South Darfur: People in Nyala ‘at the mercy of the government’

Residents in the area surrounding Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, have spent Thursday and Friday in great fear, with helicopters and an Antonov aircraft circling above them at very low level. Residents of Nyala’s El Salam camp for the displaced also complain of tough measures, mistreatment, terrorisation, and being subjected to humiliating personal searches by militiamen at the camp gates, when they are leaving the camp for Nyala or returning. Several sources reported that many residents did not leave the camp on Friday, because those standing at the gates and inspecting them are the same militiamen responsible for their displacement, killing and looting. Sheikh Mahjoub Adam Tabaldiya of El Salam camp told Radio Dabanga that the people, in particular women and children in the camp ,have spent Thursday in great fear, when helicopters and an Antonov aircraft circled above the camp at a very low level for more than one hour. The sheikh reported that the helicopters and the Antonov returned on Friday and circled above the areas south and east of Nyala. The people of the Nyala camps for the displaced have expressed their support to the citizens of Nyala who have demanded security protection. They hold the government responsible for the insecurity, rampant crime, threats of looting and theft. Yet, the displaced also have voiced their fear that the government will exploit the insecure situation and prohibit the movement of relief organisations in and out of the camps. Hussein Abu Sharati, the spokesman for the Association of Displaced persons and Refugees of Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that that all the city’s residents, whether they are in the camps or inside Nyala, are ‘displaced and miserable’, “because they all are at the mercy of the government.” Abu Sharati stressed that the government has failed to protect the citizens and added that all those who terrorise citizens and commit crimes within the city of Nyala are ‘government militias’. “They are driving around in the city in vehicles loaded with heavy weapons before the eyes of the authorities in broad daylight without any problem.” Abu Sharati holds the government responsible for the deaths at the hands of security forces during the demonstrations demanding security. File Photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid Related: Calm restored in Nyala; governor blamed for South Darfur killings (20 September 2013) Curfew in Nyala after police shoot demonstrators in South Darfur (19 September 2013) Sudan police kill five in uprising against South Darfur Governor (19 September 2013)