Villages raided, emptied in Tawila, North Darfur

An as yet unknown number of people were injured, two women were gang-raped, and three people were abducted during attacks on Saturday.on villages in North Darfur's Tawila locality, an area traditionally considered part of East Jebel Marra.

Fleeing villagers told Radio Dabanga on Sunday afternoon that groups of militiamen and militant camel herders attacked Kunjara North and Kunjara South, 25 kilometre south of Tawila town, and later in the day, the village of Um Tereiteer.

“The attackers robbed the people of their belongings and livestock. We saw them gang-rape two women and kidnapped three people before we fled,” one of the victims said.

The villagers added that large tracts of farmland were destroyed. “We lost more than 2,500 feddan (1050 ha) with crops in the area of Dubbo and Mashrou Abu Zeid,” another villager specified.

They all described the situation in the area as “very bad. All the residents of the area were forced to leave their homes and farms and were stripped of their belongings. They are now seeking refuge in Tabit and the Zamzam camp”.

Zamzam camp for the displaced, of more than 150,000 people, is located near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

Last Sunday evening, ten people were injured and two raped in an attack on the village of Nemra in Tawila locality.

The locality has been the scene of attacks since the beginning of this year, when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began their second campaign to cleanse Darfur of insurgents. Many villages were raided and pillaged, and the residents fled to Shangil Tobaya, Tawila, and the Zamzam camp.

At the end of May, some 120 villages were reportedly deserted in the locality.

People on the ground reported to Radio Dabanga in June that thousands of settlers occupied plots in abandoned areas in East Jebel Marra/Tawila locality. The newcomers were identified by local pastoralists as members of Arab militias and migrants from Chad, Mali, and Niger. Several eyewitnesses told Radio Dabanga that they spotted RSF troops roaming around to protect the new inhabitants.