Kidnappers kill North Darfur camp resident

A man was killed by his kidnappers in Kabkabiya locality on Saturday, while his brother is still being held by the militiamen.

Adam Adam and his brother Abdelmowla Adam were kidnapped by militiamen south of Sortony camp for displaced people in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, on Saturday. Adam’s body was discovered two days after their abduction, on Monday, in the open four kilometres west of Sortony.

Abdelmowla is reportedly still being held by the kidnappers.

The coordinator of camps in Kabkabiya told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the locality commissioner, together with a police force, went out to chase the perpetrators and to free Abdelmowla.

On Saturday morning, a 15-year-old boy was shot at multiple times and mutilated by militiamen near Sortony camp. The attack sparked camp residents into marching to the base of the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission (Unamid) and demand protection.

Sortony

Sortony, adjacent to the Unamid base, is a site where people who were displaced from the mountainous Jebel Marra in Darfur in early 2016 have sought refuge. Increased hostilities between the Sudanese army, assisted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and the Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes to other areas in Darfur, including Sortony.

The area has been prone to tension between herders, militias, and the displaced community, resulting in abductions and fighting. In May 2016, herders accused members of the displaced community of stealing their livestock and demanded the return of their cattle. Armed herders then established an intermittent blockade on the Kabkabiya-Sortony road, an essential route for the provision of water and humanitarian aid. 

In 2016 Unamid estimated that some 22,000 displaced people were at the Sortony site; community leaders put the figure at 37,000.