Darfur displaced continue protesting against the election

Five residents of the Murnei camp for the displaced were injured today, and five others fainted when government forces used tear gas and live bullets to disperse an anti-election demonstration.

Thousands of displaced in the camp took to the streets on this (Monday) morning in protest against the presidential and parliamentary election that started today.

One of the organisers told Radio Dabanga that when the demonstrators reached Freedom Square at the centre of Murnei, heavily armed security, police, and militia forces riding in 17 vehicles attacked them.  

“Khalifa Abdelshafi Ateem, Abdelaziz Ahmed Yagoub, Abdelkareem Khamees, Jaafar Haroun, and Yousef Arbab Bosh sustained bullet wounds,” he said.

In other camps in Darfur, the displaced continued demonstrating for a second day in a row. The residents of Bindisi and Ronga Tas camps in Central Darfur joined the protests this morning, calling for the toppling of the incumbent regime.

No ballot boxes

In the remote Karnoi, Um Baru, and El Tina localities in North Darfur, the start of the voting was postponed to Thursday, owing to the non-arrival of ballot boxes.

In El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, the start of the election was delayed for hours because of a lack of ink to mark the voters’ fingers with.

On Sunday evening, a vehicle of the National Election Commission was stolen in front of a polling centre in El Fasher’s Awlad El Reef district.