Central Darfur militia kill man, surround camp

One man was killed when militiamen raided a camp for displaced people in Garsila, Central Darfur, on Thursday. They surrounded the camp until the military intervened on Friday.

The tense situation in Wadi Salih locality is the result of the murder of a man, protecting his family, on Wednesday. Militant Abbala tribesmen shot him dead in Belja Valley.

A team of locals set out on Thursday to pick up the body of Younes Jagoub Abdelmoula from the valley. They caught two of the alleged perpetrators of the killing, a source informed Radio Dabanga. The locals beat the two captives and handed them over to the police in Garsila.

Militant tribesmen then gathered, driving vehicles and riding horses and camels, and started to surround the three camps for displaced people in the area: Jeddah, Jebelein, and Aradeba.

The militiamen threatened to invade the camps, torch them, and steal the people's property, unless their two captured comrades were released by the police. When they started to open fire into the air, the displaced Hassan Mohamed Abdallah sustained an injury.

Intervention

They surrounded the camps until after Friday prayers in the afternoon, when the Commissioner of Wadi Salih and the commander of the military and police arrived at the scene. They convinced the militiamen to withdraw to about half a kilometre away from the camps.

Currently the officials are in discussion with the tribesmen in order to solve the problem.

One month ago, a sheikh of camp Jeddah was seriously wounded in an attack by bandits. As on Wednesday, the attackers were apparently intent on assaulting the daughters of the abused man.