Hundreds of vehicles licensed in Central Darfur campaign

The technical committee for the inventory and legalisation of vehicles in Central Darfur says that 68 vehicles, 38 rickshaws, 13 tuk-tuks and 85 four-wheel-drive vehicles have been licenced in the state capital of Zalingei during a campaign between 14 and 24 July 2017.

The Governor of Central Darfur, Jaafar Abdelhakam, directed the committee to continue intensifying the campaign. He stressed the implementation of the decision to legalise ‘Boko Haram’* vehicles without exception. He also encouraged “intensifying the awareness campaigns within the community so that the people understand the importance of the decision; that the measures taken to implement them are not against them but for the sake of legal vehicles’ licensing – not confiscation as stated by some”.

Governor Abdelhakam called for extension of the campaign outside the state capital of Zalingei “to include localities and other cities in the state with the same strength and decisiveness.”

He referred to reports of the “leakage of some of the illegal vehicles to other localities”.

Announcing the start of the campaign last month, the governor said that the campaign would begin with preparation, information and voluntary collection process for a period of three months to be followed by compulsory six-month period.

The Governor said that the high committee for collection of arms and unlicensed vehicles, headed by the Vice-President, has withdrawn the second phase of the plan for compensation for weapons for fear of investing it for trading, as was the case in the inventory of ‘Boko Haram’ vehicles when the customs Department granted opportunities for inventory, but that motivated importers of these vehicles to flood Darfur markets with these vehicles.

*There are thousands of unregistered (aka Boko Haram) vehicles in Darfur. North and South Darfur, and later West Darfur started campaigns to confiscate or register all unlicensed vehicles in an attempt to decrease the number of illegal vehicles – often used by outlaws and criminals, many smuggled into Darfur from neighbouring countries.