Darfuri students protest militia abuses at Sudan Parliament

Dozens of Darfuri students gathered at the Sudanese Houses of Parliament in Omdurman on Tuesday to protest the deteriorating security in their region, as well as the abuses by the government-backed militias of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), popularly known as Janjaweed. The students raised banners and placards, and handed a memorandum to the Speaker of Parliament. They demand that the government withdraws the RSF militias, and puts a stop to their “inhumane abuses”. The students’ memo referred specifically to the death of four people and the torching of six villages in North Darfur’s Tawila on Thursday. However, reports of widespread atrocities, attacks, murder, rape, looting, and banditry by RSF elements across Darfur reach Radio Dabanga on a daily basis. The memo called for the provision of humanitarian assistance for the victims of those areas, as well as the formation of a committee to investigate the facts, inventory the losses, and provide compensation for those affected. It also called for the immediate closure of the Um Jelbiah military base, which is being used by the militias as a stronghold. Finally, the students called upon the entire Parliament to resign if it is unable to resolve the Darfur crisis. File photo: Sudan’s Houses of Parliament in Omdurman Related: North Darfur villages torched, looted (13 April 2014) Sudan MPs stress need to curb militias in Darfur (9 April 2014)