Four students injured in shooting at El Fasher University, North Darfur

Four students were injured at El Fasher University in the capital of North Darfur when another group of students, affiliated to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) opened fire on them. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the victims refused to assist the NCP group to prepare for military event at the university in support of the government alertness campaign. “An armed group of students affiliated to the NCP were wearing military uniforms as a part of an ‘awareness campaign’.” The witnesses said that the students chanted anti-NCP slogans such as “The university is free, military out!” The NCP group opened fire on them. The injured reportedly include academics Sheikh Al-Din Ahmed, Mohamed Saeed from the Faculty of Education, and Wafa Mohamed Ibrahim and Mahdia Mohamed Ibrahim from the Faculty of Arts. All of them were taken to hospital for treatment. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the students were able to expel the NCP group from the university grounds following the clash. Afterwards, students engaged in a sit-in protest inside the university. They demanded that the administration hold the university guards as well as the Dean of Student Affairs accountable for allowing the NCP students to enter the campus carrying firearms and dressed in military uniforms. The students also demanded the NCP students who fired at their peers should be held accountable, and banned from the university grounds. One of the students told Radio Dabanga that the sit-in, which started on Monday, will continue until their demands are met. The student added that the protesters attempted to march to the hospital but police intervened and ordered them return.File photo: El Fasher University