Livestock destroying farms in North Darfur’s Tawila

Villagers in the area of Dubo El Omda in Tawila are complaining about herdsmen who are releasing their livestock into their farms.

Farmers from the area reported to Radio Dabanga on Monday that herders coming from northern Tawila are bringing in large numbers of cattle for grazing at farms near the villages of Tabit, Kutu, Dali, Dawa, and Karbala.

The herdsmen threaten to kill the farmers in case they protest.

“We informed the police of Tawila, but the policemen refused go out and remove the livestock from our lands, saying they are too weak to protect the farms,” one of the victims said.

The farmers called on the authorities in North Darfur “to take immediate action to protect the farms and make the herders commit themselves to follow specific routes that do not pass through farmlands”.

Tensions over land have often caused clashes between farmers in Darfur and militant herders who want to use their farms as pasture.

In mid-June people living in camps for the displaced near Tawila town took to the streets in protest against herders' attacks.

Protesters handed officers of the Unamid base in Kutum a memorandum in which they condemned the killing of displaced farmers and firewood collectors by herdsmen in the area, and demanded punishment of those involved, and protection of the displaced.

The farmers in Tawila and Kutum also sent a delegation to El Fasher to demand the state government to protect them and expel herders with their livestock from their farms.

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