Drones deployed for North Darfur arms collection

The security authorities in North Darfur announced that a number of unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras have been brought-in to monitor and detect caches of weapons hidden underground, and to coordinate and engage in the framework of the implementation of weapons collection.

The Commissioner of El Fasher locality, El Tijani Abdallah Saleh, confirmed that his locality will deal “with all force and deterrence with anyone driving an unlicensed vehicle in El Fasher.

Yesterday the Commissioner announced the seizure of more than 180 vehicles of different types that have been placed inside the offices of the general directorate for combatting smuggling at El Daraja El Oula district west of El Fasher.

In a press statement, the Commissioner said that the security authorities in the state have brought a number of unmanned aircraft equipped with surveillance and monitoring cameras to work on security missions to monitor weapons hidden throughout the locality.

At least 12,500 members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have already been deployed to El Fasher to support the arms and vehicle collection operations.

Compensation

In Khartoum, the Parliament's recommendation to compensate those who are disarmed and stripped of four-wheel-drive vehicles in Darfur as part of a government plan in the region to collect arms has provoked a debate among MPs.

MPs called for confiscating weapons without compensation and considered that the compensation would open the door to the arms trade.

MP El Tijani Sese, the former head of the Darfur Regional Authority warned of the step. He pointed out that this will lead to the flow of weapons from neighbouring countries.

On Wednesday during the reply deliberations of the MPs on the draft speech of the President of the Republic, Sese called for the separation of arms collection from the return of displaced persons contained in the recommendation.

He conditioned the return of displaced persons with the return to restore what has been destroyed by the war.

MP Yagoub Ishag said that the question of compensation will open the door for arms trade in Darfur. He stressed the deletion of the recommendation from the draft reply.

The Deputy Speaker Ahmad Tijani explained that the collection of weapons will be without compensation and that the latter will be reserved for owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles only.