West Darfur school board members released

Several members of the Solo School board, where a riot by pupils took place on 4 May that resulted in the destruction of a classroom, have been released from detention by the authorities in El Geneina on Saturday.

The eight members of the board of fathers of the basic school in Murnei camp for displaced had been held since the children demonstrated against the arrival of a medical team which planned to vaccinate the pupils against schistosomiasis. It had not notified Solo school. Their unsuspected arrival sparked children to demonstrate. The police intervened with gunfire and teargas to disperse the crowd. Three people were injured, including a woman.

A source told Radio Dabanga that the members were released after being held in a small, narrow cell, where they were unable to lie down. “There was no ventilation or light in the cells.

“The detainees received one meal of beans a day and were only allowed to go to the toilet once a day.”

The released detainees, he said, are: Doctor Abu Bakar Ismail, Ishag Halengi, Abdulrahman Mohammed Saleh, Omar Abdo, Saleh Gumaa and Mohamed Abdul Rahman.