♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Darfur displaced call on Sudan govt. to declare cholera epidemic

August 15 – 2017 NYALA / EL MAHAS Cholera continues to spread in South Darfur and Northern State. The leadership of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association has urged the Sudanese authorities to officially declare a cholera epidemic in the country.
“The Khartoum regime must declare the spread of cholera and allow the World Health Organization to intervene in the towns, villages, and camps for the displaced in Darfur to save the people,” said the General Coordination of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association last week.

Radio Dabanga received reports of increased rates of cholera infections in the health centres in Northern State's El Mahas and Abri. The affected areas are Abri and El Mahas, specifically Saad Nafatni where a woman died on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths in this area to four cases in four days. Parents have prevented their children from going to two local basic schools in fear of contracting the disease.

The epidemic reached the area of Manawashi, near the South Darfur capital, last week. Six people died of cholera on Wednesday and Thursday. In West and Central Darfur, thirteen people have died of cholera in one week's time. Meanwhile a medical team arrived in a village in Kass, South Darfur, after thirteen people died of cholera and 45 others were infected. The team's arrival has led to a decrease in the spread of the infections and a reduction in the mortality rate, a source reported on Friday. “No new deaths have been reported in the village as of Wednesday.”

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♦ Musa Hilal's men detained, Darfur paramilitaries hand-over arms

August 15 – 2017 EL GENEINA / ZALINGEI A number of paramilitary Border Guards members in West Darfur have complied to the weapons collection order of the Sudanese government and handed over weapons and vehicles they illegally owned, contrary to the stance of Border Guards in North Darfur.

Speaking at a news conference, West Darfur Governor Fadlel Mawla El Haja added that yesterday the first batch of weapons of the native administrations in the state was handed over to the Sudanese Armed Forces. Elsewhere in Darfur similar inventories are conducted in order to collect the unlicensed firearms and other tools often used in criminal activities.

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, all states of Darfur issued a warning to their citizens to hand over illegal weapons and unlicensed vehicles to the Sudanese army and police. The campaign is criticised by several parties, including displaced people, opposition parties, rebel movements and militiamen. Among the concerns is the selectivity in the collection of weapons which might lead to new conflicts.

In North Darfur, Border Guards and the Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC) led by former Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal have announced that they will refrain from handing over weapons and vehicles. Last week the government's official militia, the RSF, detained a number of close followers of Musa Hilal, including his bodyguard, at the Darfur-Libya border on their return from Libya. The North Darfur Border Guards and RAC also oppose the plan for their re-integration into the ranks of the RSF, a militia created in 2013 to fight the various rebel groups in the country.

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