Two more ‘anti-election activists’ killed in South Darfur camp

Two residents of Otash camp for the displaced in Nyala locality were killed early on Sunday morning.

Both were opponents of the election that started today, a camp elder told Radio Dabanga.

He said that he heard gunfire near his home at night. “After we went to the place where the shots had come from, we found Omar Ambus Hasaballah shot. He was bleeding heavily, and passed away not much later”.

The camp elder reported that on the same night, a displaced working as a humanitarian volunteer at the camp, was found stabbed to death.

On 30 March, militiamen shot dead Sheikh Ahmed Idris Abu Shama inside his shelter at the camp, allegedly because of his stance against the election.

The Darfur Bar Association has called on the National Election Commission (NEC) to investigate the murder on the Otash camp official, saying that the crime was related to the general election. 

In an inquiry into the killing, the Bar found that the men who killed Abu Shama are supporters of the ruling party. They had intimidated and threatened to kill the sheikh several times before, the Darfur lawyers said, because he had expressed his doubts about the fairness of the electoral process.