Darfur Network urges RSF militia to stop attacking farmers

The Darfur Network for Monitoring and Documentation (DNMD) has urged the Sudanese government, in particular Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’, Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to intervene and stop violence against farmers and villagers in Darfur.

In a press statement on Thursday, the Kampala-based network says the recurrent attacks against innocent civilians are against all human rights principles and the International Humanitarian Law.

The statement lists a number of recent attacks whereby Darfuri people were killed or wounded.

In the morning of October 31, displaced Ibrahim Juma (51) and his daughter Nabila (16) were killed on their farm in Tawila in North Darfur by four armed herders riding camels and wearing military uniforms.

The attackers are reportedly associated with the RSF stationed in the area, DNMD states.

Two days before this incident, Sheikh Ibrahim Abubakar (57) and his brother Eddy (40), both residents of the Shaddad camp for displaced people near Shangil Tobaya in Tawila locality, were attacked on their farm. The sheikh died after suffering gunshot wounds in his chest, and his brother was injured.

After sunset on October 28, five women were intercepted near the Shaddad Camp while they were returning from farming. The attack was carried out by militiamen and militant herders riding camels. They beat the women with their weapons. Zahra Abdallah (50) was beaten on her back. The attackers stole her donkey and all her property.

On October 20, militiamen riding in vehicles belonging to the RSF raided the villages of Kiwi, Haddad, and Um Jadoul in Gireida in South Darfur. Most of the villagers recently returned from camps for the displaced to their areas to farm. The militiamen prevented them from harvesting their crops, and forced them to flee back to the camps.

DNMD refers to a number of earlier attacks, and appeals to the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) “to urgently investigate violations by militias and the RSF against farmers and civilians”.

The network “requests the transitional government in Sudan to disarm the RSF and militias, especially the pastoralists, in order to begin working towards achieving peace and justice in the Darfur region”.

It further appeals to the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan to take reports of attacks such as the ones mentioned into account in their regular review of the situation on the ground.

In November, Radio Dabanga reported about several attacks on farmers by militant herders in Darfur. On November 4, four farmers, three of them women, were assaulted by herdsmen in separate incidents in Central and North Darfur. Three days later, two women were seriously injured in Tawila locality. On November 9, three women farmers were injured in separate attacks by herdsmen in, again, Tawila, and on November 14, groups of herders assaulted farmers in various places in North Darfur.

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