Darfur’s Kutum raids: one person killed, cattle theft

Militiamen raided six villages north of Kutum, in the area of Anka, for the third day in a row on Thursday. One person was killed and seven wounded during the attacks, and thousands of cattle were stolen.

Villages in Anka, North Darfur, already witnessed raids on Thursday morning. An affected villager told Radio Dabanga on Friday that militiamen from the Abbala tribe arrived in 23 vehicles and attacked Hillet Diyar Ali Bidal, Hillet Ibrahim Nurein, Hillet Abaker Ibrahim, Hillet Ahmedein Garif Bashar, Hillet Suleiman Awad, and Madrasa Amarei, from 6pm until late that evening.

He claimed that these were the same men, headed by Omda Mohamed Ali and Mahmoud Wali, and the same vehicles that pillaged nearby villages in the morning.

El Nur Adam Ahmed was killed by the attackers. Local leader Diyar Ali Bidal, local leader Ahmedein Garif Bashar, Jafar Hamdoun Ali, Touka Ibrahim, and two unidentified people were wounded.

The villager questioned the affiliations of the authorities to the militiamen. “Otherwise, why did they not intervene to stop these massacres, that continued for three consecutive days?”

The Commissioner of Kutum locality, Adam Awadelkarim Terab, told Radio Dabanga that commenting or taking action is not his responsibility. The spokesman for the military forces in Kutum was not reachable for comment.

Fleeing villagers reported that the attackers stole all the livestock from the villages, including an estimated “4,000 sheep, 10,000 goats, 700 camels, 1,000 cows and 150 donkeys”.