Darfur killings, attacks, robberies continue with impunity

An 18-year-old secondary school student was shot dead near Tur in Central Darfur earlier this week. The driver of a passenger vehicle was killed in Kabkabiya in North Darfur. In neighbouring Kutum, the police station was torched. Various armed robberies were reported in North, Central, and West Darfur. People living east of El Geneina fear new widespread attacks.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Adam Hokar reported the killing of secondary school student Hussein Abdallah on Monday evening.

Abdallah left a video club in Tur at about 21:00 on Monday to return to his home in the Eastern Tur camp for the displaced camp, when three armed men wearing military uniforms intercepted him. “The gunmen shot at him for no reason, which led to his immediate death.”

The body was buried in Nierteti, following an autopsy. The incident was reported to the police of the town.

Driver killed

On Wednesday morning, driver Abdelshakour Mousa was shot dead by robbers on the Sortony-Kabkabiya road in North Darfur.

Adam Juma told Radio Dabanga that three gunmen riding on motorcycles shot at a passenger vehicle on the road. Mousa (35), living in the El Salam camp for the displaced in the area, died instantly.

“The gunmen then robbed the passengers of all their belongings,” Juma added. The driver’s body was taken to the Kabkabiya Hospital for an autopsy, and reported to the police of Kabkabiya.

More robberies

El Khumus further reported that teachers Ibrahim Hasan and Suleiman Santo, were wounded in an armed robbery in Kutum town on Monday. “They stopped the teachers who they were returning to their homes by shooting in the air. They then beat them with sticks and robbed them of their belongings.”  

In West Darfur, Yagoub Abufarar was wounded when gunmen shot at a passenger vehicle that was on its way from Murnei to the Sese camp for the displaced in Kereinik locality on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, gunmen plundered three lorries carrying passengers and goods on the road between Guldo and Nierteti in western Jebel Marra, Central Darfur.

Adam Hokar reported from Nierteti that the attackers threatened the passengers at gunpoint, and stole the luggage, telephones and money from the passengers, and fled.

Later that day, armed men robbed the passengers of a rickshaw in Saraf Omra, North Darfur.  

Radio Dabanga reported earlier this week that a woman was gang-raped in Saraf Omra on Saturday. Nine others, including three children, were wounded in attacks in the area.

Avenge attack

On the same morning in the capital of neighbouring Kutum, a large number of gunmen riding in vehicles, on motorcycles and camels set the police station on fire.

“The violence came in response to the arrest by the police of two men fighting with each other on the Disa market on Tuesday,” Yahya El Khumus told Radio Dabanga.

“On Wednesday morning, large numbers of gunmen riding in vehicles, motors, and camels surrounded the police station, demanding the handing over of one of the detainees, their tribesman. When they learned that the two detainees were transferred to the military base nearby, they torched the police station. After that they raided the Disa market in the neighbourhood, where they stole dozens of heads of cattle.”

Calls for protection

In West Darfur, the people living in the area of Azerni, east of the state capital El Geneina, are calling on the authorities to urgently send more forces to protect them.

On Monday, a large group of militants stormed the Sabarna neighbourhood on Azerni, set fire to two houses and robbed a number of displaced people. “The people are afraid for the same kind of violence that happened in Jebel Moon, Kereinik, and Sirba in the end of last year,” a listener told Radio Dabanga from Azerni.  

He said that military reinforcements have already arrived in order to secure the area, but that a number of people have already left their villages to seek protection near the military base.

Residents of El Geneina reported on Sunday that large numbers of militants armed with heavy weapons are gathering again in the areas north-east of the city.

In the past two months, militant Arab tribesmen attacked villages, towns, and camps in Jebel Moon, Kereinik, and Sirba in West Darfur. At least 200 people were killed, dozens of villages burned to ashes, and thousands fled to other parts of the state or to neighbouring Chad.