Deadly ambush, ‘foreigners bussed-in’ in North Darfur’s Gallab

A displaced woman was killed, her sister was injured, and five others went missing in an ambush in Gallab near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Friday. A number of African families reportedly arrived in the area on Thursday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a Zamzam camp elder said that a group of gunmen attacked seven women of the camp in the area of Gallab, south-west of El Fasher, on Friday afternoon.

“The women were collecting straw in Gallab, when the janjaweed suddenly appeared and began to shoot them. Maryam Osman Eisa was killed instantly and her sister Umeldur was injured,” he said. “The five other women disappeared.”

He said that two search parties were formed, one by Zamzam camp elders and another by Adam Jadeed, Commissioner of Tawila locality, “to hunt down the perpetrators”.

Foreigners

People living in the area of Gallab reported the arrival of seven lorries from El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, on Thursday. The vehicles carried “foreigners with their families, who were hosted at the school of Gallab and its health centre”.

They said that a lorry arrived from El Fasher on Friday, carrying food for the newcomers, whom they believe came from Chad, Central African Republic, Niger, and Mali.

“Militant foreigners who arrived in the past years threatened to beat and kill anyone who goes out to collect straw and firewood or cultivate their lands,” one of the sources said.