After 6 months police force to return to Kutum, North Darfur

12/03/2013 23:59

The police force of Kutum locality will resume its work following a six-month breach after outbreaks of violence led the governor to declare a state of emergency in the area. He ordered all law enforcement services to withdraw and the military assumed all of the security posts. A source who spoke to Radio Dabanga said none of the police forces who returned to Kutum town last Thursday originally comes from the district. These officers will not engage in the police’s regular work and will not be deployed outside the capital.Their role will be to guard centers where students are taking their primary and secondary examinations. This means citizens cannot yet press charges or request the police to investigate crimes, the witness explained. These tasks will remain in the “hands of the army” until next Sunday when the regular forces return.After the withdrawal of law enforcement services from Kutum last year, the town’s residents complained to Radio Dabanga they did not know where to file complaints and they said there was no court available to settle disputes.Assassination Waves of hostilities in the locality began last September. The two main accepted reasons for it are the assassination of El Waha’s commissioner on 1 August and the assassination attempt of Kutum’s commissioner on 4 September.The first incident allegedly led to looting and violence in Kutum and in the Kassab and Fata Borno displaced camps. The second supposedly led to the killings of policemen, of border guards and to the burning of the police station in Kutum by the Central Reserve Forces (Abu Tira).Due to this situation the governor of North Darfur announced a state of emergency in the locality, in an attempt to restore peace and stability.Both Kutum and El-Waha localities share one capital: the town of Kutum.Last December, tensions between the Sudanese army and government border guards left two soldiers killed and four injured in Kutum. The army reportedly expelled the border guards from the town.Photo: Olivia Grey Pritchard/ UNRelated:Kutum: army, border guards tension kills 2 soldiers (27 December 2012)State of emergency announced in Kutum (5 September 2012)

The police force of Kutum locality will resume its work following a six-month breach after outbreaks of violence led the governor to declare a state of emergency in the area. He ordered all law enforcement services to withdraw and the military assumed all of the security posts.

A source who spoke to Radio Dabanga said none of the police forces who returned to Kutum town last Thursday originally comes from the district. These officers will not engage in the police’s regular work and will not be deployed outside the capital.

Their role will be to guard centers where students are taking their primary and secondary examinations. This means citizens cannot yet press charges or request the police to investigate crimes, the witness explained. These tasks will remain in the “hands of the army” until next Sunday when the regular forces return.

After the withdrawal of law enforcement services from Kutum last year, the town’s residents complained to Radio Dabanga they did not know where to file complaints and they said there was no court available to settle disputes.

Assassination

Waves of hostilities in the locality began last September. The two main accepted reasons for it are the assassination of El Waha’s commissioner on 1 August and the assassination attempt of Kutum’s commissioner on 4 September.

The first incident allegedly led to looting and violence in Kutum and in the Kassab and Fata Borno displaced camps. The second supposedly led to the killings of policemen, of border guards and to the burning of the police station in Kutum by the Central Reserve Forces (Abu Tira).

Due to this situation the governor of North Darfur announced a state of emergency in the locality, in an attempt to restore peace and stability.

Both Kutum and El-Waha localities share one capital: the town of Kutum.

Last December, tensions between the Sudanese army and government border guards left two soldiers killed and four injured in Kutum. The army reportedly expelled the border guards from the town.

Photo: Olivia Grey Pritchard/ UN

Related:

Kutum: army, border guards tension kills 2 soldiers (27 December 2012)

State of emergency announced in Kutum (5 September 2012)