$250 a day for guarding stores in North Darfur’s Kutum

04/05/2015 14:43

The daily costs for hiring military police troops to guard commercial stores at night in North Darfur’s Kutum amount to SDG1,500.
The Kutum Chamber of Commerce had requested the commander of the Military Police in Kutum for a meeting on Sunday, after the increase in the number of armed robberies. During three consecutive days last week, a number of stores were plundered at night.

The daily costs for hiring military police troops to guard commercial stores at night in North Darfur’s Kutum amount to SDG1,500.

The Kutum Chamber of Commerce had requested the commander of the Military Police in Kutum for a meeting on Sunday, after the increase in the number of armed robberies. During three consecutive days last week, a number of stores were plundered at night.

The commander reacted by saying that the stores could be guarded for SDG1,500 ($250) per day, a merchant reported to Radio Dabanga. “Of course, we are not able to pay such a sum.”

For more than three years, policemen, prosecutors, and members of the judiciary, are absent in the locality. The army is officially in charge of keeping order instead.

Related:

'No rule of law' in North Darfur’s Kutum (5 February 2014)

‘Militia control Kutum in North Darfur’: residents (23 January 2014)

Lawlessness in Kutum due to absence of Darfur police (29 November 2013)