‘Cattle herders destroy crops’: South Darfur farmers

Residents in El Salam and Gireida localities, South Darfur, have complained about the livestock that nomads drive onto their farmlands, destroying their crops. One of the farmers, from Dalal Abu Angara in El Salam, told Radio Dabanga that around 15 villages experience fierce attacks from Arab nomads, while they release their livestock on the farmlands by force of arms. The animals destroy large tracts of crops which are near maturity. The farmers appealed via the radio to the livestock owners and their native administrations, not to release animals on the farmlands. “This creates problems and frictions between farmers and herders,” they stressed, adding that local authorities should intervene to protect the farmers until they harvest their crops. In Gireida locality, the displaced people living in the Gireida camps have called on the local government to protect the displaced population and the farms, so the crops can be harvested. Omda Ahmed Yahya Ishag appealed via Radio Dabanga to the state’s local authorities to take security measures for the farms. He also called on the Darfuri to surpass their differences and live peacefully. File photo: A young woman walks home after farming in Gireida locality, South Darfur, July 2012 (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related: Herders assault farmers, release livestock on farmlands in South Darfur (25 August 2014)