Darfur native administration works to protect farmers

Two farmers were shot by militant herders in Mukjar locality, Central Darfur, on Saturday. In eastern Jebel Marra, and another farmer was abducted. Members of the native administration are cooperating with the authorities to prevent livestock being released onto farmland.

Hassan Ismail Ibrahim and Adam Ibrahim Abdelmahmoud sustained bullet wounds when they resisted the grazing of livestock on their land in the area of Tendei, east of Mukjar town.

A farmer reported to Radio Dabanga that herders also released their flocks by force of arms in Birgei.

“Large tracts of farmland were damaged,” he said. “About 54 families tending their land were forced to return to Mukjar camp.”

The farmer expressed his fear that the current agricultural season may fail. He said that the people in Mukjar fiercely criticise the silence of the authorities.

The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association holds the governors of the five Darfur states accountable for the ongoing attacks by armed herders in the region.

Hussein Abu Sharati, the spokesman for the Association told Radio Dabanga that “armed herders increasingly frequently release their livestock onto farms, and rob and rape people whenever they want”.

He demanded from the authorities to “immediately intervene to prevent the failure of the coming harvest.

“In particular the displaced depend on the crops for their daily food, as relief organisations have cut most of the food rations,” he explained.

A farmer was abducted on Saturday in Malam, eastern Jebel Marra.

“Omar Ahmed Saleh was on his way from his farm to his home in Karokoli village, some 15 kilometres south of Dubo, when he was ambushed by a group of gunmen,” a relative told Radio Dabanga. “They took him with them at gunpoint to an unknown destination.”

Measures

In cooperation with the South Darfur authorities, native administration leaders in the areas north of the state capital Nyala, have taken measures to prevent expected conflicts between farmers and herders during the current agricultural season.

Omda Zakaria Abdallah told Radio Dabanga that the state government is taking the situation seriously, and will protect the farmers in the areas of Doma and Ganjo.

In Malam, eastern Jebel Marra, members of the native administration, in cooperation with the security forces in the area, are working to prevent “any excesses” during the agricultural season, native administrator Saad Ismail told Radio Dabanga.