Six civilians killed in ongoing Jebel Marra clashes

Clashes between Sudan’s army and militias and the rebel forces are ongoing in the southern and western parts of Jebel Marra in Darfur. Six civilians were killed. The fighting has led people to flee to the higher mountains and caves for security.

Waleed Mohamed Abakar, the spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW), said that the rebels managed to repel a new attack launched by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on its sites in west Jebel Marra.

He told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the RSF attacked rebel sites at Awatim in the west Jebel Marra, and claimed that the SLM-AW managed to repel them and force them to return to Tur.

Children killed

Sources in the area reported to this station that six civilians were killed and 12 others were wounded, including four children, during clashes between the Sudanese forces and the SLM of El Nur, in west and south Jebel Marra, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Maryam Suleiman Hamid, aged 32, and 13-year-old Abdelhafeez Ibrahim Yahya were killed when shelling by pro-government militias hit them near Sabun El Fagur in southern Jebel Marra. On Thursday, a witness told Radio Dabanga that seven civilians, including four children, were wounded.

In the villages of Fuju, in west Jebel Marra, two students of El Faki Atim Quran school were killed on Wednesday. Radio Dabanga could not yet verify their names and age. Five others were wounded by the shelling.

Sudanese soldiers have arrested villagers in Fuju in the past days. A listener told told Radio Dabanga that two students of the Quran school have been arrested on charges of supporting the rebels, and that they have been taken to Nierteti.

Two men were killed on Wednesday, when government forces shelled Berbera and Kuweila, east of Guldo. A number of villagers have fled to caves in the mountains for safety. Yousef Hamid Ali (58) and Kaltoum Mousa (48) did not survive when they attempted to flee Berbera.

The renewed fighting started a week ago, according to the reports by the SLM-AW.

End March and early April, government forces attacked the areas of Sawani, Rokona, and Libei in East Jebel Marra. The areas are the last strongholds of the SLM-AW. 

More than 50,000 people fled the fighting and militia attacks on their villages. Activists told this station in mid-April that the newly displaced were living in the open or hiding in caves after their homes burned to the ground.