South Darfur market vendors protest construction of stalls

Shopkeepers at the butchers’ section at the Grand Market of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, protest the construction of “temporary stalls” in front of their shops. Their lawyer has been threatened. Yousif Ahmed, a member of the “Market Vendors Committee”, told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday that Abdel Rahman Hussein Gardoud, the Commissioner of Nyala locality, recently ordered the confiscation of the spaces directly in front of the shops at the butchers’ section of the Grand Market. “The locality already started to build what they call temporary stalls in front of our shops. We demand a financial and moral compensation”, Ahmed said, “though the Urban Planning Minister of South Darfur State, Maj. Gen. Adam Eisa Abakar, has now halted the construction of the stalls. The Committee’s lawyer, Abdallah Jideliyaal, reported to Radio Dabanga that unidentified men contacted him by phone, and told him to drop the case. “If not, I would be abducted or murdered.” He pointed out that the locality has already leased a number of stalls under construction for SDG28,000 ($4,890) each. “Other stalls at the market were sold by the locality, for SDG150,000 ($26,175).” File photo: A butcher in a newly constructed building at the market in Nierteti, Central Darfur. The building was erected with support of the Unamid Quick Impact Project, in 2012 (Albert González Farran/Unamid)