More villages attacked, militia lose control over stolen livestock in North Darfur

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued their raids on villages in Tawila and Um Baru localities in North Darfur on Wednesday. People in Tawila, Kutum, and Um Baru localities reported the transport of plundered goods, and large numbers of livestock to militia strongholds in North and South Darfur.

The RSF militia, supported by local militiamen on camels and horses, plundered the villages of Konjara North, Konjara South, Karfola, and Jabayin, northeast of Tabit, on Wednesday, Omda Mukhtar Bosh, coordinator of the Tawila camps for the displaced, reported to Dabanga.

“The militias are completing the last chapters of the government’s scorched earth policy, stripping the areas of inhabitants, by robbing and displacing them en masse. The people are forced to survive in camps, or face starvation in their hiding places in the wilderness,” he commented.

He furthermore reported that thousands of fleeing villagers are still stranded in the wilderness. “Thousands of others managed to reach the camps of Tawila, Tabit, Shagara, Shangil Tobaya, and Zamzam. They are in a bad humanitarian situation, trying to survive without food or cover, in the bracing cold air.”

In Um Baru locality, RSF troops attacked the area of the Orschi water basin on Wednesday. They occupied the water sources, and pillaged the market of Orschi, and a number of shops and houses.

“They took position inside a basic school near the water basin, after they had expelled the teachers and the pupils and teachers,” a resident of the village told Dabanga.

The independent MP for Karnoi and Um Baru constituencies, Mohamed Ahmed Minawi, confirmed the attack to Dabanga, and renewed his appeal to the authorities to “put an end to the violence against the civilians in North Darfur”.

Stolen goods

Multiple sources told Dabanga from Tawila locality that large numbers of pillaged items were transported to Um El Gura, located southeast of El Malam, in South Darfur.

During the past three days, people in Kutum locality saw thousands of livestock, stolen from areas in the northern part of Kutum locality and from the south of Um Baru locality, passing to Damrat El Guba, the stronghold of the militiamen near Kutum town.

A witness from Kutum locality estimated the number of livestock at “more than 2,500 sheep, more than 1,000 cows and donkeys, and 500 camels. The militiamen themselves seem to have lost control over such a large number of stolen livestock, owing to the limited water sources”, he said, “as many of those animals are now roaming the farmlands along Kutum valley.”

The sources also reported the passage of lorries, “loaded with items stolen from the villages of Anka, Um Rei, Bireedik, Bir Maza and Abu Liha, such as food, utensils, beds, and even poultry” to Damrat El Guba. “The stolen goods  fill the streets and public squares as the stores and houses of the militiamen are crammed,” one of them said.