Youths arrested for ‘insulting’ security forces in South Darfur camp

Security forces arrested four youths from Dreige camp in Nyala, South Darfur, on Wednesday evening for a suspected ‘insult’. According to a youth representative from the camp who spoke to Radio Dabanga, Mohamed Abdullah Ahmed, Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Abdullah, Abdullah Issa Lulua, and Mubarak Musa Ahmed were sitting around drinking tea, when a convoy of ten vehicles belonging to the Sudanese security service, army and police “accidentally passed through part of the camp”. “A small child in the vicinity shouted ‘Hamada’ (an offensive word) to another. The convoy immediately stopped and the soldiers approached the youths to ask who had shouted the word. Although the youths said they did not know, members of the security apparatus arrested all four, accusing them of being ‘westerners and rebels’.” The four youths were released on Thursday morning after being tortured, sources said. Central Reserve Forces (known as Abu Tira) soldiers reportedly fired tear gas canisters into Driege camp on Tuesday, and some children were affected. The youth leader confirmed this, condemned the Abu Tira actions, and appealed to Unamid to do more to protect the displaced.File PhotoRelated: Two women raped, men beaten near Dreige camp, South Darfur (29 May 2013)