RSF paramilitaries retrieve Unamid vehicles hijacked in South Darfur

Troops of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have recovered eight of the nine Unamid vehicles, hijacked by militiamen in South Darfur on Tuesday. Six militiamen were killed, and three others captured.

RSF Brig. Esam Fadel told the press in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Wednesday that after having received information about suspicious activities in Jaraf, 37 northeast of the city, the RSF moved to the area, where they clashed with the hijackers.

The paramilitaries shot dead six of them, and captured three others. Besides retrieving five Land Cruisers and three lorries belonging to the UN-AU peacekeepers mission, they seized three four-wheel drive vehicles from the militiamen.

The militiamen had ambushed a Unamid convoy of three lorries, carrying five Land Cruisers, at the El Fasher-Nyala road on Tuesday evening – the largest armed robbery against Unamid since its formation in 2007. Eyewitnesses told Radio Dabanga that the attackers headed with the vehicles to the east.

The acting governor of South Darfur, Omar Al Bashir, stated that the “outlaws” do not belong to any of the armed movements, nor do they belong to a particular tribe. He said that will be brought to a “prompt and fair trial” in the coming days, according to the South Darfur emergency law, imposed in July last year.