Abu Tira personnel targeting women

Those resisting the central reserve forces are subject to threats and death

Residents of refugee camps in West Darfur’s Sirba locality complained on Tuesday about repeated threats and attacks targeted women by the Central Reserve Forces, also known as Abu Tira.The Abu Tira were also accused of killing camp residents and damaging property in Al Jabal, Arkum, Sengir Fud and Agri refugee camps.

A leading activist in the camp told Radio Dabanga, “Elements of the Abu Tira stationed near the camp have consistently come up at night and almost repeatedly kidnapped women and girls at gunpoint. The last two incidents were over the weekend.”

The camp resident said that a refugee was killed on Saturday after being shot dead by Abu Tira personnel for having tried to stop them from taking his daughter by force.

The second such incident was reported on Sunday. A shiekh in the camp reportedly caught the Abu Tira personnel while he was raping a women and took him to the camp commander. However, there was no action taken by the camp commander and the Abu Tira personnel returned to the camps to issue threats to the refugees.