Two killed in North Darfur looting, two others shot dead in robberies

Two people were killed during the looting of the warehouses of the World Food Programme (WFP) in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Wednesday. Two others were shot dead in armed robberies in Central and North Darfur.

The police of El Fasher reported yesterday that a man and a pregnant woman were fatally hit by stray bullets during the looting of WFP warehouses on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. A number of others were wounded during the looting of foodstuffs from three WFP warehouses in the city.

“Crowds of ordinary people, regular forces, Rapid Support Forces, and rebel fighters took the stolen food with them on lorries, vans, carts, pack animals, wheelbarrows, or on their shoulders and heads. The warehouses were stripped of everything, even the roofs,” a Radio Dabanga correspondent in El Fasher reported.

Social media show videos and pictures of the looting in which men in military uniforms of the Sudan Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces militia, rebel groups, and the police participated, using lorries and pack animals to carry the stolen goods.

A number of suspects accused of plundering the warehouses have been arrested. They were seized while loading large quantities of food on pick-up trucks and other vehicles, Brig Saad Mustafa, Director of the North Darfur Police Criminal Department said in a press statement yesterday.

The State of Emergency, including a 18:00-05:00 curfew, imposed by the North Darfur authorities on Wednesday morning, was ignored by the looters. On Wednesday evening and night, two other WFP warehouses, containing a variety of foodstuffs, the stores of the Ministry of Education (for school feeding), and the Agricultural Bank stores filled with corn were plundered as well.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, police in North Darfur say that they have arrested two suspects, after buildings and containers of equipment at the former United Nations-African Union Missioon in Darfur (UNAMID) logistical base north of the capital El Fasher, were plundered last weekend. The suspects were reportedly held with part of the loot in their possession.

Killed in attacks

Lorry owner Abdelshakour Mohamed Ali (56) was killed and two others were wounded in an armed robbery in the area of Tabit, south-west of El Fasher, on Thursday.

Listener Abakar Ishag told Radio Dabanga that an armed group intercepted a lorry loaded with charcoal coming from Dubo El Omda in eastern Jebel Marra, to El Fasher.

“The gunmen shot at the lorry,” he said. “Ali was killed instantly, while the driver and his assistant sustained minor injuries. The attackers then left the place without robbing us.”

Ishag reported two other attacks on vehicles that happened in the area yesterday. “The first incident involved the theft of belongings of six passengers of a Toyota HiAce on the Nyala-El Fasher road, while the second robbery occurred in the Kedarek Ali area by five gunmen riding on motorcycles and camels.”

In Um Dukhun in Central Darfur, Mohamed Omar was shot dead, and Ali Sousal and Abdelshakour Osman were wounded in an attack by gunmen on the house of Omda El Haj Deweik at dawn on Thursday.