Protests against violence and insecurity in South Kordofan and North Darfur

One person was killed and four others were seriously injured in an armed looting incident near El Hujeirat, a village west of South Kordofan’s capital Kadugli, yesterday. The incident sparked protests in Kadugli’s city centre. In North Darfur, protests took place after a man from the Zamzam camp for the displaced was murdered under ‘mysterious circumstances'.

Abbas Alawi, regional representative of the Forces for Freedom and Chance (FFC) and Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) in South Kordofan, told Radio Dabanga that gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying five passengers on its way to El Hujeirat.

They killed one person on the spot and seriously wounded four others who had to be taken to the El Obeid Hospital in North Kordofan for treatment.

According to Alawi, three of the victims were from the El Kweik area in Reif Ashargi, and two were from inside the city of Kadugli. He also explained that the El Hujeirat area has witnessed private gold mining activities recently.

The incident triggered protests by the city's inhabitants in front of the state's security committee office and in front of Kadugli Hospital, Alawi explained. Protesters voiced their anger about the incident and denounced the ongoing security issues and violent robberies in the area.

North Darfur protest

In North Darfur’s capital El Fasher, people carried out a vigil yesterday in front of the house of North Darfur Wali (governor) Nimir Abdelrahman, to condemn the murder of Mubarak Adam Ismail under, what they called, ‘mysterious circumstances’.

Protesters said that an armed group took away Ismail, who worked as a butcher in Zamzam camp for the displaced, on Sunday. They explained that the gunmen forcibly took him away after handcuffing him.

'They found their dead son in the morgue of the El Fasher Hospital on Wednesday morning without knowing what happened to him'

Ismail’s relatives said that they found their dead son in the morgue of the El Fasher Hospital on Wednesday morning without knowing what happened to him.

Recently, villages in North Darfur that are inhabited by the displaced people from the Zamzam camp were attacked by militants who occupied their farms. Internally displaced people (IDPs) often temporarily return to tend their farms during the agricultural season, but frequent attacks lead them to live in IDP camps most of the year.

Darfur has a long history of violence against people living in IDP camps. These people often had to flee persecution and genocide during the war in Darfur. For many, it is still not safe or possible to return to their former homes.