Number of Jebel Marra displaced ‘limited’: Central Darfur governor

A limited number of people have been displaced in Jebel Marra by the recent clashes between government forces and fighters of the rebel Sudan Liberation movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW), says Central Darfur Governor Jaafar Abdelhakam.

After a meeting with the head of the UN-AU mission in Darfur (Unamid), Martin Uhomoibhi, in the capital Zalingei on Wednesday, the governor told reporters that “the insurgents of El Nur have turned into gangs of robbers after the loss of their sites in Jebel Marra earlier this year. Therefore the government troops are persecuting them”.

According to Abdelhakam “a limited number of people were displaced during the operations”.

The head of Unamid thanked the Central Darfur government for facilitating a visit to Jebel Marra, by which Unamid could do a preliminary assessment of the conditions of the people living there.

Displacement

In January this year, the Sudanese government resumed its ground and aerial attacks on rebel sites in the Jebel Marra massif. Tens of thousands of people fled their villages, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in August.

According to the UN and partners, 82,000 people were newly displaced across Darfur during the first seven months of 2016. Up to an additional 117,000 people were also reportedly displaced, but the UN and partners were unable to verify these figures owing to a lack of access to the relevant locations.