Lawyers: ‘Govt fails to collect weapons in Darfur’

According to the Darfur Bar Association (DBA), the current transitional government has failed to collect weapons in Darfur despite multiple attempts.

Saleh Mahmoud, head of the DBA, spoke at a press conference in Khartoum yesterday about the proliferation of weapons among armed groups, tribes and individuals in Darfur. He emphasised the threat these weapons pose for public security and safety, and stressed that they need to be collected and removed. The proliferation of weapons leads to “extrajudicial killings”, rapes and other crimes against humanity, Mahmoud said.

According to the lawyer, an estimated 15,000 villages in Darfur have been burned and destroyed. “There is not even an estimate of the number of plundered and destroyed properties in Darfur.” At least half a million people in Darfur haven been direct victims of violence involving the use of weapons, he said. The number of those affected or displaced by the violence stands at four million, 2.7 million of them live in camps.

Protection for the people, enabling refugees and displaced persons to return to their villages of origin, and justice must be the main challenges for the transitional government now that reconciliation with armed rebel movements has been reached, Saleh Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud stressed that ousted president Omar Al Bashir and others must be transferred to The Hague to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He said that the government has not dealt with the recent violence in the Jebel Marra region and in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, and that “the criminals are still at large and need to be brought to trial”.

Nafisa Hajar, head of the director of human rights at DBA, added that 85 per cent of the population in the Darfur camps for the displaced are children and women. She said that minors are being forcibly recruited by armed groups.

On Monday, Mousa Saeed (37) was killed and Abdellatif Haroun (42) was wounded when they were shot at 4km northwest of Nierteti, Central Darfur.

Adam Okar told Radio Dabanga that the victims had come from western Jebel Marra to harvest honey. Four gunmen on horseback opened fire on them. The gunmen stole the victims’ mobile telephones, money, and belongings, and headed west.