Teachers in Nyala, South Darfur, on strike against militia threats

The teachers in Nyala South, capital of South Darfur, embarked on an open-ended strike today, in protest against threats by members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The secretary-general of the Nyala South Teachers Union, Abdelrazeg Mohamed Abdelrazeg, told Radio Dabanga that the union submitted a memorandum to the director of secondary education in Nyala and the head of the Nyala security apparatus on Tuesday.

In the memo, the union announces a strike starting on Wednesday, and describes how a member of the RSF entered El Faroug school with a pistol on Monday. The gunman ordered the headmaster at gunpoint to fetch the teacher who had punished his son at the school, so as to kill him.

After a brief discussion, the paramilitary shot into the air and then left. He then returned again, firing shots at random, and again threatened to kill the teacher.

In another incident last week, an RSF fighter who took up residency at the yard of El Manar School for Boys and Girls in southern Nyala barred workers from building an additional class room. He shot at all directions, and vowed to kill anyone who builds a class room inside the school, saying that no one can deny him living at the school, including the governor of South Darfur himself.

The union stressed that the teaching staff will only return after the arrest and prosecution of the attackers, and the removal of the illegal settlers at El Manar school yard.