♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ At least 27 children die of exhaustion in Jebel Marra

28 January – 2016 JEBEL MARRA For more than two weeks, aerial bombardments by the Sudanese Air Force have struck Darfur's Jebel Marra each day, in the government's attempt to crush the rebel forces. It has resulted in the flight of tens of thousands of civilians to safe areas around the mountains, as others fled to caves and mountain tops. The United Nations estimate that at least 34,000 people have fled from their homes to camps.

Six people were killed and fourteen others were wounded in an air raid near Golo in Jebel Marra on Wednesday 27 January. That day, seven Koran students managed to reach Nierteti in western Jebel Marra, after fleeing from an air raid on their school and spending several days in a cave. “Fourteen fellow students succumbed to their wounds from the attack during our flight. In the caves, at least thirteen children died because of the cold and the food shortage.” 

A community leader in Tur, south of Nierteti, told this station that he counted 867 families from several villages in western Jebel Marra that have fled the air raids and shelling by military forces and had arrived in the village in Central Darfur. He called upon aid organisations to help them. Two days later, Security forces stormed the homes of two of Tur's community leaders and detained them for unknown reasons. Unamid stated that it attempts to conduct inter-agency missions to Tur and surrounding areas. 

At Tawila in North Darfur, each day hundreds of people arrive who fled the attacks on their villages in northern Jebel Marra, an activist told Radio Dabanga. About 2,300 families reached the town 'so far': “They are all showing signs of intense fatigue as their flight took several days because of the proliferation of militia members and gunmen along the way.”

In a press statement on 27 January, Marta Ruedas, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, refers to initial reports that indicate that about 19,000 people have fled into North Darfur, and up to 15,000 into Central Darfur. These numbers exclude the unverified reports of large groups of people who have sought refuge deeper in the Jebel Marra massif. Some humanitarian assistance, including nutritional supplements for children, medicine and purified water, have been provided to some of the newly displaced – the vast majority women and children – in North Darfur, the UN coordinator states.

♦ Unamid vehicles hijacked in East Darfur

2 February – 2016 ED DAEIN Two Unamid patrol vehicles were hijacked in Ed Daein, East Darfur, on Sunday night. The convoy of Sudanese government and Unamid vehicles was returning from a mission in Yassin locality, 60 km west of Ed Daein, a Unamid spokesman told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday. Two kilometres away from the base, unidentified armed men ambushed the group and forced the drivers and passengers to disembark at gunpoint.

“The Wali of East Darfur and the Head of Office, Unamid Sector East, were part of the travelling delegation,” the spokesman said. The unharmed drivers and passengers walked to a nearby police station and reported the incident.” The Unamid spokesman reported that authorities managed to recover one vehicle the same night and apprehended a suspect who is now in custody. The second vehicle was recovered on Monday. The mission and government authorities are investigating the incident.

The Governor of East Darfur State, Anas Omer, released a statement on Monday, claiming that the incident was “desperate and poor”. One of the passengers, singer, Walid Zaki El Din, told Radio Dabanga on Monday that the convoy consisted of ten vehicles and carried a group of singers, dramatists, and acrobats.

United Nations peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous informed the Security Council on 25 January that the insecure situation in Darfur continues to limit inter-agency missions from Unamid. Most recently a Unamid patrol was ambushed in North Darfur’s Kutum locality on 7 January.

• In Memoriam: Amel Hamza, Radio Dabanga •

The Radio Dabanga team is shocked and saddened by the news of the sudden passing of our colleague Amel Hamza, who passed away (aged 41) at her home in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, after suffering a stroke on 28 January. 

Amel worked as a journalist in Sudan for many years, and joined the Radio Dabanga team at the central desk in Amsterdam three years ago. She was very dedicated; in spite of faltering health, Amel continued to exert all her efforts to provide the people of Sudan with news and information. 

The team wishes to express its sorrow and extend condolences to Amel’s family in Omdurman.

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون (inna lillāh wa’inna ileihi rāji'ūn) “We belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return.” (Koran: verse 156 of Al-Baqara).

Our sister will not be forgotten.

Read In Memoriam: Amel Hamza

Other news highlights:

Two women shot, two more raped in Darfur

February 2 – 2016 JEBEL MARRA / TAWILA Two women were shot dead, and a woman and girl were raped in two separate incidents in Darfur on Monday morning. A listener told Radio Dabanga that four armed men…

Sudan’s White Nile and Sennar states short of cooking gas, flour

February 1 – 2016 WHITE NILE / EL GEZIRA / SENNAR Several towns in White Nile and El Gezira states and eastern Sudan’s Sennar are extremely short of cooking gas and flour. The towns of Kosti, El Gezira Aba…

‘West Darfur authorities unable to protect civilians’: DBA

February 1 – 2016 EL GENEINA / KHARTOUM The killing of 14 and wounding of 167 others in El Geneina locality in West Darfur in January is attributable to the inability of the authorities to protect the people in the state…

Sudan Air Force bombs villages in Blue Nile

January 31 – 2016 BAU On Thursday, an Antonov of the Sudanese Air Force bombed the western part of Bau locality in Blue Nile state. The ten barrel bombs dropped on the villages of Malken, Ullu and Alrom destroyed…

AU-UN should report on rape as weapon of war in Sudan: HRW

January 29 – 2016 NAIROBI Sudanese military forces and militia have used rape as a weapon of war in Darfur and other conflicts, Human Rights Watch said this week. Because no one is known to have been held accountable, Unamid…

Khartoum security detains, obstructs anti-dam protesters

January 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Sudanese security service raided El Mahas club in Khartoum on Thursday evening and detained a number of people who oppose the Kajbar dam project, one week after agents prevented a public…

El Niño could affect 4.2 million Sudanese in 2016

January 28 – 2016 KHARTOUM In Sudan, because of the drier-than-normal conditions in the southern part of the country, deterioration of the already unstable food security situation is expected and could affect up to 4.2 million people in…

Thirst among South Darfur school children

January 27 – 2016 DIMSU The people living in the area of Alban Jadeed in South Darfur’s Dimsu locality complain of a scarcity of basic services. “As the nearest well is about three hours’ walk from Alban Jadeed, we are always short of water…

This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here