Herders assault farmers, release livestock on farmlands in South Darfur

Militant herders entered their livestock by force on farmlands in Merching locality in South Darfur last week. On Saturday, militiamen assaulted a group of displaced in Nierteti locality in Central Darfur. “Three militiamen assaulted a number of farmers, when they protested against livestock being released on their farmlands in Mershing locality last week”, a farmer reported to Radio Dabanga from the area. “The intruders beat farmers Maryam and Fatima Adam Saleh, Rawda Khalil Ahmed, Um El Alam Mohamed Abdallah, Mohamed Ismail, and Adam Abdallah Shura.” “Shura resisted, and clashed with one of the gunmen. He was able to seize the assailant’s weapon, and handed it to forces belonging to the Liberation and Justice Movement, who signed the Doha peace agreement with the government,” the farmer explained. “During their flight, the militiamen assaulted Yousif Ramadan, and kidnapped farmer Ahmed Ibrahim, his wife, Huda Adam, and their five-months-old son. They released them after we had returned the weapon to them.” The farmer appealed to the local authorities to intervene, and protect them and their farms in the locality of Mershing. File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid Related: Livestock destroy Darfur crops (24 August 2014)