North Darfur’s Tawila villages attacked and threatened

Militiamen attacked and robbed three villages east of Tawila in North Darfur, on Thursday afternoon. Residents of another village near Tawila have received dead threats from militiamen, who demanded the recovering of livestock they have lost last weekend. They beat the residents of Konjara, Um Burma, and Kaima villages, located 10 km east of Tawila town, and robbed them of their livestock and belongings. Mukhtar Bosh, an Omda in the area, also told Radio Dabanga that a number of people has fled the villages. “The pro-government militiamen were driving in vehicles and others on camels and horses at the time of the attack on the villages,” he revealed. Officials order villagers to obey militiamen On Sunday, militiamen threatened to commit killings and robberies in Hillet Hajar, 7 km west of Tawila, if the residents do not recover a number of livestock. Bosh explained that the militia members claimed to have lost 32 camels and 117 cows since they entered the area. They have given the villagers until this Sunday to find the camels, and gave four persons ten days to recover the cows. The Omda reported that officials in the area have held three meetings from Monday to Wednesday since the issue of the lost animals arose. “The army commander and the commander of the Central Reserve Forces (‘Abu Tira’) in Tawila, as well as 50 Sheikhs of Rwanda, Dali, and Argo camps, and the head of a militia called Badr Abu Kineish attended these meetings. “The outcome of the meetings obliged the people of Hillet Hajar to recover the camels and cows.” Bosh added that Kineish gave the residents the four-day ultimatum, until this Sunday, to recover the 32 camels. His other deadline for four villagers to recover the 117 cows expires after ten days. File photo: A mother and child survey the wreckage of a market destroyed in a bombing attack in North Darfur, 2009 (Jan-Joseph Stok) Related: Market raided, passengers robbed in North Darfur (2 December 2014)