Violence in Darfur: One killed, five wounded, army responds to calls for justice

A villager was shot dead by armed robbers in his house in Sirba, West Darfur, on Tuesday. In another incident in Sirba that day, two people were shot by elements of the Rapid Support Forces. Army officers responded to calls for justice from the people and detained four of them. Two displaced were attacked in a North Darfur camp on Monday. A farmer was shot in the head in South Darfur.

On Tuesday evening, armed men driving a motorcycle, raided the house of Mohamed Ezzeldin in the village of Kota Arba in Sirba, and shot him dead.

Mohamed Abakar told Radio Dabanga from Sirba town that the attackers then stole the victim’s “telephone and some of his belongings”, and fled.

A complaint was filed with the Sirba Police, who went out to track down the perpetrators, with the support of some villagers, he said.

That morning, Ishag Adam El Dom and Khoja Ishag Idris were shot by paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at the Sirba Market.

Abakar reported RSF members arrived at the market in two Land Cruisers. They ate a meal in a restaurant and refused to pay for it. When the owner and his assistant protested, they were shot. They sustained serious wounds and had to be transferred to the Teaching Hospital of El Geneina, capital of West Darfur.

Following the incident, people in Sirba gathered in front of the Sudan Armed Forces command in the town, demanding justice.

The Sirba army commander sent out a force that tracked down the shooters and detained four of them. “The people in Sirba though fear they will be released before they are brought to justice,” Abakar added.

‘Tribal friction’

On Monday evening, two people were wounded in an attack in the Abuja Peace Camp for the displaced near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

A group of gunmen attacked young camp residents who had hired a rickshaw to tour the camp to offer Eid greetings to relatives and friend, the Dabanga correspondent in El Fasher reported.

They shot one of the passengers in the arm, and stabbed another in the face and shoulder. Both of them had to be treated at the El Fasher Teaching Hospital.

The correspondent explained that the perpetrators came from the Kosa area, east of Tawila, and that the attack was caused by friction between two tribal groups.

The relatives of the victims demanded the state government to bring the perpetrators to trial, and threatened to take justice into their own hands if the authorities do not intervene. Closer relatives gathered at the hospital to visit the victims and called on the state governor to visit them as well.

Shot in the head

Farmer Muhyildin Ali Abdallah (51) was seriously injured by “three Arab gunmen” near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Monday.

The attack occurred at about 22:00 in the Mashrou Abit area, 28 km west of Nyala, Adam Rujal told Radio Dabanga. Abdallah was working on his farm when the assailants, riding on a motorcycle, wanted to take away his tuk-tuk. When he resisted, the perpetrators shot him in the head.

The victim was taken to the Nyala Teaching Hospital, currently closed because the medics are on strike, after which he was flown to Khartoum in critical condition.

Rujal said that the area near the capital “is still witnessing many incidents of violence perpetrated by tribal militiamen”.