Call for Sudan to investigate and prosecute attacks against civilians in Azernei

 (6 June 2016) Ten civilians and one police officer were killed during attacks on Azernei village, West Darfur, launched by members of Sudan’s paramilitary Border Guards. On the afternoon of 22 May 2016, an estimated 70 Border Guards attacked Azernei police station and killed a police officer. Members of Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) reportedly arrived on the scene and successfully repelled the Border Guards only for them to return just a couple of hours later to attack worshippers at the local mosque during evening prayers. Nine people were killed and seven others were injured when the Border Guards fired live ammunition at worshippers. The next day, on 23 May, a gunman wearing Central Reserve Police (CRP) uniform fired on a funeral procession for the deceased as it passed by El Geneina Market, killing one child and injuring two others.

Border Guards attack Azernei police station and mosque

At 4pm on 22 May, around 70 heavily armed members of the Border Guards, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Issa Hussein, entered Azernei village using five cars and with fifteen men on horseback. Armed with AK47s and machine guns, some in SAF uniforms and others plain-clothed, the Border Guards attacked Azernei police station, killing police officer Mohamed Ishag Ahmed. The SAF was reportedly deployed to the scene by the West Darfur Governor and successfully repelled the Border Guards. However, just two hours later, they returned to Azernei and attacked the local mosque during evening prayers (mahgrib). Nine civilians were killed and seven others were injured when the Border Guards fired upon worshippers with AK47s and machine guns. According to eye-witness accounts, uniformed members of the SAF attended the scene but failed to intervene to protect the civilians.  The Border Guards reportedly looted nine shops in Azernei before leaving the village.

The bodies of the nine deceased worshippers were taken at midnight to El Geneina Teaching Hospital, West Darfur, where death certificates were issued confirming that they had died from gunshot wounds. The injured were also taken to the hospital for treatment.

Unidentified gunman kills a child during funeral procession

The following day, at 1pm on 23 May, around two thousand people gathered in front of El Geneina Hospital to take part in a funeral procession for the deceased worshippers. The procession was fired upon as it passed El Geneina market by a gunman identified by eye-witnesses as wearing the uniform of the Central Reserve Police (CRP). Three people, including two children, sustained gunshot wounds. One of the children, Alteib Adam Deifa, (m), 13 years of age, a resident of Kernding IDP camp, and a member of the Masalit ethnic group, died immediately from the gunshot wounds. The gunman fled the scene in a Land-cruiser vehicle.

Two days later, on 25 May, the joint United Nations – African Union peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, sent a verification mission to Azernei and established that 350 members of the community had been displaced by the attack, with 50 people displaced to Ardamata IDP camp and 300 others displaced to Kerink locality. The mission also confirmed the looting of 300 livestock and nine shops.

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) calls on the Sudanese authorities to investigate the involvement of the Border Guards, Central Reserve Police and other paramilitary and regular forces in attacks on civilians throughout Darfur. Any member of a paramilitary or regular force suspected of involvement in attacks on civilians should be immediately suspended from their post pending the outcome of an effective and transparent investigation, and if there is sufficient evidence, charged and prosecuted in fair proceedings which comply with international standards of fair trial.

The latest incident in Azernei underscores the urgent need for the Government of Sudan to disarm all paramilitary groups formed during the Darfur conflict, comply with the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur, and tighten restrictions on the use and supply of arms and ammunition in the region. The authorities must also lift all restrictions on the movement of UNAMID and humanitarian organisations throughout Darfur.

ACJPS further calls on UNAMID to fulfil its mandate to protect civilians, including by deploying personnel to areas where civilians are in need of protection and publicly reporting on on-going human rights violations, including on allegations of involvement of government forces in attacks against civilians.

Background

United Nations bodies and expert groups have repeatedly highlighted the involvement, with impunity, of government paramilitary forces, in particular the Border Guards, Central Reserve Police, the Popular Defence Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, in attacks on civilians in Darfur.  Paramilitary forces in Darfur predominantly comprise former pro-government militias that were recruited among pastoralist groups in the early years of the conflict. The successful mobilisation of pastoralist groups into pro-government militias was predicated on those groups inheriting the spoils of the war, as well as greater political and economic representation after years of marginalisation in which their traditional rights of access to land and water had been eroded and basic services denied to them.

In recent years, the central government has appeared to lose control over the paramilitaries it armed and equipped to fight the insurgency in Darfur, in large part owing to a declining economy, reduced wages, and shifting alliances as members of the paramilitary groups have failed to reap the promised rewards of economic and political power. The UN Panel of Experts in Darfur has pointed to “incidents in which former members of government militias have forcibly expressed their discontent with the current government, especially against the backdrop of rising inflation and unemployment.”

The attacks on Azernei were reportedly precipitated by the stabbing of two Border Guards by a local laborer on 22 May. The laborer killed one man, Ismael Daud Ahmed, and injured another. After the incident, the local traditional Masalit administration had reportedly agreed to pay blood money (diya) of 219 Sudanese pounds (approximately $1330) to the family of the deceased and towards medical treatment for the injured Border Guard.

The names of civilians killed on 22 May are below.

1. Mohammad Adam Dawud, (m), 22 years of age, member of the Maasalit ethnic group.
2. Abdullah Harun Abakar, (m), 69 years of age, member of the Maasalit ethnic group.
3. Khamis Hussein Abakar, (m), 70 years of age.
4. Yasin Adam Ibrahim, (m), 28 years of age, member of the Maasalit ethnic group.
5. Mahjub Abdullah Mohammad, (m), 41 years of age, member of the Maasalit ethnic group.
6. Abdamajid Yahia Adam, (m), 29 years of age, member of the Maasalit ethnic group.
7. Abdallah Adam Daoud, (m), 40 years of age.
8. Ibrahim Yahia Omar, (m).
9. Yahia Aadam, (m).

The names of the civilians injured on 22 May are below.

1. Ismaeil Mohammed Abaker, (m), 43 years of age.
2. Adam Ismaeil Mohammed Abaker, (m)
3. Mohammed Omar Adam, (m)
4. Ahmed Mustafa Adam, (m).
5. Nasreldeen Mustafa Adam, (m), 8 years of age.
6. Alhadi Abaker Mohammed, (m), 35 years of age.
7. Juma Ismaeil Mohammed, (m), 17 years of age.

The following child was killed during the attack on the funeral procession on 23 May.

1. Alteib Adam Deifa, (m), 13 years of age, a resident of Kernding IDP camp, and a member of the Maasalit ethnic group.

The following individuals were seriously injured during the attack on the funeral procession on 23 May.

1. Arbab Adam Abduljalil, (m), 21 years of age, resident of Abouzar IDP camp. Mr. Abduljalil is a member of Maasalit ethnic group.
2. Muhammad Ishaq Haroun, (m), 9 years of age, resident in Umdwin.

Contact

In Kampala: Mossaad Mohamed Ali, (English and Arabic) ACJPS Executive Director, info@acjps.org, +256 779584542.