New attacks, checkpoints in North Darfur

Pro-government militiamen have reportedly killed four students, and plundered a town in North Darfur. The militias have tightened their control on vital roads in the state, imposing fees and levies at the toll gates they have randomly set up. Their sharpened control on the Kutum-El Fasher and Anka-El Tina roads coincide with the escalation of violence, abductions and looting of vehicles. Prices of goods doubled in Kutum, Um Baru, Karnoi, Kabkabiya, and El Sareif Beni Hussein localities, an activist from Kutum told Radio Dabanga. Students killed, Kutum looted“On the road between El Sareif Beni Hussein and Kabkabiya, militiamen shot dead four students, including Jafar Yagoub Hamdan, Mahmoud Idris Ezeldin Ahmed, and El Sir Hassan.” He further reported that the residents of Kutum witnessed attacks by militiamen on Tuesday, who stole all properties inside the market. “And on Monday, a militia attacked a commercial vehicle in the area of Anka, north of Kutum town, on Monday. They looted the passengers after beating them.” Radio Dabanga first reported about pro-government militias establishing check points and ‘toll gates’ on the Kutum-El Fasher road in March 2014. In the beginning of June, the increase of check points had stalled the movement of commercial trucks and passenger buses for at least two consecutive weeks. It caused a rise in the prices of consumer goods in El Fasher. Map: (from left to right) Kabkabiya, Kutum, El Fasher. Related: Road closure, tolls, squeeze prices in North Darfur (8 June 2014) Militia ‘toll gates’ paralyse transport in North Darfur (27 May 2014) North Darfur’s Kutum controlled by militias (15 May 2014)