Farmer beaten, abused in South Kordofan

A Nuba farmer was beaten, racially abused, and insulted by a herder when he protested the grazing of the latter’s livestock on his farm in El Fayd in South Kordofan a week ago. The local police reportedly looked-on and laughed.

The Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported in a press statement on Tuesday that El Haj Aboud Mohamed (60), farmer and muezzin of the El Fayd mosque in Rashad locality, was not only beaten by a herder, but also humiliated by him and the police.

On 13 October, Mohamed went to his farm, half a kilometre from El Fayd, where he found 19 cows grazing. He collected the animals and took them to the cattle pen near the police post in the area. The corral is built for stray livestock.

However, before Mohamed could get the cows into the pen, the Hawazma Arab owner, Omda Manzoul Kuku, arrived and began beating Aboud in front of the police post. He pointed to his African origin by calling him a slave, and condemned his tribe, the Tagali, for joining the rebel movement. After swearing that he would drive the muezzin out of the town, Kuku took his cows, and left.

The policemen did not intervene, HUDO states. They only watched and laughed as the herder assaulted the farmer.

When Aboud wanted to report the incident to the police, they told him to go and file a complaint with the paramount chief of the Hawazma tribe instead.

In its statement, HUDO calls on the Sudanese government and the local authorities “To uphold and respect the law and customary regulations that are used in South Kordofan in conflict resolution between farmers and cattle keepers” and “To shun empowering one ethnic group against the other, and protect the right to live in dignity”.