Deadly clash in North Darfur as ‘rebel militias’ raid former UNAMID base

Two members of the Sudanese Joint forces and several attackers have been killed after armed bandits – believed to be former rebel fighters – attempted to loot the former United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) headquarters in the North Darfur capital El Fasher on Saturday afternoon. The Governor of North Darfur, Gen Nimr Abdelrahman, has directed all armed struggle movement forces to leave the city and move to predetermined assembly points within 72 hours.

The director of the North Darfur state police and rapporteur of the Security Committee, Maj Gen Abdelkarim Mohamedin, confirmed that an armed group in two combat vehicles attacked the former UNAMID headquarters at about 16:00 on Saturday, intent on looting, and opened fire on the members of the Joint Security Force deployed to guard the site.

In the ensuing firefight, Maj Gen Fadhil El Malik of the Sudanese coalition forces, and Lt Muhammad Ezeldin of the Rapid Support Forces, were killed. The commander of the group, Muhammad Abujamba and “a number of his accomplices” were also killed, the official report states.

The North Darfur Security Committee has launched an investigation into the incident. The Governor of North Darfur, Gen Nimr Abdelrahman, has directed all armed struggle movement forces to leave the city and move to predetermined assembly points within 72 hours.

A spokesman for the Sudanese Coalition, Hudhayfa Mohieldin, called for an immediate investigation into these events, describing the group that clashed with the joint force as “rebel militias” that attacked the UNAMID headquarters in a continuation of the crimes of looting and theft.

The former United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) headquarters in El Fasher was initially plundered on December 24-25, and was subsequently cleared of much of what was left, in a second round of looting in early January. The warehouses of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the North Darfur capital were raided December 29.

Darfur Wali Minni Minawi has pledged to recover all the property looted from both sites.