Sudanese security, militia attack two police officers in Darfur

Report: Police Officers Attacked in Their Homes as Violence Continues to
Escalate in Darfur

August 29, 2006 — Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy has learned that two police
officers were attacked recently inside their homes in Darfur. The men were
reportedly shot by Sudanese security and Janjaweed personnel at around 1
a.m. on August 12, 2006. As of the time of this report, the police officers
remain hospitalized in Al-Jeneina with serious injuries.

The victims are members of the Masseleit tribe, which is one of the two
largest tribes in the area, and they live in the Hai-el Emtidad district of
Al-Jeneina. They are identified as Adam Hamza and a man known as Mahjoub.
Damanga received reports from multiple sources regarding the attacks. They
said there were about six attackers who entered the district driving two
trucks. The attackers knocked on the doors of the police officers’ homes and
called for them by name. When the men came to the door, the attackers shot
them and left.

Damanga’s sources report that the Sudanese government continues to control
the area at night, when a curfew is in effect. Only the government’s
security personnel and Janjaweed militia members and officers are allowed on
the streets. Such reports are evidence that the Sudanese government and its
allied Janjaweed leaders are trying to remove non-Arab leaders of the major
tribes such as the Massaleit, Fur, Burgo, and Dajo, targeting even those who
are members of the police force or the government’s military.

Despite the peace agreement reached May 5, 2006, violence has continued and
even escalated in the past month, demonstrating how imperfect the peace
agreement was. Members of the divided SLA, once led by Arkui Minnawi, have
even turned to attacking their own civilians, who are still under attack by
the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government military. Fighting, killing,
displacement, and destructions are widespread, particularly in the southern
and northern areas of western Darfur, such as in Jabel Moon, Armakol,
Mestary, and Habeela-kejengessy. As a result, dozens of injured soldiers
have been transported to hospitals according to Damanga’s sources due to
injuries sustained in the fighting.

Damanga has also received reports from civilians in Darfur that the
Janjaweed and their Arab families have taken and begun to cultivate land
belonging to displaced African civilians, many of whom are displaced and no
longer resident on their lands. The original land owners are denied access
to their own farms, as the Janjaweed threaten to kill anyone who attempts to
leave the refugee camps and reclaim to his land.

It is clear to Damanga’s correspondents that there is no sign of peace, but
only continued killing, rape, looting, torture, and lack of security.
Unfortunately, the United Nations, the United States, and the whole
international community persist in ignoring the genocide in Darfur, with no
progress made recently or currently underway. Damanga Coalition for Freedom
and Democracy expresses its deep sorrow over the misery in Darfur and the
continued failure of the United Nations to send an effective peacekeeping
force.