♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Sudan cholera rages on: WHO urged to take leadership

October 3 – 2017 MURNEI / NYALA / KHARTOUM In just one week, 16 people died of cholera in Murnei camp in West Darfur. Two people died and eight others were infected at camp Otash in South Darfur on Wednesday. Volunteer activists and doctors reported that two people died of cholera and six others were infected in Nyala city on Tuesday.

In Khartoum, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Esam Abdallah confirmed that there are states which continue to record cases of ‘acute watery diarrhoea’ – the term the government uses to refer to cholera – including Khartoum. Khartoum has recorded five cases during the past few days.

Meanwhile a group of 30 human rights and civil society advocates, organisations, and activists wrote in a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO): “The apparent unwillingness of the Government of Sudan to declare the cholera epidemic in the country severely affected national and international mobilisation efforts to rescue the victims and to provide them with the necessary protection.” They urge the organisation to quickly intervene and effectively address the cholera epidemic in Sudan.

Sudan’s first cases of cholera were recorded in Blue Nile state in August last year. Since then, the disease spread in eastern Sudan, and later to the Northern State and central Sudan’s El Gezira, White Nile state, and North Kordofan. The epidemic – referred to as “acute watery diarrhoea” by the Sudanese government and several international agencies operating in Sudan – quickly spread in the camps for displaced people in Darfur when the first cases emerged in the region last June.

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♦ Four raids in Darfur: Seven people killed, others kidnapped

October 2 – 2017 TAWILA / TAMBOUL / BINDISI / ZALINGEI A raid in Sousawa village in North Darfur's Tawila locality by a group of gunmen on Wednesday evening resulted in the abduction of a 14-year-old boy. In addition two villagers sustained injuries when about 15 gunmen opened fire into the air, sources reported to this station.

Four people were killed, including a mother and her child, in a militia raid on a village in eastern Jebel Marra on Thursday morning. During the attack on Tamboul village militiamen shot four people and stole about 150 livestock, one of the villagers reported to Radio Dabanga. 50 houses were torched. The shooting led to the death of 55-year-old Ahmed Omar, a woman and her six-months-old baby, and a young man. A number of villagers reportedly fled to the mountain caves.

An attack by militiamen on a camp for displaced people in Bindisi, Central Darfur took place after the prayers on Friday afternoon. Eyewitnesses told Radio Dabanga that the perpetrators shot and killed a basic school teacher and a high school teacher. The perpetrators wounded several others and abducted eight people. In addition a number of houses were torched and money and property of the camp residents were stolen.

Militiamen killed a man during a raid in Khamsa Degaig camp for displaced people in Zalingei locality early Sunday morning. The Central Darfur camps coordinator, El Shafie Abdallah, reported that some of the attackers' vehicles carried number plates of the Sudanese army. The militiamen fired shots at the camp which resulted in the killing of Mustafa Adam Abakar (36 years). A 16-year-old boy named Abul Gasim Omar Mansour was abducted, while about nine people sustained injuries. 

More news from Radio Dabanga:

October 2 – 2017 KHARTOUM “Defending human rights is not a crime,” says the Sudanese human rights defender and university professor who recently defeated the prosecution after eight months of…
 

October 2 – 2017 KALMA / KHARTOUM A call to collect weapons from residents of Kalma camp sparked anger among community leaders, following the deadly incidents during a mass demonstration…
 

October 1 – 2017 EL GALLABAT El Gedaref state Ministry of Health has come under severe criticism from medical sources for its ‘late response’ to an outbreak of scabies during August and September…
 

October 1 – 2017 WASHINGTON Economic conditions in Sudan remain challenging in the face of persistent fiscal deficits, high inflation, and economic sanctions, according to a team from the International…
 

October 1 – 2017 KHARTOUM Experts and specialists have held the Sudanese government responsible for the high rates of illegal migration through the country, accusing it of leniency in law enforcement…
 

Sudan’s states claim success in arms, vehicle collection campaign

October 1 – 2017 NYALA / EL OBEID / ED DAEIN / EL GENEINA / The Sudanese states of North Kordofan, East Darfur, and West Darfur have all claimed a measure of success in the governent campaign…
 

September 29 – 2017 SARAF OMRA The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has handed over five of its vehicles following the death of 17 Border Guards members near the Sudanese-Libyan border last week…
 

September 28 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudan’s Press Council issued an order yesterday suspending publication of El Tayar daily newspaper for two days for publishing a column by journalist Shamayel El Nur…
 

September 28 – 2017 GENEVA Dozens of Sudanese demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva yesterday condemning the Kalma cap massacre of last…
 

September 27 – 2017 KHARTOUM / EL GEDAREF In Khartoum, the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health has acknowledged that there has been a huge increase in the prices of medicine in the country…