Bloody day in Darfur’s El-Fasher after demonstrators march to governor residence

May 2, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese police fired at demonstrators in North Darfur capital city of El-Fasher who staged protests and marched to the governor’s house over money they lost in a huge Ponzi scheme that collapsed last month.

There has been conflicting figures over the number of people who were killed but the North Darfur government said put the toll at 3 and 25 injured.

However, other sources said that at least ten people were shot dead including policemen who exchanged fire with some of the demonstrators who appeared to be armed.

“There have been four to 10 deaths as well as 20 to 30 people injured,” the humanitarian worker told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Aid workers and U.N. officials took refuge in their compounds during the confrontation.

“There is a lot of confusion … We don’t know if it is police shooting, or civilians, or the Arab militias in town. They lost a lot of money and are very unhappy,” said one aid worker, speaking to Reuters by phone.

The incident follow a previous demonstration that took place this week by hundreds of defrauded investors in front of the El-Fasher’s prosecutor’s office. The police used tear gas to break up the protestors.

The demonstrators were angry that the governor of North Darfur Osman Kibir backtracked on a promise to compensate them for the money they lost but his office later issued a statement saying that this is “interest money” which is forbidden under Islamic Sharia’a law.

Furthermore, it was reported that aggregate losses could be anywhere from 240-350 million Sudanese pounds($120-$175 million) which included money belonging to investors in other parts of country and abroad.

“It was a Ponzi scheme,” said a U.N. official in Darfur to Reuters, referring to a pyramid model where money is illegally paid from one investor to the other and presented as profit.

“This has been going on for months. It came to a head,” added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It went beyond El Fasher. It went to the Diaspora. People have been venting their frustration, gathering in places.”

Many investors had sold land or ploughed in their savings to take part in the get-rich-quick scheme. The marketplace in the centre of El-Fasher has been renamed “Al-Mawasir Souk (market),” after the local colloquial Arabic for a swindle. Al-Mawasir has also become the name used across Sudan for the scam.

Khalid, a teacher in El Fasher, said he had lost 12,000 Sudanese pounds ($5,400) to two businessmen who started taking investments around 10 months ago.

“They said if you have $10, they will give you some shares or papers. And then after 30 days they will give you $15.”

At first the men did pay up, said Khalid, who only wanted to be identified by his first name. Then the business closed down just before Sudan’s national election earlier this month and did not open up afterwards, he added.

“They said they were taking the money, going to Khartoum and other places outside Sudan to buy goods to sell in the markets. That is how they said they made their money.

Kibir’s office issued a statement today accusing politicians who lost the elections of standing behind the events today stressing that the situation is now under control.

“The state government is not anything to do with the so-called Mawasir market as it is a market that citizens make the profit and loss without interference from the Government” the governor said.

“This plot is that came into the spotlight during the demonstration is a political plan, around which the political dead-enders who have lost the last election convened to make up [their] losses”.

The official hailed citizens who took the legal route to resolve the matter.

The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said that it had instructed its personnel to stay at their workplace.

The leader of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur told Sudan Tribune that he condemns the killings “in the strongest possible terms”.

“This is a continuation of the pattern by the regime to kill the people of Darfur as they moved from targeting people in the camps to those in the towns. This is why we say there will not be peace without an end to the killings” Al-Nur said.

(ST)