South Darfur children die in Jebel Marra shelling

Two children were killed and another was wounded in shelling by government forces stationed in Deribat area in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur.

A relative of one of the of the dead children told Radio Dabanga that the government troops stationed in Deribat area fired an explosive projectile on Tuesday evening that fell on a family who were having dinner at a farm east of Deribat. The blast killed five-year-old Salima Ibrahim Yahya and seven-year-old Abdel Karim Yahya Ahmed, and wounded another. The rest of the family were unhurt.

He said that as a result of the shelling, a fire broke out on the farm and destroyed agricultural crops over an area of two acres.

Reprisal attack

The situation in the Deribat area has been described as tense. As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, at least five civilians were reported killed by government troops and dozens were injured in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilians at the weekly Deribat market in East Jebel Marra, South Darfur on Monday.

The motive behind the RSF attack appeared to be a reprisal on civilians after an ambush by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) on Sunday in the area of Jawa, 10 kilometres south of Deribat, in which 17 government troops were reportedly killed and an RSF vehicle was destroyed.

RSF

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, the commander of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan (also known as Hemeti), vowed to eliminate the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra in three months. The demand came in a statement following Hemeti’s recent visit to Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur.

The general coordination of displaced people and refugee camps called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges to include Hemeti on the list of those wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to bring him to justice.