♦ News you might have missed this week ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Barrel bombs kill two children in North Darfur

December 28 – 2015 TAWILA Two boys were killed by barrel bombs of the Sudanese Air Force in Tawila locality on Monday, a few days after a similar bombardment killed two persons in East Jebel Marra. Fleeing villagers reported to Radio Dabanga that an Antonov airplane dropped eight barrel bombs on the area of Katur in the morning. Abdelnabi Eisa Yagoub (12) and Mahjoub Suliman Yahya (14) were fatally hit. Dozens of cattle were killed too, and some tracts of land caught fire.

On Friday morning, the Air Force dropped seven barrel bombs on Dubo El Omda area, killing a pregnant woman and a man. A number of livestock were killed as well. A source from the area added that the bombing was meant as a cover for a military convoy of vehicles, that drove from Nyala to Deribat that morning. 

The Sudan Air Force makes use of old Antonov transport aircraft to bombard areas in Darfur. The barrel bombs are simply rolled out of the cargo hatch, and are thus far from accurate.

The mountainous East Jebel Marra is repeatedly bombed by the Sudanese Air Force. From 11 to 15 December, Radio Dabanga received three reports of barrel bombs being dropped near Fanga or Dubo El Omda, causing the death of livestock and torching tracts of land.

♦ Protests in El Fasher against killings of farmers 

December 25 – 2015 EL FASHER A demonstration against the killings and attacks against farmers was staged in El Fasher on Friday. Farmer Ibrahim Yahya was shot dead by militiamen west of the city on Thursday evening. His death triggered the third protest march in the capital of North Darfur State in the previous week. Militant Abbala herdsmen have killed five farmers and wounded 15 others in separate incidents near El Fasher during this period.

A witness speaking to Radio Dabanga on Friday estimated that one hundred demonstrators carried the body of Yahya from the hospital in El Fasher, purposely passing the house of State Governor Abdelwahid Yousef. They chanted slogans calling for justice.
Two people were shot dead and five others sustained bullet wounds in clashes between herders and farmers in Um Jadwal village, south-east of El Fasher, on Monday. Many residents left the village on Tuesday while carrying the two corpses in a protest march.
Hundreds of family members of the victims of a shooting at Fara Um Sharekh, also west of El Fasher, staged a demonstration on 17 December, in protest against an attack by armed herders. Two farmers were killed, ten others sustained injuries.

Farmers in both North and South Darfur have been complaining about attacks by Abbala tribesmen and the destruction of their farms by the herders’ livestock. The late and below average rainfall, is causing poorer quality pasture, which is one of the causes for herders to drive their cattle onto cultivated lands.

Footage of the protest in El Fasher on 22 December 

Other news highlights:

Students rape classmates in Darfur

December 29 – 2015 ED DAEIN / TABIT Two young students raped two classmates in East Darfur on Monday. In North Darfur, militiamen raped a woman collecting water on Tuesday. The incident occurred in Wadi Egeri mixed…

VP: ‘Sudan determined to close Darfur camps’

December 29 – 2015 UM BARU Sudan’s Second Vice-President, Hasabo Mohamed Abdelrahman, said that his government is determined to close the camps for displaced people in Darfur next year. He further instructed…

Sudan’s National Dialogue extended ‘indefinitely’

December 28 – 2015 KHARTOUM The 7+7 National Dialogue Steering Committee has decided to extend the national dialogue conference for an indefinite period of time. The SPLM-N and the Sudanese Congress Party…

Sudanese migrants killed in Libya

December 28 – 2015 AJDABIYA Five Sudanese were reportedly killed and 15 others wounded in a bombardment by the Libyan Air Force in Libya’s eastern town of Ajdabiya. Sources said that the bombing targeted a Sudanese café…

Six West Darfur school students injured in demo

December 28 – 2015 EL GENEINA Six school students were injured during a mass protest against the shortage of bread in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, on Monday. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that hundreds…

Five kidnappings in Darfur this week

December 27 – 2015 DARFUR A total of 11 people were kidnapped in five separate incidents reported to Radio Dabanga from Darfur over the past week: On Tuesday 22 December, a charcoal burner was kidnapped in…

'Death toll by militias rises in eastern Sudan': El Gedaref MP

December 25 – 2015 EL GEDAREF An independent MP of El Fashaga constituency in El Gedaref state said that 45 Sudanese have been killed as a result of assaults by militias from Ethiopia these months. “Attacks, killings, abductions…

One killed, five wounded in Central Darfur camp attack

December 25 – 2015 BINDISI A displaced person was killed in Bindisi camp in an attack by pro-government militiamen, in Central Darfur on Friday morning. The attackers took the money and belongings of the displaced people…

Thousands of newly displaced in Tabit, North Darfur, call for urgent aid

December 24 – 2015 TABIT The people who fled militia attacks on their villages south of Tabit in North Darfur's Tawila locality are still living rough. An estimated 7,400 villagers, most of them women and children, sought refuge…

‘133 Sudanese dead from dengue fever this year’: Health Ministry

December 23 – 2015 EL GENEINA / KHARTOUM On Tuesday, the West Darfur Ministry of Health reported that 99 people have died of dengue fever in the state since the start of the outbreak in late August. The federal Ministry of Health…

This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here.