Farmer killed in South Kordofan, investigation halted

On Tuesday, a farmer was shot dead on his land near Habila in northern South Kordofan.
When El Haj Kowa (54) did not return home from his farm, four kilometres southeast of Habila, his relatives went to search for him the next morning. They found him dead with bullet wounds to his head and chest, and his crops destroyed by grazing cattle, the Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported in a press statement on Saturday.

On Tuesday, a farmer was shot dead on his land near Habila in northern South Kordofan.

When El Haj Kowa (54) did not return home from his farm, four kilometres southeast of Habila, his relatives went to search for him the next morning. They found him dead with bullet wounds to his head and chest, and his crops destroyed by grazing cattle, the Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported in a press statement on Saturday.

The relatives reported the incident to the police. Police officers who followed the tracks of the cattle, ended up at Faio village, five kilometres from Kowa’s farm. They were stopped from entering the village by a group of paramilitary Popular Defence Forces (PDF) who ordered them to return.

Faio village is inhabited by Arab pastoralists. Most of them are deployed as PDF fighters by the government.

A resident of Habila told HUDO that Faio’s leaders announced five months earlier that Habila locality will be grazing land and that any cattle owner will be free to graze their animals in the area.