Two women crushed by RSF vehicle in Nyala, South Darfur

Two women were killed on Monday when a member of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ran over them in a four-wheel drive vehicle in the South Darfur capital of Nyala.

Multiple witnesses reported to Radio Dabanga that the incident happened in El Kongo street. They said that the paramilitary driver did not stop. “He just proceeded as if nothing had happened.”

Contrary to the newly appointed governor of North Darfur, Abdelwahed Yousef, who recently stressed that “no one stands above the law, including the regular forces”, South Darfur’s new governor, Adam El Faki, told the police in Nyala on 8 July that members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the RSF, other militias, and the police, should “shoot to kill” in order to curb the rampant insecurity in the state capital.

Impunity

The RSF, a militia created in 2013 to “fight the insurgency in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile, stand under direct command of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), and enjoy far-reaching impunity since the Sudanese interim Constitution was amended in January.

The amendments met with a chorus of condemnation from the Sudanese opposition. The National Umma Party commented that “After the amendment to Article 151, the functions of the NISS, instead of collecting and analysing information and data, will match those of the armed forces.

“The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by the NISS, and enjoying full impunity, will become part of Sudan's regular forces, supervised by the Presidency. The government militia will thus be fully legitimised”.

Dr Ismail Hussein Fadlallah, chairman of the parliamentary Popular Congress Party block, called the amendments “sinful”. They “will change the nature of the state; Sudan will become a police state for 100 percent”.