Darfur displaced ‘utterly reject’ exit of Unamid

The UN-AU peacekeeping mission should only leave the war-torn region of Darfur after a comprehensive solution for the violent conflicts in Darfur has been found, according to the Displaced and Refugees’ Association.

Hussein Abu Sharati, spokesman for the Association, told to Radio Dabanga that the Darfuri displaced and refugees “totally reject any plans for Unamid’s exit”.

Speaking from Kalma camp in South Darfur, he said that “the Darfuris are convinced that the real objective behind the government’s demands for the exit of the peacekeepers is the dismantling of the camps.

“The Janjaweed militias, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by the security apparatus, will then hunt down the displaced and annihilate them, as is happening today, but in a different way.

“Even if a comprehensive peace has been achieved, and the Unamid troops will leave, we want them to be replaced by western protection forces,” he stressed.

New settlers

Abu Sharati also pointed to the pressure on the displaced to return to their places of origin, “where insecurity is rife, and many villages are now occupied by the Arab militiamen and new settlers from abroad.

On 19 June, Radio Dabanga reported that new settlers are occupying abandoned places in East Jebel Marra. According to reports from villagers, up to ten thousand newcomers have settled in their villages and taken their plots in the area. The newcomers are identified by local pastoralists as members of Arab militias and migrants from Chad, Mali and Niger.

Several eyewitnesses spotted troops of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) roaming around to protect the new inhabitants.

More than hundred thousand people in East Jebel Marra, mainly Fur, have fled from bombardments by the Sudanese Air Force and attacks by the RSF and other paramilitaries on their villages since the beginning of this year.