Early grazing: Three farmers attacked in West Darfur

The attack on three women farmers in Kereinik locality, West Darfur, has raised calls for the arrest of the perpetrators and the collection of illegal weapons in the region.

Hanab Mohamed Adam, Mariam Abdallah and Nadifa Ahmed have been transferred from Um Tjona village in Kereinik to the hospital in El Geneina for further medical treatment, after they were shot by herders on Sunday.

One of the relatives of the wounded women told this station that three armed herders took their livestock to graze at the farms near Um Tjona. They chased the farmers out of the farms. The herders subsequently headed for the village where they opened fire and seriously wounded three women.

She reported that the herders also burned four houses at the village.

On Monday the National Liberation and Justice Party said that the incident in Um Tjona “requires urgent accountability, arrest of the perpetrators, and acceleration of the collection of weapons from civilians until the state can enjoy security and stability”.

Mutasim Arbab, the party's political secretary in West Darfur, told Radio Dabanga: “The incident reflects the urgent need to collect arms and speed up operations in West Darfur by all concerned bodies.”

He called on the localities’ commissioners to work hard to protect the farms during the agricultural season and oblige cattle herders to follow the set deadlines for the early grazing. The period for grazing in the Darfur region does not start until February and herders who let their livestock graze the farmlands prematurely is known to cause tension with farmers each year.

Recently, people in Gireida in South Darfur also complained of raids on farms and roads. Last week two farming women were seriously wounded west of Gireida. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that three militiamen opened fire on the sisters Halima Musa and Khadija Musa, who were working on a farm in Um Asal.