South Darfur governor: ‘Perpetrators of shootings must be arrested’

The governor of South Darfur, Maj Gen Hashim Khalid, gave the security services, the Mershing locality police and the state executive four days to arrest the perpetrators of the shootings in Mershing on September 15 and last week.  He threatened to transfer the locality police director and the executive if the perpetrators will not be caught.

During an address to leaders of the displaced and the native administration in Mershing, Khalid said that his government has pushed Rapid Support Forces “to impose the prestige of the state, deter outlaws and eliminate negative phenomena”.

The commander of Rapid Support Forces in Darfur, Maj Gen Esameldin Saleh Fideil affirmed this and said the RSF will remain in Mershing to establish security and stability.

In West Darfur local leaders demanded last week that the RSF militia leave the capital El Geneina.

The administration leaders of Mershing and the displaced demanded earlier that the government provide security, arrest the perpetrators and provide the necessary services.

In the aftermath of the shooting in September 2019 officers from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) shot several protestors. The protestors then torched the police and NISS offices.

Last week unknown gunmen opened fire at a wedding party in Mershing, killing six.

300 men

One of the leaders of the displaced who participated in the meeting said that the governor demanded that the native administrations and the leaders of the displaced choose 300 men from the locality to be trained by and work with the police in order to protect the locality, “as it is not the responsibility of the Rapid Support Forces to do so”, the governor said.

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