‘Instigators of conflict will be prosecuted’: South Darfur governor

The Governor of South Darfur has threatened native administration leaders and commissioners in the state with dismissal from their functions and imprisonment should they are involved in any conflict.

Addressing a rally in Gireida locality on Wednesday, Governor Adam El Faki said that immediate action will be taken should tribal leaders in the state instigate a conflict.

He pointed to the detention of 84 militant Salamat and Fellata tribesmen in February, who were transferred by air to a Port Sudan prison on Saturday, and emphasised that “no person or tribe will be able to intimidate the authorities”.

El Faki vowed to continue “the disarmament and detention of all outlaws in the state”.

He also announced that a conference will be held soon in Khartoum “to discuss the proposal to reduce the 21 localities in the state to 10”.

Emergency measures

The former South Darfur governor, Maj. Gen. Adam Jarelnabi, attempted to curb the increasing lawlessness in the state with the introduction of a number of emergency measures in July 2014.

An Emergency Court was established in August, to speedily try offenders of the measures that banned unregistered vehicles, the carrying of weapons by civilians, the wearing of a shawl covering the face (kadamool), and riding a motorcycle by more than one person.

Soon after his appointment in May last year, El Faki – formerly Governor of South Kordofan – vowed to curb the rampant insecurity in the state “by all means”.

After fierce clashes erupted between militant Salamat and Fellata in Tullus and Buram localities in February, he announced a security campaign in South Darfur, to be implemented by a joint security force of 100 vehicles.

In early March, the security troops began to detain Salamat and Fellata leaders suspected of provoking the clashes and to disarm all tribesmen in both localities as well.

The joint force “managed to seize hundreds of various weapons from tribal members. The majority of the weapons were in the possession of cattle herders,” a South Darfur official told Radio Dabanga at the time.