Attacks in Darfur and Chad leave three dead, more than 40 injured

Three men were killed and 20 people were injured in Darfur last weekend. In eastern Chad, 21 women refugees from Darfur were attacked with knives.

In an armed robbery near Seleia in West Darfur on Saturday evening, two people were killed and three others were injured, Mohamed Abakar told Radio Dabanga.

Gunmen riding on motorcycles shot at a passenger vehicle in the area of Jeljela, five kilometres from Seleia. “Abubakar Ibrahim and Ahmed Awad were killed instantly, Abdelmajed Adam, Jaber Ibrahim and Abubakar Siddig were wounded,” Abakar said. “The attackers then told the passengers to disembark, take the dead with them, and they themselves took the vehicle with the luggage and fled.”

The bodies and the injured passengers were transferred to the teaching hospital of El Geneina, capital of West Darfur.

In North Darfur, robbers shot dead a shepherd in the vicinity of Um Hejaleej village, west of the state capital El Fasher, on Saturday. Omda Suleiman Adam reported that two gunmen riding on camels fired a hail of bullets at shepherd Mohamed Markaz. After he died, they took the more than 800 heads of cattle he was herding.

He said that a group of people from Um Hejaleej and surrounding villages went out to search for the stolen cows. “They managed to seize the thieves, handed them to the police, and returned the cattle.”

In Central Darfur, armed robbers attacked a vehicle carrying passengers from Nyala, capital of South Darfur, to Foro Baranga in West Darfur on Saturday.

An eyewitness told Radio Dabanga that armed men intercepted the vehicle east of Mukjar. They beat the passengers, 17 women and men, with rifle butts, before robbing them of their belongings.

The wounded were taken to the hospital of Mukjar and the incident was reported to the police of the town. In response, policemen, accompanied by army forces, went to the site of the incident and tracked down the robbers.

Camels killed

The killing of a number of camels near the densely populated Zamzam camp for the displaced, south of El Fasher, on Friday sparked fear for avenge attacks among the camp residents.

One of the camp leaders told Radio Dabanga that a group of gunmen on Friday evening shot at camels belonging to traders who were on their way to El Fasher. Six animals were killed.  

“In response, vehicles belonging to the Rapid Support Forces and private cars arrived at the scene of the accident on Saturday morning,” the camp leader said. “They blocked the El Fasher-Nyala road next to the camp. Others beat women and children in the camp, which spread terror among the residents, and led to the closure of the camp market.”

He added that the gunmen opened the road again on Saturday noon, following a visit by state officials from El Fasher to the place.

Stabbed

In neighbouring Chad, a group of 21 Darfur refugee women were attacked on Sunday afternoon. “Men carrying knives assaulted the women when they left the Mile camp to collect firewood,” a refugee told Radio Dabanga.

“They beat and stabbed the women. Nine of them sustained broken legs and hands, 12 of them had stab wounds,” he said. The victims were taken to the camp’s health centre and a complaint was lodged to the police near the camp.

The source reported that “attacks on refugees have increased steadily recently, causing concern to the refugees and authorities alike”.

Security arrangements

In October, the head of the Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, stressed the need to expedite the implementation of the security arrangementsas stipulated in the October 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, in order to achieve security and stability in Darfur.

The procedures for implementing the security arrangements were launched on January 10 at the former headquarters of the UNAMID mission in the North Darfur capital El Fasher. A few days later, the remains of the UNAMID site were plundered for the second time within a month.