Violence, fire, claim several lives in South Darfur

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The body of child 13-year-old boy who disappeared on Friday after paying for a seat on a donkey cart was found in Wadi Beleil on Sunday. In Nyala, a 48-year-old mother of four was killed instantly, allegedly by a stray police bullet. A Wadi Salih farmer is in hospital in Nyala after a savage assault, reportedly at the hands of a herder.

Awatif Abdelrahman, a resident of El Salam camp for the displaced in Beleil, east of Nyala, capital of South Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that Adam Zakaria (13) disappeared on Friday after paying for a seat on a donkey cart driven by unknown persons. She said that the cart had not been found yet and the investigation into the circumstances is ongoing.

In Nyala, mother of four Rugaya Sharaf (48), died instantly when she was hit in the head by a stray bullet at the city’s bus station, allegedly fired by a policemen in pursuit of a suspected drug trafficker.

Witnesses said that the policemen opened fire after the suspect threatened him. Sharaf, who was passing by, was killed instantly.

Farmer Mohamed Abdeljabbar sustained multiple injuries in an assault by a herder on his farm near Mukjar in Wadi Salih, Central Darfur, on Sunday.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of the victim reported that the herder beat the farmer, injuring him in the head and limbs.

Abdeljabbar was transferred to Nyala Teaching Hospital, a report of the accident was filed with the Mukjar police, and the alleged perpetrator handed himself over to the police.

Ed El Fursan

The authorities in Ed El Fursan, South Darfur, reported that calm has returned to the Amsheitir area, 20 km southwest of Ed El Fursan town, after tensions over the killing of three people due to a dispute over a goat.

Mohamed Ishag, the director of Ed El Fursan locality, said that the police arrested the killer and his accomplices. The Security Committee sent police reinforcements, as a precaution for any clashes between the various communities that might result from the incident.

In North Darfur, sources reported that the Saraf Omra police department has detained a policeman in connection with the killing of Degel Adam while he was being held in police custody on Friday.

The results of the autopsy in the El Geneina Teaching Hospital proved that Degel died as a result of torture.

Dagal’s family refused to autopsy him at Saraf Omra Rural Hospital and demanded that the body be transferred to the morgue of the El Geneina Hospital.

Fire

A child died in a fire that broke out in Buram, South Darfur, on Sunday, and the fire caused property losses.

People denounced the absence of the firefighting police from the event. The director of Buram locality, Adam Mukhtar, called on the South Darfur government and civil defence force to maintain the fire engine in the locality. Most of the houses in Buram have thatched roofs and walls, which are often exposed to frequent fires with the advent of the summer season.

Fires that broke out in Mershing and Manawashi in South Darfur destroyed more than 80 homes in two weeks this February.

Hammad Ishag, Sheikh of the Manawashi camp for displaced people, told Radio Dabanga that the fires destroyed 13 homes in the camp and 66 houses in Niteaga, in addition to huge property losses, including 300 sacks of beans and other crops.

In El Safaa in El Taweisha, North Darfur, a fire broke out on Sunday evening, destroying 13 houses, agricultural crops and local building materials.

Eyewitnesses explained that heavy winds contributed to the spread of the fire, calling on the government authorities to provide shelter, food and aid for those affected.

People living in Hejeir Tono in Beleil in South Darfur demand replanning of the area and widening of the main streets in order to avoid the recurring fires every year, in light of the fires that broke out during the past two weeks and destroyed more than 150 homes and led to huge losses of property.