Reactions to assassination of Ismail Wadi in South Darfur

The Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) condemned the killing of the Darfuri businessman, Ismail Wadi, on Wednesday in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state. The president of the DRA, Tijani Sese, demanded the formation of a committee to investigate the assassination. Osman Bushra, the minister of Health of the DRA, stated that the Sudan government is definitely able to drive the armed groups out of Nyala, control them and collect their weapons, “since it was the State itself that created and trained these armed groups. “The insecurity, the spread of organised crime, the assassinations, kidnappings, lootings and thefts in Darfur in general, and in Nyala in particular, can all be treated if only there is a political will.” Bushra added that both the states of Darfur and the federal government have to fulfil their tasks and restore the prestige of the ‘State of Sudan’ by providing security to the citizens. NCPLeaders of the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Legislative Council in South Darfur state have appealed to the Presidency of Sudan to take decisive action on the issue of the paramilitary forces, specially the ‘Border Guards’ (Border Intelligence Brigade). The chairman of the NCP in South Darfur state, Abdelrahman El Zain, explained during a meeting with the Vice President of Sudan, El Haj Adam Yusif, in Nyala, that the issues facing the state are unbridled insecurity, tribal conflicts, and rebels moving around the state. He also pointed to “the problem of the old rail road, the high cost of airline tickets, and the amount of SDG300 billion ($68 million) that has not been paid yet as benefits to employees of South Darfur state.” Yusif replied that “there are procedures in place to disarm paramilitary forces of all kinds. They have to be evacuated from Nyala.” He pledged that ‘the State of Sudan’ will arrest the killers of Ismail Wadi and his nephew and bring them to justice. GovernorThe Governor of South Darfur state, General Adam Mahmud Jar Al Nabi, has decided to form an investigation committee into the assassination of Ismail Wadi. The Secretary General of the Popular Congress Party in South Darfur, Abdelrahman El Douma, holds the ‘central government’ responsible for the insecurity in Darfur in general and in the city of Nyala in particular. “The regime has created and adopted paramilitary institutions that are not organised. They lack discipline and are not managed well.” According to El Douma, the purpose of the central government’s policies is to continuously keep Darfur preoccupied with internal crises. Yet, Darfur has become more difficult to manipulate than South Sudan before its secession. El Douma described Darfur as “a big prison in the central government subjects the people to suffering, poverty, disease, hunger, ignorance. The central government destroys Darfur’s social fabric through engaging the citizens in tribal conflicts.” OppositionThe leader of the opposition parties in the National Assembly, Dr Ismail Hussein, has affirmed that the government institutions in the states of Darfur are not fit for the protection of the people’s lives, their dignity and properties. “They are lacking political, professional and moral competence.” Hussein added that the people of Darfur are “at current not requesting development, services, welfare or a decent life, but they are just appealing for the basic right to stay alive.” He stressed that “decay, paralysis, failure, corruption and incompetence could occur because the government officials are not qualified on the institutional level.” NUPThe National Umma Party (NUP) has condemned the “phenomenon of assassinations and eliminations”. In a statement it demands to bring those involved in the killing of Ismail Wadi and his nephew to justice. The NUP also criticises the leniency of the authorities and the non-prosecution of the perpetrators “who are walking freely and enjoying their impunity” and confirmed its “total rejection of the regime’s policies, strategies and of the practices of its militias in killing, looting and intimidating unarmed citizens in Darfur.” File photo: Protesters surround the Governor’s office in Nyala last week Related: Calm restored in Nyala; governor blamed for South Darfur killings (20 September 2013) Curfew in Nyala after police shoot demonstrators in South Darfur (19 September 2013)