Commission: ‘30,000 weapons in South and West Darfur civilian hands’

The Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission has made an inventory of more than 30,000 weapons in the hands of civilians in South and West Darfur at the beginning of the registration and inventory process in the five states.

Ismail Khalaf, the director of community security and control administration, said that the plan for arms collection in Darfur has begun with raising awareness about the dangers of weapons and their impact on the communities.

He told the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the project has targeted the states of Darfur, and has begun exclusively in the states of South and West Darfur.

He referred to the registration and inventory of 25,000 weapons in South Darfur, and more than 5,000 in West Darfur as “a first step”.

He stressed the intention is to cover all areas of Darfur within a short period, so as to complete the disarmament of all different types of weapons and enforcement of the recommendations of the workshop which was held recently in El Fasher.

Doubts

In an interview with Radio Dabanga at the weekend, Sudan’s National Umma Party (NUP) leader, Imam El Sadig El Mahdi, expressed doubts at the government’s ability to collect arms in Darfur “because now, the weapons have become tribal property, which represent a danger to the future of Sudanese national security”.