20 South Darfuris detained for refusing to vote

Security officers detained 20 people, most of them women, in South Darfur's Gireida on Tuesday, when they refused to leave the Zakat Chamber and cast their votes instead. Security forces in North Darfur’s Kutum knocked on house doors, ordering the residents to vote.

A relative of one of the detainees told Radio Dabanga that a force of security agents, led by the head of security of Gireida locality, told a group of poor women and men applying for financial support at the Zakat (Islamic alms) Chamber, to move to the polling centres and vote for President Al Bashir.  

“When they refused, the 18 women and two men were taken to cells in various police posts in the town. Among the detainees are four displaced women: Asha Mousa, Haloum Omar Mousa, Halima Suleiman Fadul, and Fadya Suleiman Mohamed.”

The witness said that after detaining the group, the force went to the markets and government offices, ordering the people to go to the polling centres.

“The head of the security apparatus threatened those who refused to vote, that he would give the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and other militiamen free rein in the locality.”

Kutum

Security officers, supported by members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), have attempted to force people in Kutum to leave their homes to vote.

“They came knocking on our doors on Tuesday, ordering us to go to the polling centres,” angry residents of the town told Radio Dabanga. “They told us that we would be held responsible if the election would fail because of a low turnout.”

The sources said that only NCP members, relatives of candidates, and members of the regular forces cast their vote in Kutum.