Sudan instructs severe punishment for weapon use

Against the backdrop of the killing of civilians in El Geneina earlier this week, the Sudanese government has announced that people convicted for committing crimes using firearms in certain areas shall be severely punished. Courts have been instructed to speed up the intensifying of such convictions.

The instructions to the courts by head of the judiciary, Haider Ahmed Dafallulah, are aimed at crimes in areas where there is lawlessness, a press statement on Thursday said.

Also on Thursday the Minister of the Federal Governance, Faisal Hassan Ibrahim, said that the delegation that investigates the incidents in West Darfur and El Geneina earlier this week will find the perpetrators. Additionally, he said they will discover the role of undisclosed 'involved bodies' and the extent of their interaction with the incidents.

The Minister said he will take the necessary accountability for any failure during the investigations.

Sudan Tribune reported yesterday that one person was killed by gunmen, 7 kilometres east of El Geneina. The assailants, in a vehicle, fled in the direction of the state capital without harming other people. A police source said that a member of an armed group opened fire on the driver of a vehicle transporting people and killed him on the spot. The body of the deceased was carried to El Geneina Teaching Hospital, following what the police cordoned the medical facility to prevent possible unrest.

Radio Dabanga reported on Sunday that a group of militiamen raided Mouli village, south of the state capital El Geneina, on Saturday and abducted three villagers as compensation for a militiaman whose body was found near the village. Three mourners at the funeral were fatally hit, including a 13-year-old boy. Nine people were killed during militia attacks in the southern Mouli village, and a protest against the insecurity in the area, in two days' time, according to our sources.

The head of the West Darfur department of the National Umma Party claimed on Wednesday that the number of civilian deaths is larger than authorities reported.