Darfur crime overview: Abductions in North Darfur

An overview of recent crimes that were committed in the Darfur region and reported to Radio Dabanga.

South Darfur State

Bandits hijacked a vehicle of the malaria programme of the Health Ministry in Nyala, South Darfur, on Wednesday 18 November. A witness said that two members of a militia intercepted the vehicle near the headquarters of the malaria programme administration in Direig district in the city. At El Matar road, the men forced the driver out of the vehicle at gunpoint and fled with it to an unknown destination .

North Darfur State

Two young shepherds were abducted, allegedly by pro-government militiamen, on Wednesday afternoon in the area of Tanzam in East Jebel Marra, and taken to an unknown destination.

A relative of Suleiman Jaqub (12), and Ibrahim Adam Jaqub (17), told Radio Dabanga that a group of militiamen arrived on camels, and attacked several herders, firing into the air. They also took more than 200 head of cattle with them.

UK-based charity SUDO reported the kidnapping of 12 persons in the month of October. Approximately 25 militia members attacked farms in Um Sidir, Kutum locality, on 11 October, that resulted in the abduction of seven women. No police force is currently situated within Kutum. On 18 October, three girls were kidnapped near a water well in Tabit (Tawila). Other persons were kidnapped in Tawila and Kabkabiya localities. 

Residents live in fear in Saraf Umra locality after militiamen threatened to kill the town leaders, rob the people, and burn down their village. They have demanded the payment of blood money from the villagers for one of their dead comrades, a source told Radio Dabanga on Sunday.

Half of the blood money, totalling SDG2,000, has been paid by the residents of Filindong, east of Saraf Umra, after the militiamen accused them of killing their comrade near Filindong three weeks ago. “They cannot pay the other half,” Sheikh Abdelrazeg Yousif Suleiman, coordinator of Saraf Umra camps for displaced people, said. The militia leaders then came to the village, threatening to torch it and kill the community leaders.