‘Hail of gunfire’ in North Darfur highway robbery

Armed militiamen reportedly fired “a hail of gunfire” into the air to stop a commercial vehicle in North Darfur on Friday.

One of the passengers said that the vehicle was transporting displaced people and their wares from Zamzam camp, near to the state capital of El Fasher, to the weekly Friday market at Vanaga.

“The militiamen forced the driver to stop, and then stripped all the passengers of their valuables, wares, cash, and mobile phones.

Convoy

Highway robbery by armed militiamen is a common occurrence across Darfur. Even travelling in a guarded convoy is no guarantee of safety, as one such convoy was stopped and pillaged on the A5 highway from Kabkabiya to El Fasher earlier this week.

Hijacks

Last month, Radio Dabanga reported that a series of hijacks around Tawila locality, and a spate of abductions on the roads surrounding Kutum were keeping most commercial traffic off the roads in North Darfur.