4.000 tribesmen surround Darfur town in robbery retaliation

Some 4.000 armed men belonging to two rival tribes have surrounded a Central Darfur town on Wednesday morning after a comrade suffered a robbery attempt.In addition, 100 gunmen with no links to the conflict joined the crowd and are preparing to loot the town’s market. Umm Dukhun’s residents said tensions began after a member of the Misseriya tribe tried looting and opening fire on a Salamat man, who was not hurt.The alleged perpetrator fled to a Furqaan –semi-deserted areas occupied by few people with their livestock- where he was eventually caught by the Salamat. Gunfires were shot in the air and “panicked” witnesses said the robber was beaten and tortured before being brought to the police station of Umm Dukhun by the Salamat. Both sides used “heavy weapons”, sources said. Upon discovering that their comrade was in custody, Misseriya gunmen tried invading the police station to rescue him, saying he had already suffered enough. For their part, Salamat tribesmen threatened to kill the perpetrator if he was let out. Because of the tension in Umm Dukhun, residents shut down the market, fled to their homes and some of them packed their belongings and are getting ready to leave the town, multiple sources informed Radio Dabanga. A committee formed by members of local communities intervened and tried breaking off the agitation and reestablish peace and security in Umm Dukhum. Sources said the meetings are still on-going. Pilot’s kidnap attempt Meanwhile, police forces of Umm Dukhun successfully contained the kidnap attempt of a foreign pilot at the town’s airport on Wednesday at 10:15am. He had flown aid workers to the area.   Eyewitnesses said that gunmen driving Land Cruisers mounted with heavy machines had inavded the airport but that the police acted quickly to stop them.The pilot was allowed to safely take off the airplane after a 30-minute negotiation between the police and the gunmen. Radio Dabanga file photo