Armed robberies ‘on the increase’ in North Darfur, Nuba Mountains

The number of armed robberies on El Fasher-Nyala road significantly increased lately, according to sources from the area. People travelling in Saraf Omra locality are also prone to attacks. One of them was killed on Saturday. The number of armed robberies is also growing in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan.

On Saturday morning, an armed force robbed the passengers of three tractor lorries and a commercial pickup truck en route from El Fasher to Nyala.

Yagoub, the driver of one of the vehicles, told Radio Dabanga that an armed force riding in a Land Cruiser intercepted them in the area of Gallab, about two kilometres of a base of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police forces. and stole their luggage, mobile telephones and money at gunpoint.

Other drivers said that more than 50 lorries returned to Zamzam camp near El Fasher on Saturday due to similar attacks on the El Fasher-Nyala road. They set out again at Sunday noon, escorted by joint government forces in three Land Cruisers. They said that the convoy came under fire at Jebel Hariz near Shanqal Tobaya, by a gunman riding on a camel.

People living in Saraf Omra locality in the western part of North Darfur, as well reported a noticeable increase in armed robberies. One of them told Radio Dabanga that a man was killed and others were injured in an attack on a passengers’ vehicle that was on its way from Saraf Omra to Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, on Saturday. The wounded were taken to the Zalingei Teaching Hospital.

The same day, five armed men stole a rickshaw on the road from Nimra to Malasiya in Saraf Omra locality.

On Friday, passengers of a commercial vehicle were subjected to an armed robbery on the road between Saraf Omra and Birkat Seira. The two gunmen who stopped the car at gunpoint, stole their mobile phones and money. In a separate incident that day, three armed men stole a motorcycle in Saraf Omra town and fled.

Saraf Omra and neighbouring Kulbus in West Darfur have been witnessing increased violence in the past weeks. At least six rapes were recorded during the attacks on villages in Kulbus locality in northern West Darfur and neighbouring Saraf Omra locality between 6 and 11 June.

Nuba Mountains

The Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) on Thursday reported an armed robbery near El Fayed Um Abdallah in Rashad locality.

On May 27, a lorry driven by Jamal Adam was carrying goods and passengers from Tandik to El Fayed Um Abdallah, when they were stopped by six armed men riding on motorcycles. The assailants who wore masks. robbed the passengers of their money and mobile telephones.

The area of Talodi, in the southern part of South Kordofan, witnessed a number of armed robberies as well in end May. The robberies were mainly committed by armed people from Arab tribes dressed in uniforms of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), HUDO reported on Wednesday.

On May 28, a tuktuk was on its way from the El Keis goldmine to Talodi, when two armed men forcefully stopped the vehicle east of Talodi, and robbed driver Mustafa El Nour of his telephone and money.

Four days before, two robberies took place in the area of Gardoud Toro. In one incident, a lorry was intercepted by four armed men dressed in RSF uniform on the road between Kalogi and Talodi. They took a new motorcycle the lorry was transporting at gunpoint and forced the driver, Mahjoub Saleh, to give them its motorcycle registration document. Saleh told HUDO Centre that, “it seems the robbers knew about the motorcycle and had come purposely for it, since they took nothing else”.

In the second incident, passengers of a commercial vehicle that was on its way from Abu Jubeiha to Talodi were robbed at gunpoint by a group of armed men robbed the passengers of their money, smart phones and other valuable items.

Last week, HUDO reported that on May 28, two Nuba herders were killed in El Hejeirat, about 22 km southeast of Talodi town. An attack on women farmers near Kadugli, capital of South Darfur, on May 16 left one of them dead.