Villagers ‘executed’ in Jebel Marra, OCHA reports 5,700 newly displaced in North Darfur

Three villagers were “executed by a firing squad” of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in East Jebel Marra today. People in Tawila locality reported that all means of transport in and to Tawila locality came to a standstill, as the militias are blocking all the roads. According to the latest weekly bulletin of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, about 5,700 newly displaced have initially been recorded in the area of Tawila town. Aid agencies have not been able to access the other areas in the locality and those around Jebel Marra for security reasons.

A relative of one of the men killed in East Jebel Marra today, told Dabanga that the three were among the people who fled from Dubo El Omda village, when the RSF militia troops entered the area more than two weeks ago.

“Shamseldin Haroun Adam (45), Abdellatif Younes Hamed (25), and Adam Hary Yagoub Musa (22) left their hiding place in the mountains to try to fetch water from the well at Dubo El Omda this morning,” he related. “RSF troops seized them, and put them in a line for what they called the execution of the death penalty. We found their bodies much later, with their hands tied.”

Multiple sources confirmed to Dabanga from East Jebel Marra, and Tawila locality in North Darfur today that thousands of RSF troops are present in the region. “From Zamzam camp, directly south of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, until Shangil Tobaya, in the south of the locality, you find militia troops,” one of them said.

They added that all means of transport in and to the region came to a standstill, as the militias are blocking all the roads leading to Tawila locality.

Access to Tawila

In its weekly bulletin of 5-11 January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan also indicated that the region is not secure enough for international aid organisations to access most of the affected areas. It reported too that the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC) notified aid agencies that no mission requests to Central and North Jebel Marra localities will only be granted until the security situation improves.

According to the bulletin, aid agencies recorded in the area of Tawila about 5,700 newly displaced who fled attacks by “unidentified armed militias” on villages in the locality early this month.  

“All these verified displaced people need shelter materials, emergency household supplies, food and access to safe water,” the bulletin said, adding that the “total number of displaced people can be higher than those already verified”.

“Aid agencies are working to provide the newly displaced in Darfur with blankets and other essential items to protect from cold. The UN Children’s Agency (Unicef) has dispatched about 1,000 blankets to Tawila, North Darfur. More blankets are expected from the State Ministry of Health and the State Ministry of Social Affairs in the coming days.”

As for the northern part of Central Darfur, the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC) indicated that “about 10 villages in North Jebel Marra (previously known as Rokoro) locality were affected, and 1,800 people were displaced to a village called Yaga (3 km south of Rokoro town),” OCHA reported.