EL FASHER: Beware of the men with the hard faces. Look at them the wrong way and you might end up dead, residents of the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state say.
The arrival of government-linked militia more than a month ago has gripped El Fasher with fear, residents say, as Sudan’s western region experiences its worst violence in a decade.
“They are uncontrollable,” and have a heavy presence on the city’s east side, said a man who gave his name only as Mustafa, 52.
“They start shooting for no reason, especially in the evening and early morning. We stopped going to the mosque for dawn prayers because if you go out, you might get shot.”
With ammunition belts strapped to their waists and their heads swathed in traditional cloth, the uniformed men speed through the streets in pickup trucks mounted with machine-guns.
They blare their horns and shout, but what they are saying is unintelligible.
“They even target the police. Two days ago a policeman was shot and killed,” Mustafa said.
Some of the militias carry the insignia of regular paramilitaries but residents say others are from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The RSF is a counter-insurgency unit that has “perpetrated attacks on communities”, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who heads the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), told the United Nations Security Council last week.
He said the RSF is of particular concern but other factors have also contributed to an alarming escalation in violence in Darfur this year.
AFP
