new killings in western darfur

July 23, 2008

         The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy has just received information about a terrible incident this past Monday, the 21st of July, 2008. There was an attack by unknown numbers of armed men, possibly the Arab Janjaweed milititias or Sudanese government security personel, on an innocent Darfuri civilian. His name was Mr. Rasid Hassan Abdurahaman, and he was about twenty-five years of age. He lived in Ardamata, a town a few miles to the east of Algeina. He was a graduate of the town high school and worked as a teller in his store at the market. He was attacked at around 10 o'clock at night while walking home from work.

         Unfortunately, this incident was the fifth incident of killings in the area between Algeina and Ardamata within three weeks. Most of these incidents have been caused by the Janjaweed Arab militias and the government of Sudan's security members who are targeting black African civilians. They will attack them not only walking on the streets, but inside their homes. And for what reason? There is no clear one except that they are simply of relation to non-Arab groups. This has become an issue of targeting the harmless and innocent on a daily basis; a part of life that affects all the Darfuri citizens. Damanga has received the information of these horrific crimes committed against the Darfuris through different sources who choose to only give their last names because of security reasons which they know could make them targets. All four witnesses: Talha, Yasir, Uhmar and Kheamis confirm that the situation in Western Darfur, specifically in the towns Algeina, Forbranga, Mormey and Abu-Srouje, is especially dangerous and the security situation is made worse by its proximity to Chad and its central-African location. The Sudanese government's troops and the Janjaweed militia are highly concentrated in this area because it puts them in a good position to target Chad. The result of these huge numbers of enemy soldiers has been absolute chaos.

         The attacks, killings, lootings, and confiscations have increased. Aid workers have had their supplies, vehicles, and lives taken. Mr. Yasir feels that "President Omar al-Bashir is trying to threaten the civilians by escalating attacks and violence in reaction to his indictment by the ICC. Currently al-Bashir is visiting the north, south and west of Darfur in a campaign for their support against the ICC indictment. There is no real support for al-Bashir amongst the civilians, but his officers and personnel are practically forcing the citizens to go out into the streets to rally against the ICC. Unfortunately, those who appear in his support are students who are forced to come out of schools for they will be punished if they disobey. This applies to employees, businessmen, and basically all of the public also; they are forced to falsely support al-Bashir. We will be punished and stopped from work if we're not on the list of people rallying that the officers take. What we need is the urgent help of the United Nations," to which he adds "We need them to send peacekeepers to Darfur to provide security and supplies because the aids have decreased exponentially. Darfur is in the beginning stages of starvation once again." Uhmar adds "The Janjaweed militias and the government security personnel are targeting and blocking some of the farmers who are trying to go the farms in the outskirts of the cities. They have been sending warnings to the farmers telling them that 'they will be killed if they try to leave the city because the farms belong to Arabs'." according to them, "There is no land for the black Africans anymore."

       The Damanga Organization continues to be absolutely stunned by the cruelties of Darfur, especially in the Western region. We are currently continuing to strongly encourage the United Nations Security Council to live up to its promises and complete the full number of the 26,000 peacekeepers it had ensured in Resolution 1769. The United Nations must also find a way to provide the peacekeeping troops with the helicopters, logistics, and finance that it needs to keep the Darfuri people safe. The people of Darfur need this as soon as possible.