Eleven South Darfur activists held in security cells

A joint force of militiamen of the Rapid Support Forces, policemen and army soldiers detained 11 camp leaders and activists from the Gireida camp for the displaced in South Darfur on Sunday.

A listener told Radio Dabanga from Gireida that they were held because of the attacks on the offices of World Vision International and the World Food Programme (WFP) last week.

The camp leaders had organised a protest march in Gireida on Wednesday, demanding the improvement of health, water, and food services in the camp. Yet, a number of protesters “violated the peacefulness of the march”, and raided, plundered, and torched the offices.

The source said that camp sheikhs Abdallah Yagoub, Abdallah Ahmed, Ali Haroun, Adam Abakar, Juma Hasan, Adam Arbab, teachers Bahreldin El Tom and Ishag Bashar, pharmacist Mubarak Hasan, and WFP employee Abdallah Adam, were transferred to cells of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Gireida.

In a joint statement on Friday, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (Unamid) and the UN Country Team in Sudan express their concern about the attacks, and  call on the Sudanese authorities “to take immediate corrective action to bring perpetrators of these incidents to book”.

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