RSF assault civilians in Sudan’s North Kordofan

At least six people were wounded in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)​ on the market of Abu Hajjar and some of the other neighbourhoods of the town in North Kordofan on Saturday.

A listener told Radio Dabanga that he witnessed about five armed men, some of them wearing uniforms of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)*, assault a number of people with sticks at the market on Saturday afternoon.

They explained that the assailants then went to Karango El Wehda neighbourhood where they beat people, which resulted in the injury of at least six people.

The witness said that this was the second incident in which RSF paramilitaries assaulted the people of Abu Hajjar in a short amount of time.

Residents of Karango El Wehda submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Abu Hajjar locality on Sunday to call for an end to the attacks of RSF members on their people. The director had promised them to put an end to the assaults.

RSF violence

Earlier this month, RSF forces shot two people at a market in North Darfur after refusing to pay for a meal. In another incident at the start of this month, RSF forces robbed travellers of money and valuables on the Kadugli-Hajar El Foul Market road in South Kordofan. The gunmen severely beat the passengers before stealing the motor, mobile phones and merchants’ goods.

Next to such incidents, the RSF are widely condemned for their role in the October 25 military coup and subsequent violence against pro-democracy protesters. 

The RSF was established by the Al Bashir regime in August 2013 and grew out of the janjaweed militias which fought for the Sudanese government in Darfur since the war broke out 2003 and were largely made up of Arab herding tribes. The RSF is widely believed to be responsible for atrocities in the Kordofan and Darfur regions in the past years. They are also held responsible for the violent break-up of the Khartoum sit-in in 2019, also known as the June 3 Massacre. The paramilitary force has always been commanded by Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo, who was sworn in as deputy president of Sudan's Sovereign Council on August 21, 2019 and has played an important role in the October 25 military coup.

The militia has reportedly built up a vast business empire that captures not only a large part of the country’s gold industry but has huge interests in many sectors of the Sudanese economy as well. Tens of thousands of RSF troops also joined the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015.

Nort Darfur robbery

A farmer was injured in an armed robbery in Saraf Omra in North Darfur on Friday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that two gunmen shot at a group of farmers in the area of Birkat Seyra when they were heading back from the farms in Wadi Bari to their homes in Saraf Omra on Friday evening.

Seleik Zakaria was seriously injured and was taken to the Zalingei Teaching Hospital. The attackers assaulted the other farmers with sticks and robbed them of their mobile telephones and money.

The robbery was reported to the police of Saraf Omra.