North Darfur governor: Shangil Tobaya ‘situation contained’

The acting governor of North Darfur, Major General Malik Khojali, has said the state security committee has managed to contain the events that took place in Shangil Tobaya area, killing three farmers and wounding another on Saturday.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, three farmers were killed and another was wounded in a revenge attack by herdsmen in El Salam locality in North Darfur on Saturday. The farmers had removed the herders’ livestock from their farms.

“When a group of camels trespassed on farms in the neighbourhood of Dolma, 20km north of Shangil Tobaya, on Saturday morning, the farmers took the animals and handed them to the police of Shangil Tobaya,” a relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga.

“That evening, about 20 armed herdsmen on camels and four others on motorcycles arrived at the area, and immediately started shooting at the farmers present. Abdelrahman Saleh, Ahmed El Nur, and Ali Yahya died instantly. Adam Abdelshakour was wounded.”

Funeral protest

On Monday, a large crowd of people marched in the North Darfur capital El Fasher to protest and condemn the killing. Protestors demanded retribution, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and disarming the militias

One of the relatives of one of the dead farmers told Radio Dabanga that the protestors carried the bodies of the dead from the hospital and moved to the state government secretariat, before the bodies were buried in the cemetery of Abu Shouk camp for the displaced.

Witnesses from the Shangil Tobaya area told Radio Dabanga that a force formed of 30 Land Cruisers, led by the deputy governor arrived in the area yesterday and headed to the scene of the incident in order to prosecute the perpetrators.

Security forces

Actic North Darfur governor Khojali directed the security forces to deal with all reports of cases of aggression and crimes that occur in various areas immediately and decisively.

He explained that the security committee has taken a package of measures to enhance security and stability in the areas of Shangil Tobaya, Tawila and south of El Fasher to prevent friction between farmers and pastoralists through deployment of joint forces near the farming areas.

Meanwhile, a number of displaced people in camps in the states of Darfur have complained of the emergence of diarrhoea and fever among the displaced people, especially malaria, in addition to the lack of medicine and rise of its prices in the pharmacies.

They pointed out that the torrential rains have caused poor environmental health and breed mosquitoes and flies.

They appealed to authorities and humanitarian organisations to dry ponds, spray houses and provide medicine and mosquito nets.