Five kidnappings in Darfur this week

A total of 11 people were kidnapped in five separate incidents reported to Radio Dabanga from Darfur over the past week:

On Tuesday 22 December, a charcoal burner was kidnapped in Jimeiza Tegaro village in Kass locality, South Darfur.

A relative of the victim told Radio Dabanga that “at 10 am a group of militiamen in a Land Cruiser seized Yahya Eisa Abdelrahman by force of arms. They took him to an unknown destination.”

He said that they are expecting a phone call from the kidnappers demanding a ransom.

A six-year-old boy was abducted from Jebelein camp in Garsila, Central Darfur, on Tuesday afternoon. A camp sheikh reported that a group of militiamen approached a number of basic school pupils as they collected firewood east of the camp. 

“They seized six-year-old Abdelwahid Mousa Abdelkarim and took him to their settlement nearby. They said that they took the boy as compensation for a blanket, clothes, and perfumes they lost near the camp.”

The little boy was released after the camp elders pledged to pay for the lost items.

On Friday, a group of militiamen abducted seven women from the Hamidiya camp for the displaced in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur.

The women were collecting firewood north of the camp early in the morning, when they were attacked, the coordinator of the Central Darfur camps told Radio Dabanga. He said that the incident was reported to the police and Unamid, “but so far they did not move to rescue the women”.

North Darfur

In Kabkabiya locality, North Darfur, two students were kidnapped in two separate incidents on Thursday.

In the morning, gunmen in a Land Cruiser seized basic school student Abdallah Mohamed Nurein (10) from El Ghara, west of Kabkabiya, and took him to an unknown destination.

On Thursday evening, other militiamen in a Land Cruiser raided the family home of secondary school student Omar Abdallah in Kabkabiya’s El Amiriya district and took him with them at gunpoint.

The kidnappers of Abdallah contacted his family on Friday and demanded a ransom of SDG70,000 ($11,440), a listener informed Radio Dabanga. He said that it was the fifth kidnapping in Kabkabiya town this year.

North Darfur Governor Abdelwahid Yousef told reporters in the state capital El Fasher on Friday morning that “certain entities are seeking to destabilise the secure situation in the state”. He said that his government “will not tolerate those who seek to destabilise the lives of the people in North Darfur, intimidate them, and attack their property”.

Rise in kidnapping

Abducting people for ransom in Darfur increased significantly over the past few years.

Dr Nur El Sadeg, Secretary for Darfur of the Sudanese Communist Party, told Radio Dabanga in June last year that the phenomenon can be explained by “the increased insecurity in Sudan in general, and in Darfur in particular, the weakened rule of law, the participation of government forces and their friends in the abductions, and especially by the rapid deterioration of the living conditions”.

She added that “these kidnappings may disappear once the current regime disappears.”