Militias recruit young Darfuris to fight in East Jebel Marra

According to the spokesperson for the West Darfur’s Sirba camps for the displaced, five militiamen on horses and camels on Tuesday assaulted an Arab nomad on his farmland in the area of Morein, east of Bir Dageeg in the locality of Sirba. The nomad had refused to enrol his sons with the militia in order to fight in East Jebel Marra. The militiamen called him a “member of the fifth column”, accusing him of “collaborating with the rebels”, and severely beat him. When the people at the weekly market of Kondobe heard about the attack, they immediately fled. Vendors left their goods in the open. The spokesperson explained that “these days” militias are recruiting young Darfuris to participate in the war against the rebels in East Jebel Marra. He condemned “the militias’ intimidation to compel the youth to participate in the war” and called on “the elders and parents to reject their sons’ registration for war”. “Don’t surrender to the agenda of the militias.” In the same area, militiamen seriously injured a 60-year-old woman near the Koran institute of Morein. She was returning from her farm when the militiamen started to beat her with batons without any apparent reason. The woman was seriously injured and lost consciousness. She was transferred to the hospital of Bir Dageeg for treatment. File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid