Day: November 26, 2021

A local government official has said a wildfire burned down two homesteads and killed a cow in Mijak County in Abyei on Wednesday.

Chol Adhol Majok, the Mijak County Commissioner told radio Tamazuj Thursday that the affected households lost all their properties to fire and that he has ordered for a search of perpetrators who lit the fire in the bush.

“The fire started in the forest and I sent people to find those who caused it. It moved to the villages and burned two households with all their properties including granaries of sorghum,” Commissioner Adhol said. “One cow was reported dead and bundles of grass which people use to build shelters were also destroyed.”

He added: “Wild animals ran away but fruit trees like tamarinds and dates and others like mahogany were burned.”

Commissioner Adhol said the overall security situation in the area was good but that a hand pump used by the community to draw water for themselves and their animals had broken down.

Nyandeng Deng, a victim of the fire said her two huts burned to ashes with all belongings.

“The fire came from the forest and it burned our cooking materials, sleeping beds, and all our clothes,” Nyandeng lamented. “Our sorghum did not burn because relatives came and rescued the granaries. Two of our houses burned down.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The November 25 Marches of the Millions kicked off in Khartoum and all other state capitals yesterday to honour the people killed during the anti-coup protests and to reject the military coup and the political agreement between Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and Abdallah Hamdok. Security forces used excessive violence to disperse the crowds.

Tens of thousands of people went out onto the streets of Sudan in organised mass protests yesterday, chanting slogans condemning the military coup and rejecting the El Burhan-Hamdok agreement. In all the neighbourhoods of Khartoum and other state capitals, protesters marched on routes specified by the resistance committee.

The routes of the demonstrations passed by the homes of the families of those who have been killed whilst protesting the October 25 coup.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered at bus stop seven in El Sahafa in Khartoum and held speeches to call for the dismissal of the leaders of the Military Council, first and foremost Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Chief El Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Commander Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo.

They also condemned the killing of peaceful demonstrators by military forces.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok had ordered the Sudanese police not to intervene in yesterday’s mass demonstrations, and to initiate the release of all detained members of the resistance committees.

The police and security forces used excessive violence to disperse thousands of demonstrators in various cities. The forces used tear gas and sound bombs, which resulted in injuries among the demonstrators. Several protesters were shot.

The resistance committees in Khartoum North reported that Omar Zuheir (17) was shot by the police in Shambat and was taken to a hospital.

In Omdurman tear gas and sound bombs were fired heavily on the Shahid Abdelazim Street, and on student protesters in other areas. Excessive violence was used, and it is not yet possible to confirm how many demonstrators were shot or otherwise injured, according to the resistance committees.

At least 20 people were injured by tear gas canisters that were fired into the crowds.

In El Obeid, the police also fired tear gas during the demonstrations. The Socialist Doctors Association indicated that there were at least seven injuries whilst 30 protesters were detained.

Activists reported from Nyala that protesters were dispersed by the paramilitary Central Reserve Police (Abu Teira) and various other security forces who used excessive force, resulting in injuries. Several participants in the demonstrations were detained.

Source: Radio Dabanga

Local authorities in Ayod County of Jonglei State have warned of a health crisis due to water contamination caused by suspected untapped crude oil in the north-western outskirts of Ayod town.

James Chuol Jiek, the Ayod County commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj that the situation could deteriorate as the pollution has continued without intervention since last week.

“The floodwaters all over the area of Lowiir, Pagil Payam have turned reddish. The pollution was detected five days ago by fishermen in that area,” Commissioner Chuol said.

He called on the state and national authorities to intervene by assessing the area before the situation worsens.

“The pollution might have been triggered by the floods because no extraction has ever taken place here,” Commissioner Chuol said. “Now some people have started vacating but we do not know the extent of the damage so we are calling for an intervention.”

Simon Unite Khor, a youth leader in Ayod, said the population has been affected and called on the government to intervene.

“The animal and human populations have been affected. Some people are vacating on their own using canoes so we want the government to assess the area then it will be seen what needs to be done,” he said.

For his part, William Kuol Chol, the state gender and social welfare minister said they have been informed about the situation in Ayod and that experts will soon be dispatched there to carry out an assessment.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

Protesters and organisations expressed their solidarity with the people in Darfur as the number of victims from the armed attacks on villages in West Darfur continues to rise. In North Darfur, four people were killed by gunmen.

The West Darfur Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Omar Abdelkarim, reported that the number of victims of the attacks that took place in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur in the past week has risen to 35.

16 villages were completely burned to ashes.

The West Darfur Doctors Committee reported 17 dead and 12 wounded from both sides of the conflict.

The Committee explained in a statement that the wounded are receiving medical care in West Darfur hospitals. Three of them underwent surgeries at El Geneina Teaching Hospital.

Activist Hatem Abdallah told Radio Dabanga that tens of thousands of people from at least 35 villages fled to neighbouring Chad as a result of attacks on villages in Jebel Moon, Seleia, Kulbus, and Barak.

He explained that 15 children were lost as a result of the violence.

According to Abdallah, three of the injured were transferred to Nyala, while eight others were transferred to Seleia in Jebel moon.

The activist explained that the situation in Jebel Moon and its surrounding areas continues to be tense, with armed groups gathering in the area. It is clear that the situation is potentially explosive, he told Radio Dabanga.

Solidarity and support

The initiative to support the victims of Jebel Moon in West Darfur launched its work at the Ministry of Finance in El Geneina yesterday.

Hatem Abdallah said that the initiative aims to collect donations to support victims. He appealed to businessmen and philanthropists to support the citizens of Jebel Moon, pointing to the tragic conditions that the displaced people are experiencing at the moment.

During the November 25 Marches of the Millions, held yesterday throughout Sudan, large numbers of protesters expressed solidarity with the people from Darfur and the victims of the Jebel Moon attacks.

Demonstrators carried banners of solidarity and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice. The demonstrators chanted slogans such as ‘The entire country is Darfur’.

The Darfur Bar Association intends to launch an advocacy campaign to provide humanitarian aid to those affected by human rights violations in the villages of Jebel Moon regions.

Other Darfur conflicts

Jebel Moon is not the only area that experienced attacks in the past weeks as attacks on North Darfur villages left several dead or injured.

Four people were also killed by gunmen near Amgeigou in Dar El Salam locality, North Darfur, on Wednesday.

People from the area told Radio Dabanga that gunmen on camels and motorcycles intercepted a vehicle heading from El Fasher to Nyala on Wednesday afternoon and shot at it, killing four people. They indicated that the gunmen hijacked the vehicle.

They explained that the families of the victims reported the incident to the regular forces in Shangil Tobaya and Tabit and said that military forces took action to chase the perpetrators in the area.

In South Darfur, two coal plant workers were killed in East Fallujah in Jebel Marra, South Darfur.

People from the area told Radio Dabanga that three armed men on camels attacked the workers and shot them dead. They explained that the relatives of the dead have reported the incident to the regular forces in the area.

UNITAMS statement

The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) also published a statement to say that it is “gravely concerned by the significant rise in tribal and intercommunal violence, resulting in the unfortunate loss of civilian lives and livelihoods, most recently in Tawila, Dar Es Salam and Sortoni, Kabkabiya localities of North Darfur and Jebel Moon, West Darfur”.

“Reports indicate that scores of people have been killed and many others injured in fighting between Arabs and Misseriya Jebel in Jebel Moon on 17 and 19 November, with tens of villages burned and some 4,300 people reportedly displaced, many to eastern Chad. We are also alarmed at reports of rape committed against women and girls as well as reports of 20 children missing”, the statement read.

UNITAMS further reminded the Sudanese authorities “that their responsibility to protect civilians is not diminished despite the current political situation”.

West Darfur violence history

Darfur has a long history of strife between Arab herding tribes and non-Arab African herders or sedentary farmers, including the Masalit in West Darfur.

Arab tribesmen were recruited by the previous regime of dictator Omar Al Bashir to join the Janjaweed militias. Al Bashir employed these Arab militias to repress a revolt over ethnic marginalisation in the region, mainly targeting non-Arab African farmers.

During the war that followed, at least 300,000 people were killed and over 2.5 million were displaced according to the UN.

In late December and again in April, hundreds of people were killed in attacks on the West Darfur capital El Geneina and the adjacent Kerending camps as Arab tribesmen targeted Masalit people. Thousands of people fled their homes.

Many militant Arab herdsmen who committed the violence reportedly drove in RSF vehicles. In July, attacks on Misterei, south of El Geneina, left dozens of people dead. The attackers torched a third of the town. Thousands of people fled.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The detention campaign that has been carried out by the military since it staged a coup d’état on October 25 is still ongoing. Several more people were detained in the past few days, including doctors and minors.

The Socialist Doctors Association reported the detention of two medics of the Singa Teaching Hospital in Sennar yesterday. The detainees are Maan Mohamed Kheir, a psychologist, and Mohamed Omar, a nursing specialist.

The Resistance Committees of Abu Hajjar in Sennar reported that the Military Intelligence released three of its members, two days after their detention. On its Facebook page, the committee reported that the members were beaten and humiliated and that their hair was shaved whilst they were held inside detention cells of the 17th Infantry Division.

The Abu Hajjar Resistance Committees explained that Military Intelligence officers forced them to write a pledge not to engage in any political activity, not to go out to the street, and not to travel outside the state without the permission of the military authorities.

The heads of dozens of young men were shaved on the streets of Khartoum and other states, and some were beaten severely.

A group of lawyers submitted a memorandum to the National Commission for Human Rights to immediately release the more than 200 detainees held in the country following the October 25 dawn coup d’état.

The memorandum is addressed to several institutions, including UNITAMS and the European Union, and to the Prime Minister. It pointed to the arrest of ten minors aged 13 to 16 years, who were kept in the cells of the Mogran Public Order Police Department for three days.

In Zalingei, the capital of East Darfur, five minors are now being tried while seven other minors were tried together with adults and handed a suspended sentence of two months in prison in an Emergency Court in El Obeid.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of protesters were detained during yesterday’s Marches of the Millions that took place one month after the military coup. The Police Forces, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were involved in dispersing the protests.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok had ordered the Sudanese police not to intervene in yesterday’s mass demonstrations, and to initiate the release of all detained members of the resistance committees.

African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) has been monitoring the detentions and stated yesterday that it received reliable information that Sudanese authorities have released of 101 political detainees in the days up until November 23. These included the political and media advisers of the Sudanese Prime Minister and 4 minors. Eight detainees were released after they contracted COVID-19.

These statistics do not include those detained or released after November 23, therefore not including yesterday’s protests.

In their statement, the ACJPS welcomed the release of detainees but also expressed “deep concern for the continued arrest of peaceful protesters”. It explained that “[j]oint forces of SAF, RSF, Military Intelligence and Police have continued to target individuals with arrests and incommunicado detention based on their participation or suspected involvement in the protests”.

The centre explained that it had received information about peaceful protesters being detained, blindfolded, threatened, or verbally abused. “Similar tactics were used during crackdowns on the 2018-2019 revolution”, the centre stated and it explained that “[t]he well-documented use by security agencies of torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees, particularly whilst held in unknown locations, raises safety concerns”.

“Sudanese authorities have continued to use excessive force including firing of live ammunition to disperse peaceful protests around Sudan resulting in deaths and injuries of Sudanese citizens including minors. Both live and rubber bullets fired targeted the upper parts of the bodies of protesters”, the ACJPS wrote.

The centre also confirmed that it has received “reliable information of the involvement of un unidentified groups of individuals in plain uniforms and using Toyota pickup cars without number plates who have targeted protestors with force along side the Sudanese Armed Force (SAF), Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the police force”.

Source: Radio Dabanga