‘South Darfur massacre is counteract against returnees’: Governor

The South Darfur State Governor will form a committee to investigate the killing of 15 civilians near Manawashi last Tuesday. “The spread of arms in the hands of civilians leads to the emergence of some crimes, but the security in the state is improving,” he said. In the attack on a vehicle by seven militiamen in Wadi Tabbaldin, 15 km east of Manawashi locality, 15 people were killed and 12 or 13 others were injured – mostly elders and Holy Koran memorisers. Governor Maj. Gen. Adam Mahmoud Jarelnabi revealed the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, committed “by four unidentified gunmen”, in an interview with Radio Dabanga. “This incident is a counteract against the voluntary return,” he said. The group of unarmed imams of mosques and preachers had visited the market in Hamada village in Niteaga locality, a village to which displaced people have begun to return. According to the Governor, the vehicle was carrying 30 people at the time of the attack. Jarelnabi accused entities which he did not name of being ‘unwilling to implement the voluntary repatriation’: “They only want insecurity to rein in the state, so that they can benefit from robberies and intimidation against civilians, and implement their agenda.” ‘Security is better than four months ago’ He acknowledged that the spread of arms in the hands of civilians “leads to the emergence of some crimes”, but pointed out that the security situation in the state is improving. “There is a significant improvement in the security situation, which is better than four months ago,” Jarelnabi stressed during the interview. He claimed that the same applied to Nyala city, where the government imposed a State of Emergency. In his address to the State’s Legislative Council this week, the Governor acknowledged the inability of his government to resolve the security chaos in South Darfur. The Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) led by Dr Tijani Sese has condemned the massacre of in Wadi Tabbaldin which claimed the lives of 15 people. Ahmed Fadul, state minister of the cabinet and spokesman for the LJM, described the incident as “a heinous, sinful and condemnable by the strongest words”. “The perpetrators, or outlaws, aimed to hinder the voluntary repatriation programme and ban civilians from returning to their villages of origin. The government of South Darfur must provide protection for the civilians who have returned to their villages of origin.” File photo: The funeral of the 15 Elders and Sheikhs in Hamada on Wednesday 26 November 2014 (Radio Dabanga correspondents) Related: 15 Elders, Sheiks ambushed, slain near Manawashi, South Darfur (26 November 2014) Militiamen kill man in ‘stable’ South Darfur (24 November 2014)