Darfur and Sudan News Update by Radio Dabanga (24 – 30 December)December 31, 2014 (SSNA) — Out of the dozens of Darfuri students who were detained during a security raid in Khartoum on 22 December, 66 were brought to trial at a criminal court on Monday. They are charged with violating public order and jeopardising public safety. Police forces had stormed a meeting of the Darfur Students Association at the University of Bahri one week ago, where the eviction of a number of Darfuri students was discussed. Students were reportedly beaten during the raid, and a total of 77 were detained. The majority of the cases is postponed for a week, defence lawyer Jibril Hasabo told Radio Dabanga, owing to the absence of the prosecution and lacking statements by witnesses.
After 33 students from Darfur were expelled from Bahri university last month for not paying their tuition fees, and the university banned the wearing of African dress, the situation became tense. Students reported to Radio Dabanga last Wednesday that security forces have begun to inspect public transport. “They search the buses for young people of Darfuri origin. Any young person suspected to come from the western part of the country, is picked out.” On Thursday, three university facilities were torched by student members of the ruling National Congress Party, who were “supported by security and police forces”, students claimed.
In Sennar state in eastern Sudan, dozens of students were injured, and more than 100 detained, on Friday and Saturday night, during security raids in the students’ dormitories. A student of the University of Sennar reported to Radio Dabanga that most of the detained were released, “except for 26 Darfuris”. “It appears to be a direct and systematic, racist attack against Darfur students,” the chairman of the Darfur Students’ Association in Sennar commented.
Last year, in November, Sennar University evicted a number of Darfuris when they could not afford to pay registration and tuition fees. Earlier this year, Darfuri students at the universities of Babanusa and West Kordofan were expelled. In March, a Darfuri student of the University of Khartoum was killed, and dozens were wounded in a security raid.
Renewed bombing in Tawila, militia reinforced in North Darfur
Residents of Tawila locality and Kabkabiya town in North Darfur are living in great fear, as large groups of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) settled in the neighbourhood. The Sudanese Air Force continues to bomb the area between Tabit and Shangil Tobaya. “Government jets started bombing the areas near the villages of Dady, Khor Mali, Sabi, and Fanaga at 1:15 pm on Tuesday,” a villager reported to Radio Dabanga from Dady. He said they did not receive reports about fatalities among the villagers, however, more than 40 cows were killed. People in the area are terrified by the ongoing bombardments and the proliferation of troops of the paramilitary RSF, he added. “Many have fled their villages, and have become newly displaced.” On 19 December, the first contingent of RSF in more than 100 armoured vehicles arrived at Wadi Marra, south of Tabit. Their arrival was accompanied by air raids. The following days, more militia troops arrived in the area. Khor Mali village, west of Tabit, was hit by air raids last Sunday, a listener reported.
An eyewitness revealed that RSF troops ambushed a commercial convoy near Terbo, Tawila locality, on Monday. They seized two lorries, and took reportedly 60 passengers with them to an unknown destination. “The driver of the third lorry, the one I was in, accelerated, and we managed to escape.”
The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association has warned the people in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile for the military “dry season offensive”, announced by the Sudanese government. Spokesman Hussein Abu Sharati urged all displaced farmers to immediately return to their camps. He claimed that the government troops will target villagers instead of the armed rebel movements.
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