Darfur airport workers in dispute with national security service

Airport workers in Darfur are at odds with the security service as a result of two violent incidents at the airport. Workers at El Fasher airport demanded the arrest and trial of two of the employees of the security service after they beat and insulted employees of the airport authority.The workers threatened to carry out a two hour strike to protest the incident, which they said was the second such occurrence. A statement issued by the airport staff said that on 2 September two employees of the national security, a captain and sergeant, assaulted airport officer Ibrahim Abdullah and flight security officer Khaled Abdelrahman, after the airport security officers prohibited the national security men from transporting liquids on the plane.

The statement said that the previous incident involved a dispute between policemen and members of aviation security. The incident was sparked when one of the members of the security service insisted on boarding a departing aircraft without going through the safety procedures.