Renewed attacks on villages west of El Fasher; UN delegation visits North Darfur

In the area west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, 11 villages were attacked by militiamen on Monday and Tuesday. A UN delegation is visiting North Darfur to assess the situation in the areas attacked by the rebels. Elements of the Sudanese security-steered Rapid Support Forces (RSF), backed by gunman on camels and horses, torched eleven villages located west of El Fasher on Monday and Tuesday, after having plundered them entirely. The inhabitants fled to the hills in the vicinity, a resident of Wana village told Radio Dabanga on Wednesday. “Some of the large villages, like Sarafaya and Birka, were still burning until today.” “We fled on time from Dana and took our belongings and livestock with us. Most of the people from our village fled to the hills. A group of militiamen followed them, and are still besieging them because they want the livestock.”  The villages that were attacked on Monday are Kobe, Dirma, and Um Jabakh, on Tuesday the remains of Birka, Sarafaya, Janjona, and Aradei, attacked before by the RSF at the end of March, were set on fire, as well as Um Ashoush, Gusat Jamat, and Tikeinat. UN DelegationA delegation of UN agencies, headed by the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Resident Representative of the UN Development Program to Sudan, Ambassador Ali Al Zaatari, is visiting North Darfur to assess the political and security situation in the region. According to the Sudan News Agency (Suna), Al Zaatari said that the delegation consists of 12 ambassadors and diplomats, as well as representatives of nine NGOs. In El Fasher the delegation was briefed on the humanitarian situation in North Darfur by Governor Osman Kibir. On Thursday, the delegation will visit a number of camps for the displaced and “all the areas that were attacked by the armed movements, especially the eastern part of North Darfur,” Suna reported. File photo: Ambassador Ali Al Zaatari at a press conference in Khartoum, March 2014 (saudigazette) Related: More attacks in Tawila and El Fasher, North Darfur (8 April 2014)Fleeing villagers assaulted, robbed in Kutum, North Darfur (8 April 2014) More South Darfur villages plundered by Sudan’s militias (4 April 2014) ‘Ethnic cleansing behind attacks on Darfur villages’: JEM (3 April 2014) North Darfur State convenes emergency meeting (1 April 2014)Rebel forces claim control of North Darfur localities (5 March 2014)