‘Force out rebels from camp’: North Darfur Governor

The Governor of North Darfur wants to force out members of a Darfuri rebel group believed to be sheltering in a camp for displaced people in Kabkabiya locality.

Governor Abdelwahid Yousif has threatened to use force to evict what he called “the rest of the members of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid El Nur” from Sortony, a site for people who have been displaced from Jebel Marra earlier this year.

Yousif called upon the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid) to force out the rebels during a meeting with the mission's deputy chief and the state security committee on Tuesday. He said that they are preventing displaced people from returning to their villages in Jebel Marra by force of arms.

The coordinator of the Kabkabiya camps told Radio Dabanga that no armed rebels are present in Sortony. “All those inside the camp are the victims of aerial bombardments and attacks by Sudanese military forces and militias on villages in Jebel Marra.”

He said that these victims have taken refuge near the headquarters of Unamid in Sortony, in order to protect themselves, “and do not carry weapons”.

He refuted the Governor's statements and appealed to him not to target Sortony with an attack.

The large influx of displaced from Jebel Marra into Sortony and the camps in North Darfur began in January. The Sudan Armed Forces launched its offensive against the Abdel Wahid faction of the SLM, and the fighting has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes from attacks and air raids.

UN organisations have verified 80,000 people who have fled the armed conflict, while as many as 127,000 more people have been displaced, particularly in Central Darfur, but this number could not be verified because of lack of access.