Government panel: border guards, PDF threat to Darfur security

A military commission in Darfur said those government-backed militias are a security threat in the region. The commission was tasked with formulating a technical strategy for security in Darfur as part of the government’s new strategy for peace in Darfur. The commission ended up classifying individuals affiliated with Border Guards as accounting for the second biggest threat to security in the region, next only to the threat posed by the rebel movements. The head of the committee said that procedures were underway to resolve the matter of these forces, stressing that the law would apply to any of them involved in violence.In the same context, the Deputy Governor of South Darfur State, Abdel Karim Musa Abdel Karim said the Border Guards represent the biggest threat to the public security, since they use guns at random and they are unregulated. Leaders of the civil administration had told the government of South Darfur and the commission that members of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) and Border Guards are the main causes of breaches of state security.

The commission’s finding is a sign that the government remains unable to control the irregular forces that it has backed and given official status. In recent months elements of the Border Guards were accused of involvement in clashes between two major Arab tribes in southern Darfur, the Misseriya and Rizeigat.