and displaced people in the last few years. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) this “is in part thanks to general security improvements in Darfur as a result of peace agreements between the government and some armed groups”.

The UN refugee agency pointed in this context as well to the “disarmament exercise carried out by the government throughout Darfur” and the efforts of the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) which is “also contributing to making areas safer for displaced people to return”.

Insecurity

However, reports continue to reach this station about attacks on returnees in the conflict-plagued western Sudanese region.

Witnesses say that the insecurity is often caused by roaming militiamen and the abundance of weapons –that have not been found and collected during the government’s disarmament campaign last year– as well as the danger of running into armed new settlers in the home areas.

About 400 displaced who returned from El Neem camp to their village in East Darfur, were assaulted and beaten by militant new settlers in March. In Kutum in North Darfur, members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces detained seven returnees who were cleaning their farms.

In South Darfur, militiamen ambushed displaced people who had returned to Marla village in Bielel in February. In response, the state authorities arrested 14 tribal leaders from the area.

On April 7, a community leader sustained bullet wounds in an attack on voluntary returnee in Gireida locality in South Darfur.

Rapes

According to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the displacement rate in Darfur declined in 2017 in comparison to previous years. Yet the region is “awash with small arms and light weapons, criminality and sporadic clashes,” he said in April.

In his report on the worldwide conflict-related sexual violence in 2017, sexual violence remains prevalent in Sudan’s western region, Guterres said – though the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) reported 152 cases of rape in Darfur throughout 2017, which shows a decrease compared to the 222 victims of sexual violence recorded in the year before.

Border Guards kidnap six people in South Darfur

April 23 – 2018 KASS

Members of the paramilitary Border Guards abducted six people from Turr in South Darfur’s Kass locality on Saturday. They demand a ransom of SDG 1,500,000.

Multiple sources told Radio Dabanga that elements of the Border Guards on camels and horses kidnapped Muhyeldin Ibrahim, headmaster of the Turr School, Mohamed Adam, school janitor, Feisal Ishag, Ahmed Yousef, Abdeljabbar Abulgasim and Abdelnashir Yousef near Turr, and took them to an unknown destination.

The militiamen claim that the six men had stolen cows from them, and demand SDG 250,000 ($ 13,710*) per person in exchange for their release.

The incident sparked a protest march in Turr, demanding the release of the abductees.

* Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

 

South Darfur Wali determined to dismantle Kalma camp

April 26 – 2018 NYALA

The Wali of South Darfur Adam El Faki has announced his determination to dismantle Kalma camp for displaced people, one of the largest camps in Darfur and evacuate the displaced within two weeks as part of Al Bashir’s voluntary return plan and eliminate the camps in the region by the end of the year.

The governor said in a speech to a group of returnees to a village in South Darfur, we are going to dismantle camp Kalma within one or two weeks.

He added: “People have better leave the camp which we will empty within a week since voluntary return project is the president’s plan.

He emphasised that by the end of the year 2018 there will be “no camps, food aid, relief, or organisations”.

Governor El Faki ordered the arrest of seven of the leaders of the displaced people at camp Kalma headed by Yagoub Furi, the chair of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Coordination, this as well as ordering the arrest of every person, even a minister or native administration leader objecting to the voluntary return to be transferred to Suakin in Red Sea State for objecting to the president’s project

The governor ordered the arrest of the seven people of camp Kalma standing against voluntary repatriation including Furi, Sheikh Osman Tarlin, youth leader Idris Darbanja and others.

He described the displaced peoples’ complaint to Unamid about lack of security, compensations and attacks said that the government gave as useless.

El Faki said we have prepared 300 cells in Suakin prison in Red Sea State to receive detainees from South Darfur, with an aeroplane waiting at the airport for everyone standing against voluntary return.

He instructed the commissioners and omdas to provide lists of persons wanted for opposing voluntary return to be detained.

Regarding the complaints of the returnees to their areas about loss of security, attacks and occupation of their lands by new settlers, the governor refused to receive any complaints or delegations from the returnees, except in the case of the killing of at least 10 people.

El Faki said return has a price as the government cannot protect any person driving cart to collect firewood.

He called on the returnees to be determined and strong.

El Faki said, “You have to remain strong and strong and resist and sit down because you Dyer settle down and Dyer look out of the camps.

He said: “A couple of days ago in the morning returnees from Marla area came to me in Nyala, complaining about someone who had his leg broken,  I asked them if they were reporting any death to which they answered no, I then told them not come unless they have  ten dead because the government cannot protect everybody.

South Darfur wali’s speech ‘a declaration of war against displaced’

April 26 – 2018 NYALA 

Yagoub Furi, the chair of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Coordination, considered the speech of the governor of South Darfur, in which he announced his determination to dismantle Kalma Camp for displaced people, one of the largest camps in Darfur, as “a declaration of war against the displaced” and warned that this approach would lead to rebellion against the government.

Furi described Governor Adam El Faki’s speech as irresponsible and unreasonable.

He said in an interview with Radio Dabanga to be broadcasted on Thursday that he was surprised by the governor’s demand of the displaced not complain to Unamid when subjected to violence, theft and occupation by new settlers.

Furi who is one of the wanted described the governor’s speech as a blatant threat to displaced people and their leaders, and deplored the governor’s attempt to force the displaced people to return to their villages of origin without protection from militias.

Furi confirmed that there is no a voluntary return without providing security and services.

He explained that displaced persons who had returned to their villages were subjected to killings, violence and robbed by militias.

He pointed out the killing and wounding of 11 people returning to Haras area by the militias, including a number of Omdas and notables.

Furi said that the dead were Omda Abdelmanan, Jibril, Abdelrahman and Adam Ahmed, while the wounded were Omda Jibril Mahmoud, Mohamed Yagoub, Mohamed Adam, Awad Zayed, Ahmed Mohamed, and Abdallah El Nour.

He reported that more than 400 returnees to an area of ​​ Hijeir Tongo area for farming have inversely returned to the camps because of the lack of security.

Furi said on Tuesday one of the returnees was shot dead in the head at Hijeir Tongo and another was wounded by the militia amid the continued rape of women who prefer to remain silent for fear of shame.

He called on the government to stand on the number of displaced people who have been subjected to acts of killing and violence upon their return to their villages. Furi also called on the governor to identify the violations, attacks and killings of voluntarily returnees to the areas of Kialik, Tarbo and Haras by the militias.

He expressed surprise at the governor’s speech that the government is not responsible for providing security to any person who rides cart to collect firewood and his calling on the people to secure themselves.

Furi considered that a clear back off from the government’s responsibilities towards its citizens and returnees.

He appealed to the international community, the United Nations and the Security Council to address the threats in the camps and the villages of voluntary return and lack of security

He stressed that the governor’s threatening to dismantle the camps of Kalma and Kass until the end of this year, his threatening to arrest Furi and eight others and flogging them that they are not afraid of intimidation and threats.

Furi denounced the governor’s speech about the presence of weapons in the camps and expected the goal of government forces of searching of camp Kalma to be for the arrest of the leaders of the displaced people.

He expressed confidence in the people of the camp to defend their leaders.

Furi described the mentality of the governor as a mentality similar to the mentality of 2003 that caused the current situation in Darfur.

He held the governor the responsibility for subjecting any displaced or returnee to any harm.

He said “There is no person or entity that can force us to return to our original villages in the absence of security, calling on the governor to respect the citizens and the displaced”.

Furi described the governor’s speech as lacking logic.” He said demanding provision of security and services is legitimate not a crime.

These demands belong to the displaced and have nothing to do with the armed movements, he said.

He stressed that no displaced would return without security and services.

Call on ICC to indict South Darfur governor as ‘accessory to genocide’

April 27 – 2018 LONDON / NYALA / THE HAGUE

A prominent Sudanese academic has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate the actions and threats of South Darfur Governor (Wali) Adam El Faki to dismantle the vast camps for the displaced in the state in response to President Al Bashir’s wishes as contraventions of international and humanitarian law.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, prominent academic and human rights defender Ahmed Hussein Adam, associate researcher at the University of London School of Law, echoed the words of Yagoub Furi, the chair of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Coordination, who considered the speech of the governor of South Darfur, in which El Faki announced his determination to dismantle Kalma camp for displaced people, one of the largest camps in Darfur, as “a declaration of war against the displaced“.

Hussein says “this is a contravention of international and humanitarian law, making Governor Adam El Faki an additional defendant before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague with the displaced people as witnesses.

“The threats and measures of the governor of South Darfur should have him appear before the ICC for violating international humanitarian law, human rights law, and the 30 principles of displacement adopted by the UN General Assembly.

“Such principles categorically prohibit any expulsion of displaced persons, forced eviction, or forced return. What the government is doing now is not a voluntary return because it is based on threat of power for the dismantling of the camps by force, so this is a clear violation and forced return prohibited under international laws and the 30 principles that clearly regulate the issue of displacement.”

‘Urgent and immediate ICC investigation’

Hussein appealed to the ICC “to open an urgent and immediate investigation into the dismantling of the camps; because what is happening is a flagrant crime in international humanitarian law and international criminal law.”

Addressing Governor El Faki, Hussein said: “I assure you, Governor of South Darfur, if you carry out what you say, as you are saying that what you are doing is Al Bashir’s wish, you shall appear before the ICC”.

He stressed that the remarks and threats of the governor are not surprising because the government has intent to dismantle the camps that are evidence of the genocide in Darfur for which Al Bashir is wanted in The Hague.

He said: “Today we can say that one new member has joined the ICC defendants, namely the Governor of South Darfur”.

Hussain appealed to human rights organisations to expand their work and launch, at the same time, new campaigns on the issue of camps. He called on Unamod to speak rather than to be silent because what is going against is the mandate it was given.

Also he appealed to the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, the United States, European Union countries and the Sudanese activists to immediately act.

Darfur Centre for Documentation and Information

The Darfur Centre for Documentation and Information has strongly condemned the threats of the Governor of South Darfur.

The director of the centre, Abdelbagi Jibril, described in an interview with Radio Dabanga the governor’s statements and threats as violating all national and international laws governing life in Sudan, topped by Sudan’s Constitution for the year 2005.

He said that Article II of the Constitution obliges the Sudanese government to respect human dignity and treat all the Sudanese citizens equally without discrimination.

He said “The government wants by these measures and criminal statements of the governor to compel the displaced people to forcibly return again which is really unacceptable in all religions, cultures and legislations, especially the Islamic religion”.

He added “Adam El Faki claimed that this is the desire of President Al Bashir, but we tell him that the president’s wish cannot be fulfilled if he orders to throw themselves into ruin”.

 

‘Financial irregularities, corruption’ in East and South Darfur

April 29 – 2018 ED DAEIN / TULLUS

According to a report of the Sudanese auditor-general, a large number of “financial irregularities” have been found in the East Darfur state accounts. Residents of Tullus locality in South Darfur accuse the director of El Shaheed Organisation of corruption.

The amount of “financial irregularities” found in East Darfur state accounts reach SDG 7.7 billion (*$274 million), the auditor-general said on Monday.

The irregularities consist of undocumented disbursements and the transfer of government entities to private persons.

Tullus

Residents of Tullus locality in South Darfur have filed a complaint against the director of El Shaheed Organisation.

They accuse him of corruption and manipulation of land distribution, after the organisation claimed the ownership of 250 pieces of land.

“People living in the area have already registered their plots,” a listener told Radio Dabanga from Tullus.

The locality’s Land Administration Department acknowledged that 120 housing units have recently been registered in the name of the director of El Shaheed Organisation.

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

Child killed, homes destroyed in Darfur fires

April 30 – 2018 GIREIDA

A fire in Gireida in South Darfur led to the death of a girl on Saturday. In the Donki Abyad camp for displaced people, 20 houses burned to ashes.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that the fire that broke out in El Majlis residential district in Gireida on Saturday caused the death of Halima Abdallah (4).

“The full contents of four houses burned to the ground,” he added.

Another fire broke out at Donki Abyad camp, south of Gireida, on the same day. “20 shelters were destroyed,” a camp sheikh reported.

He appealed to humanitarian organisations to immediately intervene and provide aid.

Hundreds of people flee Jebel Marra to South Darfur camp

May 1 – 2018 NYALA / KHARTOUM

More than 111 families who have fled from villages in the Jebel Marra region in the past two weeks have found refuge in a camp for displaced people in Nyala. The newly displaced report being robbed by militiamen.

One of the sheikhs in Otash camp in South Darfur told Radio Dabanga that the majority of the families have settled in camp centre 13. “Among them are children, women and elderly people.

“The humanitarian aid agencies in the state have registered a number of families. But more than 26 families have not been registered so far.”

The camp leader pointed out that the people currently live in the open without food, cover or water.

Rebel sites, villages attacked

Boli and Arua villages and Ruvata military garrison (OCHA Map)

The fighting last month has displaced thousands of people – reportedly 30,000 according to the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW). Their clashes with pro-government militias took place in northwestern Jebel Marra and in the Central Darfur part where the Jebel Marra mountains stretch.

The militias reportedly launched an attack from the Rufuta military garrison in Central Darfur. After the clashes the villages of Boli (Boulay) and Arua (Aro) in Central Darfur were attacked, among others.

According to other witness reports the clashes coincided with attacks on 13 villages in northern Jebel Marra by a large group of militiamen. Also in March this year, rebel sites in East Jebel Marra were attacked. The fighting caused an estimated 50,000 people to flee their villages in the area.

Displaced people robbed

A number of people who have fled the fighting in Jebel Marra reported to Radio Dabanga that militiamen robbed them of their money and property. The attackers set fire to the villages, stole livestock, and raided markets.

The camp sheikh added: “Because of their difficult situation, the newly displaced people have turned to begging inside the camp. They do not have enough money for transportation to Nyala city, and cannot go there to find work or beg.”

Also in Kass locality displaced people report being beaten and robbed by militiamen near to the camps for displaced people on Sunday. A resident told Radio Dabanga that militiamen, driving more than 100 vehicles on their way to the battlefield in Jebel Marra, have stationed in the military garrison in Kass for four days.

He said that the pro-government militiamen carried out thefts and raids in homes adjacent to the garrison, such as Aradeiba and Kass Kabir North. “At 9pm on Sunday, a group of these millitiamen attacked Abdeljabbar and Aradeiba camps for displaced people, as well as the southern market.

“They beat and robbed displaced people.” The resident reported that the attackers stole fifteen mobile phones, fruit, and destroyed market stalls holding vegetables and meat. “This happened in spite of the presence of guards in the market.”

USA call to stop fighting

In a statement by the United States Department of State last week, spokesman Heather Nauert said that Washington was seriously concerned about the recent fighting in Jebel Marra. The USA urges all sides –government forces, SLM-AW, and armed tribal groups – “to immediately halt their provocative actions and violent responses,” she said.

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) has welcomed the call of the US State Department to halt the armed operations that led to the loss of innocent civilian victims and the displacement of thousands of families between the foothills of mountains, amid a lack of food and potable water.

The DBA issued a press statement appealing to the United Nations, its aid agencies and international organisations to urgently provide emergency relief assistance to the displaced and those affected by the fighting.

In her statement Nauert requested the Sudanese government to allow “immediate and unhindered access by the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid), UN Country Team elements, and national and international humanitarian agencies to the areas where violence is taking place, as well as to displaced populations.”

South Darfur’s Kafia Kingi market to relocate to decrease fire hazard

May 2 – 2018 EL RADOOM

The security committee of El Radoom locality in South Darfur has decided to relocate one of the state’s largest markets to decrease the risk of fires.

Kafia Kingi market has suffered repeated smaller fires in the past, however, the security committee’s decision came after a huge fire destroyed more than 800 shops in the market and burned 200 adjacent houses in the locality districts.

The locality Commissioner Adam Ishag said that the recurrence of frequent fires in the locality has become a great threat to security and explained that the last fire had caused material losses exceeding SDG 170 million (*$6.03 million).

The market will be moved to a new locality and ‘properly planned to minimise the risk of fires’.

Recently, camps for the displaced in Kalma, Gireida, and El Salam have witnessed similar fires that have destroyed hundreds of houses.

Large fires are reported in Darfur in this time of year, when the wind easily spreads flames – for example from cooking fires – through the dry grass and rooves. A shortage of fire-fighting equipment exacerbates the damage.

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

 

Human rights activist detained incommunicado in South Darfur

May 3 – 2018 NYALA

Human rights activist Khattab Seifeldin has been detained by the authorities in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, since a military intelligence force arrested him in Menawashi on April 20 following his organisation of a project for the reading for change.

The celebration of the fifth anniversary of the project included the reforestation of the schools of Menawashi, as well as a seminar introducing El Hadatha magazine with other cultural activities.

An activist from Menawashi told Radio Dabanga that the ceremony was held after the locality police were informed of its purpose and time, but an intelligence force arrested him after the ceremony and later taken to the intelligence office in Nyala.

He said: “Since the day of his arrest, no one has been allowed to visit him and nor are his exact whereabouts known, whether in Nyala or the security service, nor has he been brought to trial”.

The activist called upon the authorities to immediately release him or bring him to trial if he is charged and allow lawyers and his family to visit.

The activist told Radio Dabanga that freedom of opinion, expression and education is a basic human right enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil, Cultural and Social Rights.

He described the arrest of Seifeldin as a violation of the national Interim Constitution and the law, and called on human rights organisations and all activists and interested parties to apply pressure to release him immediately.

West Darfur Chamber of Commerce leaders held

The authorities of El Geneina in West Darfur arrested the head of the Chamber of Commerce in the state Tijani Yousef Abakar and others and transferred them to Port Sudan Prison, against the backdrop of a dispute over the area of Gumeiza, 3 km east of El Geneina.

Sources told Radio Dabanga that the reasons for the arrest is that Abakar demanded planning the area of Gumeiza for nomadic pastoralists, while notables of the Masalit tribe are calling for planning the area for displaced people.

The sources demanded that the issue be resolved so as not to lead to renewed crises between communities in the state again.

Sudan Tribune

Gunmen kill civilian in South Darfur area
May 3, 2018 (NYALA) – A civilian was killed and two others were injured following an attack by gunmen targeting returnees to the village of Abu Jabra south of Nyala, capital of South Darfur state. A local leader told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that gunmen attacked the returnees late on Wednesday and shot them on the grounds that the area belongs to the Falata tribe while the returnees are from the Mahadi tribe.

The returnees complained from the lack of security and call for drastic measures against the gunmen.

Such attacks force the returnees to renounce their plans and regain displacement camps but the authorities seek to encourage them to stay. Local police tasked with their protection say they do what they can but point to the lack of means. South Darfur, despite the sporadic violence, is witnessing a large voluntary return operation of the civilians displaced who left their areas of origin 15 years ago after the improvement of the security situation. The state of South Darfur is witnessing a large voluntary return movement of displaced persons to their villages of origin for agriculture, especially after the relative stability of the security situation in Darfur.

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Displaced people attacked, killed in South Darfur

May 4 – 2018 GIREIDA / RABKONA / NIERTETI

One man was killed while others were wounded in an attack by gunmen in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Wednesday evening. Robbers killed a merchant in Jebel Marra. A farmer was abducted in Central Darfur.

Two other people went missing after approximately 20 armed men on camels attacked the group of people in Abujabra, 20 km north of Gireida. The attackers opened fire on the group and immediately killed Mohamed Adam.

The bullets also injured Abdallah Fadul Mohamed, Ali Hassan, Imam Mohamed Daoud and Ibrahim Adam Eid, all of whom have been taken to the hospital. The children Ahmed Adam Mohamed Musa (13 years) and Mohamed Yagoub went missing following the attack.

A source in the area told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the whereabouts of the boys are unknown. The wounded Fadul Mohamed and Hassan were taken in a critical condition to Nyala Hospital.

The source said that the group consisted of displaced people who attempted to return to the area of Abujabra. Reports continue to reach this station about attacks on returnees in the conflict-plagued western Sudanese region.

Last February, the South Darfur government, the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid), and UN agencies in Sudan announced they would set up a joint committee to facilitate the voluntary return of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the state.

In April, State Governor Adam El Faki announced his intention to dismantle Kalma camp for displaced people “within one or two weeks”.

Killing in Jebel Marra

Robbers shot dead a merchant at Rabkona area in eastern Jebel Marra, on Wednesday evening.

One of the relatives of the killed Abubakr Abdelrahman told Radio Dabanga that three gunmen on camels attacked him in his house in Rabkona. They opened the fire and killed him immediately, and then took his possessions and fled.

Abduction in Central Darfur

In Nierteti in Central Darfur, unidentified gunmen have abducted the farmer Awadallah Ahmed Mohamed Musa and have taken him to an unknown destination.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that armed men, driving a Land Cruiser, attacked the farmer while he was tilling his farm in Saga. Awadallah was taken into the vehicle by force of arms and they drove off to an unknown destination.

One dead, three wounded, seven missing after gunmen rob bus in South Darfur

May 7 – 2018 GIREIDA / SOUTH KORDOFAN

A man was killed, three others wounded, and seven people are missing after a shootout during an armed robbery on a passenger bus on the road between El Radoom and Gireida localities in South Darfur on Saturday.

Gadafi Adam Omar was killed and Mohamed Ali Yahya, Adam Yahya and Ismail Gallab were wounded. They were taken to Gireida hospital.

One of the survivors told Radio Dabanga that the incident occurred at Wadi Gargish and that the attack was carried out by four gunmen on motorcycles.

South Kordofan

Two separate armed robberies took place in Abu Jubeiha in South Kordofan in which two people were wounded on Saturday.

The first incident took place at the district of Lagawa north in which Ahmed Mizeigil was wounded in a shooting by gunmen who tried to steal from the house of Abdelrahman Saad.

The second incident took place in the northern district of Galaa in which gunmen tried to steal a motorcycle from a merchant a after a failed attempt to steal from his shop that ended with him being wounded. The gunmen fled.

The residents of the northern and eastern districts of Abu Jubeiha called on the authorities to provide security.

 

South Darfur human rights activist detained, beaten senseless

May 20 – 2018 GIREIDA

South Darfur human rights activist Adam Suleiman has been transferred to Gireida Hospital in a coma as a result of alleged torture and severe beating by the security services in the town.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the incident began at Abuja market for displaced people in Gireida on Thursday, with the arrival of a joint security force and the army in two vehicles.

The joint force immediately arrested Adam Suleiman from in the market. They beat him severely with rifle butts, which brought Suleiman to the ground.

He said that Suleiman was then transferred to the offices of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) where he was further beaten with electricity cables until he fell unconscious.

He said the security services transferred Adam in a coma to Gireida Hospital.

 

Displaced farmer killed in South Darfur attack

May 28 – 2018 GIREIDA

A resident of the Gireida camp for the displaced was killed and four others were wounded by militiamen in South Darfur on Sunday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of one of the victims reported that about 20 gunmen on horses attacked a group of displaced people from Gireida camp who were working on their farms near Ibdos village, 5 km west of Gireida, on Sunday morning

“They opened fire at the farmers. Ibrahim El Nur, aged 50, died instantly,” he said. “Abdelwahid Saboun, his son Saddam, Osman Ahmed, and Ahmediya Suleiman were injured, and were taken to the Hospital of Gireida.”

The incident was reported to the police in Gireida.

Militia attack on farmers leaves one dead in South Darfur

June 4 – 2018 GIREIDA

A displaced farmer was killed and three others were wounded in an attack by militiamen in Gireida in South Darfur on Saturday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a fellow farmer reported from Gireida told Radio Dabanga that a group of residents of the Gireida camp for the displaced went out on Saturday afternoon to clean their farmlands near Um Gubeisha village, 7 km northwest of Gireida town.

“About 20 militiamen on horses approached the group, and began to shoot at them. Hammadi Ahmed Eisa was killed instantly. Mubarak Ibrahim, Mohamed Abdallah, and Yousef Siddig were injured,” he said.

Ibrahim and Abdallah were transferred to the hospital of Gireida. Siddig who was seriously wounded, had to be taken to the Nyala Teaching Hospital.

Teacher murdered in South Darfur village attack

June 6 – 2018 GIREIDA

On Monday night, basic school teacher Yagoub Ibrahim was killed and two others went missing in a shooting by gunmen at Edeltigil village, 15 kilometres west of Gireida in South Darfur.

A relative of the deceased told Radio Dabanga that 10 militia members on horses opened fire on a number of displaced people of Gireida who returned to Edeltigil village for farming purposes.

Ibrahim died at the scene while Mohamed Siyam and Ali Adam were missing and were not found until Tuesday night.

He explained that the incident was reported at Gireida police station, which has not moved to track down the perpetrators.

 

RSF soldier slain, officer wounded in South Darfur capital shoot-out

June 6 – 2018 NYALA

A soldier of the main government Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia was killed and an officer was wounded in a clash with gunmen that played-out on the streets of Nyala, capital of South Darfur on Tuesday afternoon.

Sources in Nyala said that gunmen in a Land Cruiser tried to storm a military headquarters and entered into a clash with the RSF militia that ended with the death of a soldier and wounding of Lieutenant Ahmad Jamil.

A government source in Nyala said the security forces arrested the perpetrators after violent pursuits through the streets of Nyala.

On Monday, gunmen stormed the military area of Nyala, seized 12 Land Cruisers and fled to an unknown destination after the state government delayed the compensation of their owners.

9+ dead in South Darfur village market attack

June 6 – 2018 HIJEIR TONGO

At least nine formerly displaced people were killed and five others were wounded in a shooting by gunmen at the market of Hijeir Tongo, south of Nyala, capital of South Darfur on Monday evening.

One of the village sheikhs, Mubarak Ahmed, told Radio Dabanga that at about 9 pm on Monday five armed men on camels opened fire on formerly displaced people who had returned to Tongo village.

The dead include Abubaker Abdallah, Ibrahim El Sayer, Ahmad Tibin, Adam Zakariya, Yahya Jibril, Abdallah Abdelrahman , Abdelaziz Saleh, Abdallah Mousa and Fatniya Abakar. Fatouma Adam, Abdallah Adam, Mahmoud Abdallah, Maryam Zakariya, and Sadig Jadallah were wounded.

The village sheikh said that yesterday the governor came to the village and ordered the burial of the dead, while no one went out to track-down the perpetrators.

Voluntary return

Sheikh Ali El Tahir, the head of the sheikhs in the Darfur displaced camps, told Dabanga Radio that the government is unable to stop the war and protect the voluntary returnees despite its repeated calls for the displaced people to return voluntarily.

He explained that the weapons collection announced by the government is nothing but a plan to leave the arms in the hands of the militiamen that kill the displaced, pointing out that the victims of ​​ Hijeir Tongo are displaced people who have returned to their villages.

He stated that the crime of Hijeir Tongo was preceded by similar crimes by killing all the displaced who had returned to their villages from displaced people camps in the presence of Unamid and government forces.

El Tahir renewed his warning to the displaced not to return to their villages so as not to be killed in cold blood.

He called on the United Nations and the UN Security Council to act to protect the displaced, pressure the government to stop killing them and bring to justice those who have committed crimes against the displaced.

Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association

The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association holds the government and Unamid the responsibility for the attack on Hijeir Tongo village, which resulted in the killing of nine people and wounding five others.

The spokesman for the association Hussein Abusharati described the attack on Hijeir Tongo, and in May on the Khamsa Dagayig camp and the Aradeiba camp in Central Darfur, as planned and systematic crimes aimed at threatening and intimidating the displaced people from returning to their villages.

The association called on the government to track down the perpetrators, arrest them and bring them to justice to receive their punishment.

It also called on the international and the regional community, the Security Council and human rights organisations to stand for the displaced people of Darfur and pressure to protect them.

Sudan Tribune

Tribal militiamen kill two villagers in South Darfur

June 7, 2018 (NYALA) – Two people were killed Thursday in a new attack carried out by tribal militiamen on the village of Eidan for the voluntary return of Greda locality, 75 km south of the Nyala, capital of South Darfur. Eyewitnesses from the area told Sudan Tribune that an armed group of the Falata tribe infiltrated Eidan village, 11 kilometres from the premises of Greda municipality, and assassinated the village leader Ali Zakaria before to flee.

The victim’s relatives launched a hot pursuit to arrest the perpetrators but were ambushed by the gunmen who killed two people and wounding seven. A security source in Greda told Sudan Tribune that the conflict was due to the refusal of militias belonging to the Fallata tribe to the return the displaced to their villages.

He pointed out that the local security services are suffering from a lack of vehicles and logistics, adding that the local security committee has submitted reports to the South Darfur state security committee, including all the needs, without any response. There were more than seven attacks on villages of voluntary return in South Darfur state during the past two months. Officials fear that the surge of attacks may negatively affect the desire of the displaced to leave the camps of displacement. In a separate incident, two shepherds were killed by other gunmen in relation with the events of Eidan village.

Three men killed in Gireida, South Darfur

June 8 – 2018 GIREIDA

Three men were shot dead in two separate incidents in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Thursday. One of the incidents took place in a village for voluntary returnees.

In Idan village, in Gireida locality, Zakariya Angoika was shot dead and Adam Mousa was wounded in an attack by militiamen on Thursday morning.

A listener in the village told Radio Dabanga that about ten militiamen, riding horses, “opened fire on the village. Displaced people had returned from camps in Gireida to go farming the land in the area about a month ago.”

The shooting caused the death of Angoika. The rest of the people fled Idan, the listener said. “We don’t know where three of our people are.”

He added that the attack was reported to the Gireida police. Multiple attacks on farmers or displaced people have taken place in the locality in the past weeks.

Voluntary return is one of the options which the Sudanese government gives to the people in Darfur who have been displaced by the armed conflict that erupted in 2003. Khartoum plans to transform the camps into residential areas, or integrate them into existing towns.

Shooting

Also on Thursday, an attack by gunmen killed Mohamed Ahmed Bangouz and Ali Bashir near Rizeig, 10 km west of Gireida. The gunmen attacked a group of people, wounding eight others.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that all dead and wounded people were coming from a site for displaced people near a base of the UN-AU peacekeeping force (Unamid) and had gone out to track-down stolen goats.

The witness said that the rescue team were attacked by gunmen. Community leader Ahmed Eisa, Sheikheldin Adam, Adam Yagoub, Ajim Abdelrahim, Amer Ibrahim, Haroun Hasan, Adam Asag, and Adam Suleiman were wounded. Two others, Adam Mousa and Yagoub Gamar, went missing.

Two more dead in attack on search posse in South Darfur’s Gireida

June 10 – 2018 GIREIDA

The number of people who were killed in an attack by militiamen near Rizeig, west of Gireida in South Darfur has risen to four.

On Thursday, a number of gunmen intercepted a team of displaced people who were searching for stolen goats in the area of Rizeig, 10 kilometres west of Gireida.

They began shooting at the team members, killing two of them instantly. Eight others were wounded. Two others, Adam Mousa (18) and Yagoub Gamar (17), went missing.

The displaced people came from a site set up close to a Unamid base near Gireida.

Another resident of the site told Radio Dabanga on Friday that they formed a team early that morning to search for the missing men. They found the bodies of Mousa and Gamar not far from the scene of the incident.

Clash between displaced farmers, villagers in South Darfur leaves 17 injured

June 18 – 2018 DESHISHA

At least 17 people were injured in a clash that erupted between displaced farmers and residents of Deshisha village in South Darfur on Saturday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an eyewitness reported from Deshisha in eastern Bielel locality that the farmers came from Kalma camp for the displaced

“They intended to cultivate the land they left when they had to flee,” he explained. “Yet a group of villagers did not like this, and went out to chase them from the farms on Saturday morning.

“A huge fight broke out, in which they attacked each other with knives and other white arms. More than 17 people were injured. Some of them seriously. They had to be taken to the Nyala Teaching Hospital for treatment.”

Police forces, under the supervision of the locality commissioner, intervened. They separated the two parties and restored calm to the area.

‘Brotherhood, love and unity’

The governor of South Darfur, Adam El Faki, announced a conference to be held in the state capital of Nyala “for all the people of the state”.

The conference is meant to reach peaceful coexistence between the various communities in the state. “We seek tribal reconciliation, social peace, brotherhood, love, and unity,” he told reporters in Nyala on Saturday. “We must overcome the past and take the state forward.”

Darfuri arrested for unknown reasons in South Darfur

June 22 – 2018 KASS 

Sudanese Military Intelligence members beat and arrested a man in Kass locality, South Darfur, on Tuesday, for unknown reasons.

Ibrahim Zakariya Abdelkarim, 35 years old, was arrested in his house in Gummeiza village, 15 km north of Kass in the evening. A member of Ibrahim’s family told Radio Dabanga that a group of MI personnel came to the house in two Land Cruisers on Tuesday.

“The group stormed Ibrahim’s house and beat him, before throwing him in the back of one of their vehicles. They then left for the military garrison.”

The family member expressed his deep concerns for the health of Ibrahim, fearing that he might be subjected to unfair treatment or torture in the detention of the MI. He called for his immediate release and clarity about the reasons of the arrest.

Farmer killed, other wounded in South Darfur attack

June 25 – 2018 GIREIDA

Gunmen shot dead a farmer and wounded another in South Darfur on Saturday.

A relative of the deceased told Radio Dabanga that a group of five gunmen stormed the farm of Ahmed Ali in the area of El Sunta, 5 km west of Gireida on Saturday afternoon.

“They began to shoot at Ahmed and his co-worker Dafallah Adam. Ahmed was killed instantly, and Dafallah was seriously injured,” he said.

The incident was reported to the police of El Sunta.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

South Darfur woman shot, man abducted

June 27 – 2018 KASS

A displaced woman of Korli camp south of Kass in South Darfur was shot dead by unknown gunmen, while in a separate incident, a displaced man was abducted.

A number of witnesses told Radio Dabanga that at 1:00 am on Monday three armed men wearing military uniforms raided the home of Fatima Abakar at Korli camp, shot her dead on the spot and beat a number of displaced people.

On Tuesday, a military force on a Land Cruiser raided the area of Jamira, north of Kass in search of men accused of collaborating with the armed movements, detained Ibrahim Zakariya Ibrahim from his house and took him to the military garrison in Kass.

Witnesses said the military intelligence denied the family of Ibrahim a visit and expressed concern he might be subjected to torture or ill treatment.

They appealed to humanitarian and human rights organisations to intervene to release him.

Police beating

On Tuesday, police severely beat and injured three youths at Tabit area in Tawila, North Darfur.

One of the victims’ relatives told Radio Dabanga that Tabit police telephoned Ayoub Mohamed, 28, Yousef Ishag, 29, and Adam Yahya to appear before the police station.

The witnesses said that the three were immediately imprisoned and then beaten with sticks and whips, causing them injuries and were transferred to El Fasher Teaching Hospital.

Witnesses explained that they did not know the reasons and motives for imprisoning and beating the three youths.

 

South Darfur sheikh, farmers held by RSF militia

July 5 – 2018 KASS

On Tuesday, militiamen of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detained four farmers from Yama area in Kass locality in South Darfur, and the sheikh of Yama, and took them to Zalingei.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that an RSF force in seven vehicles mounted with Dushka machineguns came from west Jebel Marra on their way to Zalingei and held Sheikh Ismail Taha Arbab (65) at Yama market, and farmers Abdelnur and Mohamed Haroun, Suleiman Ishag, and Adam Musa on their way to their farms.

Meanwhile, El Shafee Abdallah, the coordinator of the Central Darfur camps for the displaced said that RSF members arrested three people on the road linking Fuju with Turr in southern Jebel Marra in Central Darfur on Monday.

He told Radio Dabanga that the detainees were Hassan Suleiman (65), Yagoub Abdeljalil (30), and Adam Ishag (28), who fled from Fuju village after being attacked by government forces.

He called on Unamid and the international humanitarian organisations to intervene to them by pressuring on the government to release them, lift the siege on their areas and allow them access to the camps.

In South Darfur, Haysam Zakariya, a student at Khartoum University’s Faculty of Medicine, was shot dead and Bosh Abakar and his wife were wounded by government forces in Kass on Friday.

Sudan Tribune

5 people killed in fire exchange in South Darfur

July 6, 2018 (KHARTOUM/NYALA) Five people have been killed in an intermittent fire exchange on Thursday and Friday between gunmen and residents of Sarfaya area, Ed el-Firsan locality in South Darfur State. A native leader from Bani Halba tribe, Abdel-Rahman Mohamed Hemaidan told Sudan Tribune that five gunmen on camelback on Thursday opened fire at Sarfaya local market for no reason.

He pointed out that some youth engaged in verbal altercation with the gunmen leading to the killing of two Sarfaya residents. Hemaidan added the gunmen fled Sarfaya, saying the residents hunted them down and clashed with them on Friday morning at Halayeb area. He said three of the gunmen were killed and one has been captured and handed over to the police in Abu Ajora area, Al-Salam locality as the fifth gunman managed to flee. According to Hemaidan, hundreds of Sarfaya residents have gathered to protest against the incident.

Two people killed in attacks in South Darfur

July 6 – 2018 NYALA / KASS 

Two people were killed in separate incidents in South Darfur on Wednesday.

Gunmen shot dead 45-year-old Abdallah Saleh near Umadrasaya village, east of Nyala. Saleh Eisa, the secretary-general of the Kalma camp for displaced people near Nyala, informed Radio Dabanga about the incident.

Abdallah Saleh was returning from the market to his village when gunmen appeared and shot him dead. People have reported the incident to the police in Bielel.

The second incident took place at Marai Jangei in Kass locality. Unidentified gunmen shot and killed El Hadi Adam while he was driving a motorcycle. He was killed instantly, a source in the area reported to this station.

Jebel Marra fighting swells South Darfur camps with new displaced

July 8 – 2018 MERSHING

Dozens of families have reportedly arrived at Mershing camps in South Darfur because of fighting between government forces and armed movements in Jebel Marra.

One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the number of families who arrived in the camp since the month of Ramadan in May until last Sunday reached 450 families, most of them fled from the areas of Rabkona, Sawani, Gena and Libei.

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, clashes between armed opposition forces and Sudanese paramilitary forces continued in south-west Jebel Marra on Thursday morning.

The clashes took place in Fundug Badiya, between Baldong and Golol, in Central Darfur’s Nierteti locality. A spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid El Nur claimed that the rebels managed to kill 45 members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A rebel fighter was killed.

Spokesman Waleed Mohamed Abakar added that they have seized various weapons and ammunition while one of the movement’s soldiers was killed.

“The militias burned the Owa Ateem Quran School at night and attacked civilians during their retreat from the area,” Abakar claimed.

Many civilians have taken to the mountains of Jebel Marra to find refuge in caves.

 

Woman killed, omda injured in South Darfur

July 13 – 2018 NYALA

A woman was shot dead as her husband, a local omda, was seriously wounded in a shooting by unknown gunmen near the South Darfur capital on Wednesday night.

The wife of Jibril Ahmed, Omda of Digris, died on the spot during the assault in their house in Digris, 15 km west of Nyala.

Omda Ahmed is a native administrator. He and his wife had been displaced for years and recently returned to their home area Digris with a number of displaced people from Kalma camp, as part of the voluntary repatriation.

His son Ahmed Jibril told Radio Dabanga that Ahmed was shot in the chest and the thigh and has been taken to Nyala Hospital. He did not know the motive for the attack.

Voluntary return

In the past months, the government repeated announcements in the media that villages in Darfur are safe, urging displaced people to move from their camps home. Voluntary return is one of the options which the Sudanese government gives to the people in Darfur who have been displaced by the armed conflict that erupted in 2003. Khartoum plans to transform the camps into residential areas, or integrate them into existing towns.

Leading Sheikh of the camps for displaced people in Darfur, Ali Abdelrahman, called on all refugees and displaced people to not return voluntarily to their villages of origin “in order to preserve their lives and property from the so-called new settlers”.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, the sheikh pointed to a number of deadly attacks on voluntary returnees in various areas of Darfur by armed people who have settled in these areas.

At least nine people have been killed since the start of the current agricultural season in Gireida in South Darfur, all of whom have been voluntary returnees to their villages this rainy season, this station reported in June.

“The authorities are asking the displaced to return without providing security in these villages, while they learn that settlers are present there,” said Abdelrahman.

(Report also in Central and West Darfur)

Omda dies of wounds, farmer killed in Darfur

July 20 – 2018 NYALA / NIERTETI / EL GENEINA

The omda of Digris in Nyala locality has died of his wounds in the hospital on Wednesday. He and his wife were fatally shot in their house on Wednesday July 11.

Omda Jibril Ahmed Ali Muhajir succumbed to the wounds in his chest and thigh in Nyala hospital. Gunmen had attacked the couple a week before. Aisha Mohamed Adam was killed on the spot and Jibril Ahmed taken to hospital in a serious condition.

They had recently returned from Kalma camp for displaced people to their home area, as part of the government’s voluntary return programme.

Omda Jibril Ahmed Ali Muhajir of Digris village in Nyala hospital (RD

At least nine people have been killed since the start of the current agricultural season in Gireida in South Darfur, all of whom have been voluntary returnees to their villages this rainy season, this station reported in June.

Farmer killed

Militiamen shot dead a 45-year-old man north of Tur in Nierteti, Central Darfur, on Wednesday. The incident took place in Kalu, north of Tur.

Family members of Siddig Osman told radio Dabanga that he was on his way back from his farm to the camps in Tur when “members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces” shot him.

Disarmament

The government in West Darfur has announced “a comprehensive plan to collect illegally possessed weapons and prevent unlicensed vehicles”.

Deputy Governor Mohamed Sharafeldin confirmed that “no unlicensed vehicle will be allowed to move and roam within the state’s geographical boundaries” in El Geneina on Wednesday. He said that the compulsory disarmament campaign was the result of a number of owners who have not adhered to the call to voluntarily hand in their arms or unlicensed vehicles.

The state authorities raided Warah village for this reason on Wednesday, seizing weapons, ammunition, military uniforms and six four-wheel drive vehicles.

Sudan Tribune

South Darfur tightens security around voluntary return villages
July 22, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – South Darfur government has tightened security measures around voluntary return villages following the killing of the leader of Digrais village, 25 kilometres south of the capital, Nyala. On 12 July, three masked gunmen killed the leader of Digrais village Gibril Ahmed Ali and his wife and injured two of his sons at their home.

The government of South Darfur on Sunday said it has arrested four suspects in the killing of Ali and his wife, stressing the incident wasn’t driven by any tribal or political reasons. In press statements on Sunday, Darfur Commissioner for Voluntary Return, Taj al-din Ibrahim al-Tahir said authorities have deployed large troops at voluntary return areas particularly Digrais to protect the returnees and enable them to carry on their ordinary life. He stressed the governor of South Darfur and the security committee have exerted every possible effort to capture the perpetrators, saying four suspects have been arrested.

Al-Tahir added his commission and the security committee would continue to protect the returnees and secure their stay in their villages instead of the IDPs camps. For several years, the government sought to dismantle IDPs camps that have been established in areas around the capitals of Darfur’s five states after the eruption of the armed conflict in the region.

Activist detained in South Darfur

July 22 – 2018 BURAM

Security officers held an anti-gold mining activist in Buram in South Darfur on Thursday. They also summoned four community leaders to their offices.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained civil society leader Ammar Jibril from his home in Buram town on Thursday morning.

He explained that Jibril is well-known in the area because of his opposition against the security hazards of gold mining in the area.

The security apparatus as well summoned four leaders on Thursday, “on charges of irregularities happening in the gold mines in El Radoom”.

The source said that Sheikh Ibrahim Juma, Hammad Dowa, Mohamed El Tijani, and Hasan Osman spent four hours at the NISS offices in Buram on Thursday. “They were instructed to return to the offices on Friday.”

Health hazards

Traditional gold miners in Sudan still use the highly toxic cyanide and mercury for extracting gold from ore. Large-scale mining operations make use of safer alternatives.

Mercury, causing damage to the nervous system at even relatively low levels of exposure, can contaminate the atmosphere and water at a very long distance. Cyanide that prevents the cells of the body from using oxygen, can enter water, soil, or air.

Protests against gold extraction plants in several parts of Sudan increased over recent years. In particular in 2017, people took to the streets in Northern State, North Kordofan, and North Darfur in fear for their health.

Exports

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the southern Sudanese rebel movement led by the late John Garang in January 2005, Khartoum began to prepare for a possible secession of the south. As a secession would include the loss of about two thirds of its oil income, the government opted for the development of gold mining to compensate the losses.

In 2014, Sudan had become Africa’s third largest gold producer, with more than $1 billion from gold exports. According to the US Enough Project, the majority of Sudanese gold is conflict-affected and entails “a high risk for money laundering”.

(Report also in Central and East Darfur)

Shelling, crime leave four dead in Darfur

July 24 – 2018 KASS / EL RADOOM / BURAM / YASSIN

Separate incidents in Darfur have led to the death of four people, including two women, a policeman and a farmer.

A blast bomb in southern Jebel Marra caused the death of two women and six livestock on Sunday night. A sheikh from Gouku informed Radio Dabanga that Sudanese military troops stationed at Gog, north of Kass, shelled several areas that night, killing Darelsalam Hamid (22) and Hawa Younis (72) on the spot.

The sheikh explained that this forced residents to escape the attack. Fighting between the Sudanese army and allied militias against the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) sparked again starting March this year. The government attempts to eliminate the last strongholds of the only remaining rebel group in the region.

Farmers

In East Jebel Marra, 35-year-old Adam Haroun Yagoub was seriously wounded while trying to drive cattle off his farm. Farmers in the states North, South and West Darfur have complained about herders who let their cattle graze on the farmlands by force of arms. The fields are now in process of germination, a farmer in Darfur told Radio Dabanga.

He said that they have filed several reports about incidents with herders to police stations. These have not moved quickly to stop the attacks of the herders, the farmer added.

In South Darfur, herders shot dead farmer Adam Babikir at his farm near Abujou village, El Radoom locality, on Monday morning. The incident was reported to the police.

Policeman killed

Policeman Idris Hamdan was shot dead by gunmen in Buram, South Darfur on Sunday. Three others were wounded, including an officer. Their police force was hunting down robbers who stole cattle at Marfeina area in Buram locality.

Explosion

Two herders sustained injuries in a grenade explosion at Muhajiry in Yassin locality, East Darfur. The grenade reportedly exploded when the herdsmen set fire to a tree in an attempt to kill a huge snake hiding there.

Years of conflict have left Darfur and other war-torn areas of Sudan littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO). Radio Dabanga appeals to listeners throughout the region (and elsewhere in our reception area) not to touch any ‘unexploded’ grenades or other ammunition found in the field. Mark its position clearly to alert others, and report it immediately to a camp elder, Unamid and/or the local police.

 

Four dead in attack on South Darfur village

July 29 – 2018 EAST JEBEL MARRA

Four people, including a child, were killed in a militia raid on the village of Kibe in South Sudan’s East Jebel Marra locality on Friday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, fleeing villagers reported that a group of militiamen riding vehicles mounted with machine guns, and others on camels and horses stormed Kibe on Friday morning.

“They shot around them, killing Abdallah Ageed (70), Esam Abdelrahman (45), Adam Abboud (27), aged 27, and Mohamed Assam (7) instantly,” a villager said. “Halima Mohamed was wounded.”

After the attackers took dozens of cows, horses, sheep, and goats, they set fire to the houses and fled.

The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association based in South Darfur’s Kalma camp has strongly condemned the incident and is holding the authorities responsible.

The Association’s spokesman, Hussein Abusharati, demanded the perpetrators be arrested and brought to justice.

A week ago, a man was killed in a similar raid on a village in North Darfur’s Tawila locality.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General for Field Support visited South Darfur last week. He confirmed that the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) will complete its exit in June 2020.

Five RSF fighters slain as internal clashes spread to South Darfur hospital

August 2 – 2018 DOMAYA / NYALA

Five members of the Rapid Support Forces militia have died as a result of internal clashed withing the main government militia.

Clashes that broke out between RSF members at Domaya base on Saturday that resulted in killing of four, including an officer.

Abdallah Khayora was wounded and transferred to Nyala Hospital where allegedly, a fellow RSF member assigned to guard him shot him dead on Wednesday morning.

Residents in Nyala described the situation as very tense following the elimination of the wounded militiaman inside the hospital.

According to witnesses in Nyala, the authorities have raised their preparations and deployed a joint force in the strategic sites, the entrances and on the roads of the city as a pre-emptive step in anticipation of any developments.

Deadly shooting in Gireida, South Darfur

August 20 – 2018 GIREIDA

A 35-year-old displaced man, Salah Juma was shot dead in Gireida in South Darfur on Saturday.

A relative told Radio Dabanga from Gireida that at 10 am on Saturday an unknown person opened fire on Salah near Abuja police station. He was on his way to camp Um Halab. The victim was killed instantly.

A murder docket has been opened by Gireida police, however the motive for the shooting is still unknown and no suspects have been identified.

 

Four dead, South Darfur village torched in pre-Eid raid

August 27 – 2018 MERSHING

Four people were killed and others were injured in an attack by gunmen on Guba village in Eastern Jebel Marra, who reportedly also stole property and cattle before burning the village.

One of the women whose husband was killed in the attack told Radio Dabanga that gunmen driving two vehicles and others on camels and horses attacked the village before Eid El Adha and killed Adam Suleiman Ahmed, Musa Omar Ahmed, Mukhtar Arja Rajab, and Dowelbait Ali Mohamed.

The stole money, property, and livestock, while the villagers were forcibly displaced to Mershing camp in South Darfur.

180 families

More than 180 families who have been displaced from Eastern Jebel Marra because of attacks by herders have reached camp Mershing.

One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the families, consisting of about 500 people, mostly children and women, arrived in batches at the camp three weeks ago.

Those fleeing reported that they had been attacked by herders and appealed to the authorities and organisations to provide them with assistance.

South Darfur sheikh slain in armed robbery

September 3 – 2018 MERSHING / NYALA

A South Darfur sheikh has been killed and four other people wounded in an armed robbery at the weekend.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a commercial vehicle on its way from Mershing to Rabkona. Sheikh Abbas Nasr died in the gunfire, and four others were injured.

They said the gunmen robbed the passengers of their property and goods of the passengers. The perpetrators then took four passengers with them as hostages. They beat them, and then released them after four hours of torture.

Otash camp

In two separate incidents, two displaced women from Otash camp in Nyala were stabbed by militants.

One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that gunmen attacked a house at Block 7 for robbery, where one of them stabbed a 17-year-old girl.

Another woman was subjected to three stab wounds by unknown gunmen at block 6.

The Sheikh has complained of nightly robberies and thefts at gunpoint.

(Report also in North Darfur)

Darfur violence: Man killed, farmers wounded

September 4 – 2018 EL RADOOM / TABIT

In several violent incidents on Sunday, a man was killed in South Darfur, while five displaced people were attacked and injured in Tabit, North Darfur.

Butcher Adam Mohamed Farsha was shot dead in El Radoom locality in South Darfur by unknown gunmen. One of the relatives of Farsha told Radio Dabanga that unknown gunmen opened fire on the butcher when he was in the way from Wedhajam market to Shurrab village.

The attackers instantly killed him, seized SDG2000 ($71*) from him and fled.

In Tabit in North Darfur, armed herders opened fire and seriously wounded five people at Kurfla area, 5 km west of Tabit. A family member of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga yesterday that eight herders on camels opened fire on a group of displaced people who returned to Kurfla for farming.

The gunmen wounded Omar Abdallah, Ahmed Omar Abdallah, Mohamed Ishag Hamid, Suleiman Haroun Yahya and Aisha Musa Omar who all were transferred to El Fasher for treatment.

On August 7 herders attacked a group of farmers south of Tabit when they tried to drive away the herders’ livestock, upon which they opened fire. This resulted in the killing of a woman.

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

 

Sudan Tribune

Darfur group says another POW died after denial of medical treatment

September 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement Transitional-Council (SLM-TC) Wednesday announced the death of one of its jailed fighters in prison, accusing the Sudanese authorities of refusing him medical care. “Yacoub Mohamed Hassan Deldoum died on Wednesday, the fifth of September 2018 as a result of the denial of treatment and health services by the Sudanese security services,” said the SLM-TC spokesperson Nour al-Din Koki in a statement to Sudan Tribune. The statement didn’t provide details about the illness of the dead prisoner but said the Deldoum’s death comes within a “government plan to liquidate the prisoners of war,” pointing to the death of four of his comrades in prison.

Daldoum is the fifth SLM-TC fighter to die in prison.

The Sudan Tribune learned that Deldoum was captured on 22 May 2017 in Jabal Adola in South Darfur and was taken directly to the Khartoum Military Prison. On 20 November 2017, he was transferred with others to Huda Prison in Omdurman. Following the deterioration of his health condition a week ago, he was taken to the Police Hospital in Khartoum, but he died at 02:00 am on Wednesday.

South Darfur school teacher killed trying to prevent rape

September 9 – 2018 MERSHING

A secondary school teacher was shot dead in South Darfur’s Mershing locality on Thursday. Six suspects have been detained.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an eyewitness reported that a group of gunmen stormed a farm in the area of Jeref in Mershing.

“Three of them wanted to rape a number of young women who were working on the farm,” he said. “When the women called for help, teacher Mohamed El Zein rushed to save them. The attackers immediately killed him with three shots.”

The Commissioner of Mershing locality El Sadig Khamis reported on Friday that six gunmen have been detained.

South Darfur to collect illegal arms ‘by force’

September 12 – 2018 NYALA

The governor of South Darfur has called on the people living in the state to report the possession of illegally acquired weapons.

“Many outlaws have hidden their arms. I therefore now call on everyone in the region to report the hiding places,” Governor Adam El Faki said at the conclusion of a conference on peaceful coexistence for the South Darfur localities of El Wehda, Mershing, Niteaga, East Jebel Marra and the North Darfur localities of Dar El Salam and Tawila.

The governor announced a new campaign in which illegal weapons will be collected by force. “No one is stronger than the government. We will capture all pig-heads and send them to the prison of Port Sudan,” he said.

The participants of the conference recommended the “activation of preventive security mechanisms, tightening the coordination between the security committees of the neighbouring localities, and the establishment of more judicial organs in the region”.

In July 2017, the Sudanese government announced a large disarmament campaign in the country, to begin with in Darfur and Kordofan. As the measure did not achive the desired aim, Second Vice-President, Hasabo Abdelrahman, announced the re-enforcement of illegal arms collection in Darfur in May this year.

In August, President Omar Al Bashir again pointed to the problem of the proliferation of arms in the country and ordered Sudanese judges to “apply the law and cut off limbs and necks of anyone who refuses to hand over his illegal weapon”.

 

Farmers, firewood collectors attacked in South Darfur

September 18 – 2018 GOBO / MERSHING

Militiamen shot and abducted two farmers in southern Jebel Marra on Sunday. Three firewood abductors in Mershing were attacked and robbed of their carts.

An eyewitness reported that militiamen in four vehicles arrived at farmlands in Gobo and attacked Abdelmahmoud Saleh (35 years) and Yahya Haroun (45) while they were tilling their farm.

They shot Yahya in both legs and beat Abdelmahmoud with their rifle butts, the witness said. Then the perpetrators took them up in one of the vehicles by force of arms and drove off.

The witness expressed concern that the victims might be tortured or killed.

Abduction

Also on Sunday, a number of herders held three displaced people from Selo camp in Mershing area, and demanded SDG 15,000 for the release of their possessions.

One of the sheikhs in the South Darfur camp told Radio Dabanga that a number of herders seized the three camp residents when they were west of the camp collecting firewood. “The three victims were released on Monday, but the herders demand SDG15,000 for their carts.”

Disputes between herders and farmers occur more often this time of year, as herders let their cattle graze on farmlands that have not yet been harvested, causing friction between the groups. Tensions over land and pastures have often caused clashes between farmers in the region of Jebel Marra and militant herders who want to use their farms as pasture. This has also been the case for returning displaced people looking to farm in their area of origin.

(Report also in North and Central Darfur)

Darfur: Farmers attacked, displaced men arrested

September 21 – 2018 DAR EL SALAM / NIERTETI / NYALA

Two farmers were attacked in North Darfur on Wednesday. In Central Darfur, three camp residents were arrested on Monday.

Farmers Adam Mahmoud Ibrahim and Um Kalthoum Yahya Omar were farming in Arashu, in Dar El Salam locality, when gunmen trespassed the farms. One of their relatives said that the four gunmen were herders.

“The herders let their cattle and camels graze on the farms. When the farmers objected, they beat them with sticks and caused them injuries.”

The victims have been taken to Shangil Tobaya for treatment.

On Monday, members of the military intelligence arrested three displaced people from Tur camp in Nierteti locality in Central Darfur, and took them to an unknown destination.

Eye-witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the military intelligence stormed the house of Yahya Abulgasim, Abdelrazig Abdelrahman and Muzamil Osman and took them to an unknown destination in their vehicle.

Relatives of the three detainees inquired about their family members at the military garrison of Tur, as well as the station of the Central Reserve Forces. “They denied that the detainees were being held there.”

Kalma camp

On Thursday, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly stormed Kalma camp in Nyala locality, which sparked panic among the displaced. They drove into the camp with a vehicle.

The spokesman for Association of Displaced People and Refugees in Darfur, Hussein Abu Sharati, said that the incident coincided with a meeting on the commemoration of martyrs of deadly events in Kalma.

 

South Darfur man held by Military Intelligence

September 26 – 2018 KASS

Members of the Military Intelligence (MI) detained a man in South Darfur’s Kass on Monday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of the detainee reported that agents of the military intelligence force stationed at the northern gate of Kass held Sharif Ibrahim (35) on Monday morning.

He said that Ibrahim, resident of the Kass market district of Kass, had just returned from Gumeiza village when the MI agents seized him and took him to their offices in Kass.

The relative expressed his family’s concern that Ibrahim may be ill-treated and tortured, and appealed to human rights organisations to intervene for his safety.

13 dead or injured in South Darfur highway robberies

September 27 – 2018 GIREIDA / TULLUS

Two separate attacks by gunmen on four commercial vehicles south of Gireida in South Darfur on Tuesday have left at least 13 people, including a policeman, dead or injured.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that about 20 armed men on camels opened fire on three commercial vehicles which were heading towards Gireida. The passengers had been shopping at Abshi market

Ismael Abdallah Abu Ezzo was killed on the spot and 10 others were wounded. Callers reported that three of them are in serious condition, and have been transferred to hospital in the state capital of Nyala.

Witnesses said that the gunmen forced the passengers from the vehicles and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint. The attackers then beat them with rifle butts and whips, robbed them of the money and mobile phones in their possession, loaded the goods into the three vehicles and onto their camels and fled.

In a similar armed highway robbery in Tullus, gunmen opened fire on a commercial vehicle at the Hashaba area while it was returning from Serageila market to Gireida after shopping.

Khlas Ibrahim and Mohamed Adam Ali were injured and taken to Gireida hospital for treatment.

The incidents have been reported to the police but no suspects have been apprehended thus far.

Man and neighbour killed in South Darfur capital

October 2 – 2018 NYALA

A man and his neighbour were killed by a burglar in Nyala last weekend.

An unidentified gunman climbed over the wall of the house of Abakar Adam, a witness told Radio Dabanga. When Abakar confronted him, the robber opened fire and killed him instantly.

When one of Abakar’s neighbours came to his aid, the gunman killed him on the spot.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Farmer shot, highway robbery in Darfur

October 8 – 2018 DARFUR

A farmer has been killed by herders and gunmen have robbed the passengers of a commercial vehicle in Darfur.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga the three herders drove their livestock onto the farm of Eisa Mohamed at Donki Abyad area in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Saturday. When the farmer attempted to drive the animals off his land, the herders shot him dead.

Highway robbery

The passengers of a commercial vehicle were robbed on the Tawila-Korma road in North Darfur.

Omda Mukhtar Bosh told Radio Dabanga that gunmen in a Land Cruiser forced a commercial vehicle on its way from Korma to Tawila to stop, forced the passengers to get out, and seized an amount of SDG 150,000 ($5,330*) from them, this along with the mobile phones and the property they in their possession.

Ban on edged weapons

The authorities of El Geneina in West Darfur issued a decision prohibiting the carrying and possession of edged weapons. Violators will be subject to a fine of not more than SDG 2,000 ($70) or imprisonment for up to a month, as well as the confiscation of the weapons.

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (C

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Two killed, five injured in Darfur shootings

October 17 – 2018 GIREIDA / TAWILA

Two people were killed and four others were wounded in a road robbery in Gireida in South Darfur on Monday. Herders shot a farmer in North Darfur’s Tawila.

Eyewitnesses reported to Radio Dabanga that ten gunmen riding on camels opened fire on a commercial vehicle en route from Sirgeila to Gireida on Monday evening.

“Eisa Adam and Ahmed Mohamed were fatally hit. Abdallah Ibrahim, Awadallah Abdelkarim, El Sayer Yahya, and Omar Ibrahim were wounded,” one of them said.

“The robbers seized the money and property from the passengers, loaded the goods on their camels, and fled.”

In the area of Susawa, north of Tabit, Mahjoub Hari was seriously wounded when he attempted to chase livestock from his farm.

“Two herders entered their camels and cows into his farm. When he tried to get rid of the animals, the intruders shot him,” another farmer reported.

He said that a police force seized the herds and took them to Tawila. The herders fled.

Christians detained in South Darfur

October 21 – 2018 NYALA / OMDURMAN

Agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) held 13 Christians from a home they share in Nyala on October 13. Police in Omdurman, the twin-city of Khartoum, have ordered a church to hand-over its property.

The reason for the detention of the Christians in the South Darfur capital is unclear, World Watch Monitor (WWM) reported on Wednesday. A local source told the Christian watchdog that three of the detainees were later released, without an explanation.

Sudanese laws allow NISS to hold people in detention for up to four and a half months before they have to either charge or release them.

Meanwhile, a church belonging to the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCoC) in Omdurman has been instructed to hand-over its property to a state-appointed committee.

The Omdurman police summoned the church’s leader on October 8, and ordered the congregation to vacate their compound, World Watch Monitor reported. The president of SCOC, Ayouba Telyan, was also summoned.

The government and the SCoC have been in a long-standing dispute over ownership of the denomination’s properties, after the Ministry of Religious Affairs established a rival Land and Buildings Committee and charged it with the administration of SCOC’s property.

According to WWM, the SCOC represents about 220,000 of Sudan’s one million Christians. The majority of the congregates come originally from the Nuba Mountains.

The summons comes two weeks after the government lost a court case against the SCoC and 19 church buildings were returned to the church.

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is sanctioned by the Sudanese Constitution. However, the Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in the country. He pointed to the return of many South Sudanese Christian refugees to their country, after the secession of the south in July 2011.

Since that time, reports concerning discrimination and persecution of Christians, demolition of church buildings and schools increased.

In September 2014, a clergyman told Radio Dabanga that the Sudanese Council of Churches did receive many complaints about discrimination of Christians. “They are systematically obstructed to visit their churches.”

In an article in October 2017, John Prendergast and Ian Schwab of the Enough Project highlighted a pattern of persecution of religious minorities throughout the country.

In July 2017, the Ministry of Education instructed Christian schools in the country to observe the weekend on Friday and Saturday, and operate schools on Sunday. A number of church buildings were confiscated and demolished, and at least eight church leaders were detained that year. In February 2018, riot police demolished the Evangelical Church in El Haj Yousif district in Khartoum North because “the church plot had been sold”.

Two die in South Darfur shootings

October 22 – 2018 MERSHING

A market trader and a school teacher have died in two separate shootings in Mershing locality in South Darfur on Saturday.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that Abdelhamid Saleh, a trader at El Dumma market, was shot dead after a heated discussion with three men. Saleh died instantly and the perpetrators fled the scene.

The incident was reported to police but no arrests have yet been made.

Teacher slain

Also in Mershing locality, a teacher has died defending two schoolgirls on their farm.

Callers told Radio Dabanga that the teacher at the Jurof secondary school was gunned-down during an attempt to stop men intent on attacking two of his pupils as they tended their farm. The perpetrators fled the scene after the murder.

Sheikh (60) among dead in South Darfur livestock raid

October 29 – 2018 EAST JEBEL MARRA

Two people were shot dead and two others were wounded in an attack by militiamen riding camels and horses at Dandi area near Rakuna in East Jebel Marra locality in South Darfur on Friday morning. Intervention by combatants of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) netted five suspects.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen men attacked at 5 am on Sunday with the intention to steal livestock.

They said the attack resulted in the death of Sheikh Abakar Wawa (60) and Abdelshafi Ismail (27). Abdo Keen (40), and Foka Abakar (25)were wounded.

Callers said that the militia attack on the civilians prompted the intervention of SLM forces stationed nearby who reportedly killed or captured at least five of the attackers. The remaining gunmen fled toward Jabra near El Malam.

Seven women, girls raped, beaten in South Darfur ordeal

October 31 – 2018 KASS

Seven women and girls were raped and 12 others were injured, during a two-hour ordeal by armed men in Kombo Aliba north of Kass in South Darfur on Thursday.

One of the rape victims told Radio Dabanga that an armed group of herders attacked them at around 11 pm on Thursday, beat them with machetes and rifle butts, before raping seven women and girls, including a 14-year-old. She told Radio Dabanga that the rape and beatings lasted for two hours. The injuries range between a head fracture and fractures in the hands and legs with seven of the women in serious condition.

Robbed

She added that the militants robbed them of their money and belongings, including cash, mobile phones, foodstuffs, household utensils, blankets and sheets.

She said that a Unamid force stationed in Jumeiza area, accompanied by the Omda of the area, Hashim Mousa, took the rape victims and other injured to Kass to report the incident, and thence taken to Kass hospital, where the medical evidence proved that seven women were raped, including a 14-year-old girl.

She said the commissioner of Kass locality, the commander of the military garrison, the police chief, the director of the local department of the national security service, and the two police officers from the area met with them as well as visiting the scene of the incident.

Activists, human rights groups and civil society organisations in North Darfur have also condemned the attempted rape by a member of the Rapid Support Forces of a minor on her father’s farm at Muzbad in North Darfur.

Journalist and writer Daoud Hari, whose sister Noi Hari was shot dead by a member of the RSF while she was defending her honour last year.

Muzbad rape attempt

He demanded via Radio Dabanga to try the criminal who tried to rape the minor at the farm in Muzbad and to arrest the criminal who shot Bashir Mukhtar.

In a statement to Radio Dabanga, he called for the immediate release of the two young men, who accompanied the wounded Bashir Mukhtar at the hospital in Muzbad who were imprisoned without any reason, namely Isam Mukhtar and Yasir Ali.

Also Hari called for the immediate release of any detainee during the protest against the acts of RSF for the current rape attempt and the demand for the arrest of the perpetrator and hold the rapid support forces officers responsible for Bashir if he died of neglect the rapid support that was arrested even from They will judge him.

He also held responsibility for all the former crimes and provocations committed against the people of the area and until now to the rapid support forces until they are moved from the area.

He called via Radio Dabanga on human rights organisations and all concerned to maintain security in the region to intervene to provide help.

He appealed to the Sudanese people in general and the people of Darfur in particular to circumvent this issue and to cooperate with the victims of the RSF.

RSF ‘reprisal attack’ on South Darfur market – civilians killed, beaten, robbed

November 14 – 2018 DERIBAT

At least five civilians were reportedly killed by government troops and dozens were injured in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilians at the weekly Deribat market in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur on Monday.

The motive behind the RSF attack appeared to be a reprisal on civilians after an ambush by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) on Sunday in the area of Jawa, 10 kilometres south of Deribat, in which 17 government troops were reportedly killed and an RSF vehicle was destroyed.

Witnesses from Deribat told Radio Dabanga that the militia, after withdrawing from Jawa, attacked the market and opened fire, killing five people and injuring dozens.

Witnesses confirmed that the government militia forces also attacked the market, where they beat shoppers and traders and looted their goods.

Witnesses confirmed that the government forces also shelled south and west of Deribat with heavy weapons, wounding seven civilians.

Witnesses described the situation in the area and other parts of East Jebel Marra as tense.

RSF

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, the commander of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan (also known as Hemeti), vowed to eliminate the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra in three months. The demand came in a statement following Hemeti’s recent visit to Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur.

On Monday the general coordination of displaced people and refugee camps called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges to include Hemeti on the list of those wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to bring him to justice.

 

South Darfur children die in Jebel Marra shelling

November 15 – 2018 DERIBAT

Two children were killed and another was wounded in shelling by government forces stationed in Deribat area in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur.

A relative of one of the of the dead children told Radio Dabanga that the government troops stationed in Deribat area fired an explosive projectile on Tuesday evening that fell on a family who were having dinner at a farm east of Deribat. The blast killed five-year-old Salima Ibrahim Yahya and seven-year-old Abdel Karim Yahya Ahmed, and wounded another. The rest of the family were unhurt.

He said that as a result of the shelling, a fire broke out on the farm and destroyed agricultural crops over an area of two acres.

Reprisal attack

The situation in the Deribat area has been described as tense. As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, at least five civilians were reported killed by government troops and dozens were injured in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilians at the weekly Deribat market in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur on Monday.

The motive behind the RSF attack appeared to be a reprisal on civilians after an ambush by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) on Sunday in the area of Jawa, 10 kilometres south of Deribat, in which 17 government troops were reportedly killed and an RSF vehicle was destroyed.

RSF

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, the commander of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan (also known as Hemeti), vowed to eliminate the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra in three months. The demand came in a statement following Hemeti’s recent visit to Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur.

The general coordination of displaced people and refugee camps called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges to include Hemeti on the list of those wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to bring him to justice.

 

South Darfur civilians still missing after deadly RSF market attack

November 18 – 2018 DERIBAT

Six people, including two children, are still missing after a ‘reprisal attack’ by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Deribat market in East Jebel Marra last week that left at least five civilians dead.

Relatives of the missing told Radio Dabanga that Hamid Mousa (35), Adam Haroun (42) and 28 Aisha Yousef (28) from Talaba village north of Deribat, Osman Hasan (12) and El Sadig (14) from Sony village west of Deribat have not been found since everyone fled Deribat market during the attack.

They appealed via Radio Dabanga on the authorities and humanitarian organisations to help them find their family members.

Attack

At least five civilians were reportedly killed by government troops and dozens were injured in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilians at the weekly Deribat market in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur on 12 November.

The motive behind the RSF attack appeared to be a reprisal on civilians after an ambush by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) on Sunday in the area of Jawa, 10 kilometres south of Deribat, in which 17 government troops were reportedly killed and an RSF vehicle was destroyed.

Children killed

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, two children were killed and another was wounded in shelling by government forces stationed in Deribat area in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur.

A relative of one of the of the dead children told Radio Dabanga that the government troops stationed in Deribat area fired an explosive projectile on Tuesday evening that fell on a family who were having dinner at a farm east of Deribat. The blast killed five-year-old Salima Ibrahim Yahya and seven-year-old Abdel Karim Yahya Ahmed, and wounded another. The rest of the family were unhurt.

The commander of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan (also known as Hemeti), has vowed to eliminate the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra in three months. The demand came in a statement following Hemeti’s recent visit to Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur.

The general coordination of displaced people and refugee camps called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges to include Hemeti on the list of those wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to bring him to justice.

Two policemen die in South Darfur farm violence

November 19 – 2018 GIREIDA / MUKJAR / DERIBAT

Two policemen have died in pursuit of herders after a shooting on the farms of Zuroug village, five kilometres west of Gireida in South Darfur on Saturday.

Farmers told Radio Dabanga that the incident occurred after seven armed herders allegedly trespassed with their livestock on the farms. When the farmers tried to drive the livestock off, the herders opened fire on them, wounding farmer Ahmed Goaja.

The farmers fled to the police station to report the incident and seek protection.

They explained that two police vehicles and another belonging to the army went to the scene, but the herders opened fire on the police, destroying a police vehicle and killing First Lieutenant Mahjoub Abulgasim and policeman Anwar Feisal.

They said that the police force then arrested three of the herders and seized their camels.

Mukjar

An attack by herders on Kombo Kerufta north of Mukjar in Central Darfur caused injuries to at least three farmers on Saturday.

Farmers told Radio Dabanga that a group of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) herding camels fired into the air for intimidation and then forcibly trespassed the farms with their camels.

They said the farmers tried to get the camels out of their farms, but the herders beat them, injuring Ahmed Ismail, Mohamed Yousef, Adam Nahid, and others.

The farmers called on the locality security committee to take immediate action to protect the agricultural season, stop abuses by pastoralists and bring the aggressors to trial.

Deribat

Commercial truck drivers have refused to enter Deribat area in East Jebel Marra unless the authorities drastically handle Deribat incidents and compensate the victims for the losses they suffered as a result of the plunder carried out by members of the RSF on Deribat market on Sunday.

Twenty-five truckloads of goods are still parked at Kator area, 12 of which come from Nyala and 13 others from El Fasher. The drivers say they are awaiting justice before reaching Deribat market.

They have called on the locality investigation committee, headed by the commissioner of east Jebel Marra to reach Deribat, conduct investigations and compensate those affected.

Women attacked by herders in South Darfur farm conflict

November 20 – 2018 MERSHING

On Sunday, armed herders reportedly attacked a number of women in Mershing locality in South Darfur and caused them injuries. Two of them are in serious condition.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that herders on camels attacked a number of women farmers west of Mershing. The herders allegedly beat and whipped them leaving Kalsoum Abdallah and Aiti Fadul in a serious condition.

Mershing farmers have complained of early grazing by herders. The farmers have called on the committee t for the protection of the agricultural season, which took the amount of SDG 50 from each owner of farm, and has set the month of January for early grazing, to protect them so that they could harvest their crops.

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Herders attack farmers in Tawila locality

November 27 – 2018 TAWILA

Three farmers were attacked by herders who drove their livestock onto their farms in Tawila locality on Monday morning.

The three women were working on their farms between Tabit and Hashaba villages in North Darfur when the attack took place.

Other farmers reported to Radio Dabanga that herders attacked them with sticks and axes, injuring Kaltoum Yahya (35 years), Salma Adam (48) and Kaltoum Ibrahim (55).

The witnesses said that the injured women were taken to Tabit health centre after they reported the incident to the police.

Pastoralists with cattle herds have caused significant losses to the fields of sorghum, sesame, watermelon and groundnuts in the current agricultural season, farmers in Tawila reported in October.

On Sunday, farmers in South Darfur’s Mershing locality came under the attack of herders who forced their livestock onto the lands filled with crops.

In Mershing, farmers have complained about early grazing by the cattle of herders. The farmers have called on the committee for the protection of the agricultural season, which took the amount of SDG 50 from each farm owner.

The committee has set the month of January for the start of the grazing season, to protect the farm fields so that the crops can be harvested.

 

South Darfur farmers wounded in rape attempt

December 2 – 2018 KASS

Three farmers are in serious condition after a confrontation with armed herders, allegedly intent on raping women tending their fields.

A relative of one of the wounded farmers told Radio Dabanga that on Thursday evening gunmen dressed in military uniforms attacked a group of women who tilling their farms in the Jummeiza Komra valley north of Kass in South Darfur, with the intent to rape them.

The witness said that a number of farmers came to the rescue of the women, which prompted the attackers to open fire. The wounded were taken to hospital in Kass for treatment.

The gunmen fled after the attack and no arrests have been made.

Farmer shot, schoolboy killed by ammo in South Darfur

December 6 – 2018 DARFUR

Herders shot and killed a farmer at Jokhana area of Gireida locality in South Darfur on Tuesday. A schoolboy died after throwing ammunition into a fire in North Darfur.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the herders trespassed with their livestock the farms of Jokhana area and when the owners tried to chase them out, one of the herders opened fire and killed farmer Yahya Khalifa.

A schoolboy died in an ammunition explosion in Kabkabiya in North Darfur.

One of the relatives of the deceased told Radio Dabanga that the boy found Dushka machinegun ammunition in their house at El Safa district in western Kabkabiya, took one and threw it in the fire.

The bullet quickly discharged and hit him in the chest and killed him instantly.

Three thieves anaesthetised a university lecturer of El Fasher University and seized his vehicle while he was transporting them to Naivasha camp for displaced people north of El Fasher on Tuesday.

The thieves had asked the lecturer, who used his vehicle for paid transport to earn extra, to take them to the Naivasha camp and after they moved from the Grand Market, one of the thieves anaesthetised the lecturer with a spray on his face, threw him out of the vehicle and then fled with the car to an unknown destination.

 

Arson suspected as cash, goods lost in South Darfur market blaze

December 13 – 2018 NYALA

Traders lost more than just their goods and shops when fire swept through the Grand Market of Nyala in South Darfur this week. Large amounts in cash – hoarded in response to the current liquidity crisis – also burned to ashes.

Eight shops burned-out completely with the loss of parcels, medicine, clothes and shoes. The fire is officially said to be the result of an electrical short-circuit, however traders are sceptical and some suggest arson.

Witnesses told Dabanga Radio that the fire destroyed large amounts of cash money held by traders in their shops – as they need cash to buy new goods, and banks do not provide enough cash any more.

Witnesses said that one of the traders lost SDG 36,000 ($760) and another claims SDG 240,000 ($5,000) was lost.

* All SDG currency conversions are approximate based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

 

(Report also in North Darfur)

Children burned, farms destroyed in Sudan fires

January 29 – 2019 EL FASHER / EL SALAM / KASSALA / NORTHERN STATE

Several fires that broke out in North Darfur, South Darfur, Kassala and Northern State in Sudan have caused death, injury and destruction.

In southern El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, a fire broke out in El Salam district. The fire in the houses caused the death of a five-year-old girl. The cause for the fire has not yet been identified.

In South Darfur, a fire broke out in a number of houses and caused severe burns to two children. A total of 35 homes were destroyed. The cause for the fire has not yet been identified.

In Kassala state in eastern Sudan, a huge fire devoured nine hatcheries planted with groundnut and cotton crops in the Agricultural Project of New Halfa. The director of the Agricultural Project, Mamoun Abdallah said that the fire has destroyed about 40 percent of all the production.

In Sudan’s Northern State, a fire at El Jereif Bahri in Nouri heavily damaged or destroyed a large number of palm trees.

Strong winds can cause flames – for example from cooking fires – to spread quickly quick through the dry grass and rooves. In many areas, a persistent shortage of fire-fighting equipment may exacerbate the damage.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Fires destroy homes and kill child in Darfur

February 25 – 2019 MUKJAR / GIREIDA

On Sunday, fires broke out in the eastern displaced camp in Mukjar in Central Darfur and Um Balola camp for displaced people in Gireida in South Darfur, killing a child and burning over 30 houses.

El Shafi Abdallah, a coordinator of the camps for displaced people in Central Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that the fire killed 9-year-old Abdelrazig Ahmed and burned 21 houses.

On Sunday morning, a fire also broke out in Um Balola camp for displaced people in Gireida in South Darfur and ten homes burned to the ground.

A camp resident told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out at about 9am and caused a great deal of damage. The affected families are now homeless.

He appealed to locality authorities and organisations to expedite their assistance.

The exact cause of the fires is unknown, but it is believed that causes were accidental.

 

Sudanese soldiers kill herders in raid

March 1 – 2019 UM DUKHUN

Three herders were shot dead and two others were wounded in an attack by members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) on a nomad settlement near Um Dukhun in South Darfur on Thursday.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that a group of soldiers raided the settlement in the early morning of Thursday with the intention to steal their property. The herders confronted the soldiers with knives and sticks in defence of their livestock and property.

The soldiers to opened fire, killing three herders immediately and wounding two others who were taken to Nyala city for treatment.

The incident caused widespread reactions in Um Dukhun town. A large crowd gathered in front of the Um Dukhun police station, calling for justice against the perpetrators.

Six of the attackers were arrested after they were identified as a result of being subjected to knife wounds during the raid on the settlement. This has calmed the situation somewhat amid promises to bring the perpetrators to justice, a witness told Radio Dabanga.

 

Student dead in South Darfur armed robbery by ‘soldier and fake troops’

March 17 – 2019 NYALA

A student was shot dead in Nyala on Thursday night, allegedly by gunmen wearing military uniforms. Three suspects have been arrested of whom only one is actually a soldier.

Hanafi Ismail, Nureldin Mohamed, and Abdallah Omar, students at the Sheikh Yousef Mustafa Koran Institute at El Jeer district in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, were reportedly detained by men in military uniforms, under the pretext that the students were violating the State of Emergency regulations, the director of the institute, Mohamed Yousef Mustafa, told Radio Dabanga.

When they reached Nyala valley, the gunmen attempted to seize the students’ phones, but the three students resisted. When Hanafi Ismail exchanged blows with one of the robbers, another opened fire, killing him instantly. His companions Nureldin Mohamed and Abdallah Omar were studewounded.

“During the fight, one of the robbers dropped an ID card, which led police to the suspects. Three men were arrested. It was discovered that while one is a corporal in the Sudan Armed Forces, the two others, though in uniform, are not soldiers in the army,” Mustafa told Radio Dabanga.

 

Darfur: Seven passengers injured in armed robbery

March 18 – 2019 DARFUR

Those injured in an armed robbery, while traveling in a commercial vehicle traveling on the Zalingei-Kass road in South Darfur on Saturday evening, are being cared for at a local hospital.

Passengers reported to Radio Dabanga that a group of militiamen intercepted a commercial vehicle near Najma at 10 pm while it was travelling from Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur to Kass.

A passenger said that the armed men dressed in militia clothing beat the 51 passengers with rifle butts and sticks. Seven people were injured, according to him.

The witness explained to Radio Dabanga that the group of militia then took about SDG150,000 in cash and mobile phones from the passengers.

He explained that the injured were taken to a nearby health centre and the incident was reported to police of Kass.

In a separate incident, a student was shot dead in Nyala in South Darfur on March 14, allegedly by gunmen wearing military uniforms. His two companions were wounded.

Attacks in North Darfur

Last week, a number of militiamen attacked the four young women and girls while they were collecting firewood in the area of Sananat near Damirat Masri In North Darfur and alternately raped three of them at gunpoint in one of the tents, according to one of their relatives.

On March 10, a man was abducted near Tawila locality in North Darfur, following three separate attacks which took place that week in which four people were wounded and two children were kidnapped. On March 1, gunmen stole hundreds of sheep and goats and abducted four herders.

End February, a series of attacks and abductions took place in Tawila locality, including a cattle raid and an assault on firewood collectors, two men on a donkey cart abducted by militiamen, and armed herders attacking women.

West Darfur massacre

March 13, gunmen killed six displaced people from Ardamata camp who were collecting straw at Arafa, east of El Geneina Airport.

In response to the reports by Radio Dabanga, prominent Sudan researcher and analyst, Prof Eric Reeves, commented on social media: “The UN and African Union would have us believe that security has been restored in West Darfur, and that justifies the complete withdrawal of Unamid, which no longer has any presence in West Darfur.”

Security Council resolution 2429(2018) has obliged Unamid to exit and move to its new headquarters in Zalingei, Central Darfur, and to distribute some assets to institutions. Unamid is set to leave all areas of Darfur by June 2020.

September 2018, following a four-day visit to Sudan, a delegation of UK parliamentarians warned that “the rapid withdrawal of Unamid, without a clear plan, puts stability and security in Darfur at risk”.

 

(Report also in Central Darfur)

Darfur fires destroy hundreds of houses, food and crops

March 19 – 2019 UM DUKHUN / NYALA

Two massive fires broke out in Central Darfur and in South Darfur on Sunday, leaving more than 250 houses destroyed.

A fire in Um Dukhun in Central Darfur destroyed more than 200 houses, large amounts of food, crops and a number of livestock.

The fire, of which the cause is yet unknown, destroyed more than 150 houses west of the Um Dukhun market. Witnesses said that the financial losses most likely enormous.

A fire in Hijeir Tongo, southeast of Nyala in South Darfur, destroyed more than 50 houses. The fire consumed large quantities of food, crops and a number of livestock.

Victims in both areas speaking to Radio Dabanga said that the incidents have left hundreds of people in the open without shelter or food. They have appealed to the authorities and humanitarian organisations to help them.

 

(Report also in North and West Darfur)

Man dies in South Darfur militia attack

March 25 – 2019 DARFUR

One person was killed and two others injured in an attack in Nyala, capital of South Darfur; two policemen were abducted after militiamen attacked a market in North Darfur.

On Friday, a group of militia attacked three people in the area of Hijeir Tongo near Nyala, capital of South Darfur. One man was shot dead and two others were wounded. A camp sheikh told Radio Dabanga that one of the wounded, from Kalma camp, was transferred to Nyala Teaching Hospital in serious condition, while the other is undergoing treatment inside Kalma camp.

The sheikh said the attack took place due to tensions between militia in the area and displaced people who return to their original land for farming purposes. Residents called on the United Nations and human rights and humanitarian organisations to pressure the Sudanese government to stop its militias from attacking unarmed civilians.

Market attack

On Friday, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia attacked the market of Tabit in Tawila locality in North Darfur, robbed property, and detained two policemen.

Witnesses from Tabit reported to Radio Dabanga that members of the RSF drove up in six Land Cruisers and raided the market of Tabit on Friday, beat people with whips, and then looted cigarette and telephone shops.

According to witnesses, those affected by the incident went to the police station to report the incident.

The militiamen followed them there, attacked police sergeant Hakim Kashok and Corporal Taha Abdelkarim. and then took the two policemen to an unknown destination.

Ongoing violence

Since end January, a number of attacks have taken place in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur. In addition, UNOCHA reported today that conflict in the Jebel Moon locality of West Darfur State affected an estimated 3,500 people on January 17, when some of the villages’ homes and recent harvests were burned and livestock was looted. Radio Dabanga reported at the time that two people were killed.

Security Council resolution 2429(2018) has obliged Unamid to exit and move to its new headquarters in Zalingei, Central Darfur, and to distribute some assets to institutions. Unamid is set to leave all areas of Darfur by June 2020.

September 2018, following a four-day visit to Sudan, a delegation of UK parliamentarians warned that “the rapid withdrawal of Unamid, without a clear plan, puts stability and security in Darfur at risk”.

 

Sudan Tribune

6 people killed in violent confrontation between South Darfur’s IPDs: UNAMID

April 19, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – 16 people were killed in Kalama camps outside Nyala as result of a violent confrontation between two groups of the camp residents, said the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur, on Thursday. The UNAMID in its statement said that the confrontation where residents used guns against each other occurred on 13 April, as the country was celebrating the fall of the regime of President Omer al-Bashir two days before. “These confrontations reportedly resulted in the killing of 16 people including a humanitarian field worker, with 17 injured and a significant number of IDPs displaced,” said the statement.

Different sources reached by Sudan Tribune claim that the attack was a result of divisions among the Darfurian armed groups on how to settle the conflict 15 years after its eruption.

They add thated attack was carried out by a group of residents supporting a Darfur rebel leader against another group that seeks to get rid of his influence in Kalma they have successfully done in other IDPs camps. In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, the Sudan Liberation Movement Transitional Council called on the two conflicting parties to immediately stop the fighting, adding that such conflict will harm their just cause.