Six villagers held for ransom by North Darfur herders

A paramilitary group kidnapped six villagers from Adede in Saraf Umra locality in North Darfur and demanded a ransom of SDG38,000 ($6,260) in compensation for breaking the leg of a camel.

On Tuesday Sheikh Abdelrazeg Yousif Suleiman, the Coordinator of Saraf Umra camps told Radio Dabanga that the group entered camels onto a farm owned by Zakariya Ismail Ahmed of camp Dankoj at 6 pm on Monday.

He explained that a camel suffered a broken leg while being removed from the farm. The gunmen immediately seized six of the villagers, who are being held at Basma.

Sheikh Abdelrazeg Yousif said they notified Unamid and Saraf Umra police immediately following the incident.

In a separate incident, gunmen seized 28 horses and a donkeys from the farmers of Tarne, 25 kilometres southwest of Tawila in North Darfur and drove them southward.

The Commissioner of Tawila, Adam Yaguob, acknowledged the incident, but said that the residents did not inform the authorities on time and that the rain and valleys made it difficult to pursue them.