Militias preventing S Darfur road traffic to capital for 3 days

Militias stationed in South Darfur have been preventing traffic on the road connecting the state’s capital to a displaced camp for the past three days. People traveling by foot, on vehicles or on animal carts are afraid of being assaulted by the gunmen based near El Salam camp. Radio Dabanga reported on Tuesday that a 25-vehicle pro-government militia convoy has been stationed near the Kashalango mountain area, about 20 meters from the displaced camp of El Salam. Residents of nearby villages claimed to be “terrorized” by the militants. On Wednesday, sources declared the militia had closed off El Salam’s gates and had been carrying out a “raid campaign” against pedestrians for the last three days. They reportedly looted “large amounts of money”.   Shops have been closed since the assaults began and the random gunfire in the air by militias led people to hide in their homes in fear, a displaced told Radio Dabanga. Also on Wednesday the militants invaded El Salam’s Quran Learning Center (Khalawi) and beat the students, the teacher Abakar Arbab told Radio Dabanga. They also invaded a café at the camp and fired random gunshots around. The café’s owner Abdullah Ahmad Hamid was critically injured and was transferred to a hospital in Nyala, along with the costumer Abu Ahmed Ibrahim who sustained a leg injury. Sources appealed to authorities and to UNAMID to put an end to violations and abuses by the pro-government militias stationed near El Salam ​​camp for the last three days. They further appealed that authorities remove the militants from the area.Radio Dabanga file photoRelated: Large militia convoy in S. Darfur town ‘panicking’ residents (12 March 2013)