Sudan – 31 July 2013

South Darfur Displaced Assaulted By Soldiers
Two residents of El Salam camp in South Darfur were assaulted by two soldiers on Monday. Speaking to Radio Dabanga from El Salam camp, Sheikh Mahjoub Adam Tabaldiya reported that two elements of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) stormed the camp at about 8 pm on Monday, and assaulted Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan (65). “They beat him with the butts of their rifles. Two of his teeth were broken.”
“They then assaulted camp resident Omar Yagoub (57). Fortunately, he did not sustain injuries.”
Radio Dabanga

UNAMID’s Failure Forces and the Issue of Security in Darfur.
The failure of the UN/African Union (“hybrid”) Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has become overwhelmingly conspicuous. The evidence of incompetence, ineffectiveness, mendacity, corruption, and a total breakdown in leadership and morale has been gathering for years, and with the revelations by Colum Lynch in Foreign Policy (April 7, 2014) and others, including Aicha Elbasri, former spokeswoman for this disastrous mission (Radio France Internationale interview, January 24, 2014), there can simply be no doubt of its failure to protect the civilians and humanitarians in Darfur–its primary mandate.
An excellent summary of the evidence of UNAMID distortions and disingenuousness, coming from various sources, has been issued by Human Rights Watch and appears as Appendix One. Among its other observations the report notes that “the last public human rights division report on Darfur, by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, was issued in January 2009.” The Human Rights Watch report goes on to note that UNAMID has “more than 50 human rights officers on the ground,” and yet collectively they generate only perfunctory reports. These in turn, predictably, figure only inconsequentially in Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s periodic reports on UNAMID and Darfur.
Sudan Tribune

Amnesty for 19 Prisoners in West Darfur
The government of West Darfur State has granted amnesty to 19 prisoners on the occasion of Eid El Fitr. West Darfur State Governor Haidar Galokuma said during the release ceremony, organised with the support of the Zakat [Islamic alms] Chamber, that “the penalty and guidance provided to the prisoners has purified them, and made them worthy members of society”. He called on “all members of the West Darfur society to cooperate in order to curb the drugs trafficking and imported and home-made alcohol trade in all parts of West Darfur State”.
Sudan Tribune