Militiamen wreak havoc in Kabkabiya, North Darfur

On Tuesday, a group of militiamen assaulted and robbed a man in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, and kidnapped a tea seller. This morning, they abused the remaining vendors at the weekly Kabkabiya farmers' market and destroyed their products.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener said that a group of militiamen riding a Land Cruiser assaulted Abdelrahman Abdelshafi in front of his home in El Mawashi district in Kabkabiya on Tuesday afternoon. “He sustained serious head wounds,” he said. “The attackers then robbed him of SDG1,000 ($163).

He reported that the group kidnapped tea seller Maryam Foul from the market of El Mawashi district on Tuesday morning. “They released her the same day, after her relatives had collected and paid the ransom of SDG2,000 ($325).”

Kabkabiya farmers' market

The source said that the same men attacked vendors at the weekly Kabkabiya farmers' market this (Wednesday) morning. “They beat and whipped them, driving their vehicle and destroyed their goods by riding over them.”

On 21 October, more than 1,400 stalls of the weekly Kabkabiya farmers' market were removed by a group of police agents and militiamen.

An affected vendor told Radio Dabanga at the time that most of the market vendors are poor and often displaced single mothers, “who pay annual market fees to the locality”.

The vendor denied the authorities' claim that drugs and weapons are sold at the market. “The authorities are well-aware that militiamen trade drugs and weapons in broad daylight in other markets,” she said.