Sudan pledges to try perpetrators of North Darfur attack

September 17, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan today has pledged to bring to justice militiamen who killed over 50 persons during an attack on Tabra village in North Darfur state two weeks ago.

Sudanese presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Attabani met Friday in Tawilla in North Darfur with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled from the affected village in northern Jebel Marra.

Ghazi offered his condolences to the IDPs for the death of their relatives in the attack. Accompanied by the governor of North Darfur, the official who is in charge of Darfur file distributed emergency aid,.

He further told the residents that the government would take all the necessary measures to provide security and relief to the civilians. He stressed that the concerned authorities will pursue the criminals involved in the crime and brings them to a fair trial.

Since the start of the conflict in 2003, this is the first time that a government high ranking official admits the responsibility of the government supported militiamen of an attack on Darfur civilians.

Yesterday, the government adopted a new strategy to end the seven year conflict in the restive region through the return of IDPs to their homeland, collect of illegal arms, and implementation of development projects.

The plan also says the elected governors and local institutions will play a greater role in the establishment of security and the implementation of the strategy.

North Darfur Governor Osman Mohamed Yousef Kibir announced today the formation of a commission of inquiry headed by a judge and composed of a representative of the native administration, legal department, the police, the army, security service, the state legislative assembly and all concerned parties to investigate the attack.

He appealed on people who witnessed the assault on Tabra to cooperate with the commission and not hide any information about the attack. He further vowed to prosecute the perpetrators and bring them to trial.

A UN-mandated human rights expert on Sudan, Justice Mohamed Chande Osman, last Tuesday urged the Sudanese government to investigate reports of the attack. “This incident should be investigated thoroughly and impartially and those responsible should be brought to justice,” he stressed.

The leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel Wahid Al-Nur threatened to wage war against the government if the attacks on civilians continue in the region. His reaction came after statements published by the pro-government media accusing his group of carrying attacks in Darfur camps on supporters of another rebel group negotiating with the government in Doha.

The attack took place on the afternoon of Thursday 2 September, the day of the weekly market of the area and where a large crowed was gathered. The SLM-AW said a notorious militia leader called Al-Nur Ahmed was behind the attack.

Some survivors of the bloody attack told Reuters today from Tawilla that militiamen riding horses and camels entered into the market “pretending to be buying goods before spraying the shops with gunfire”.

After the start of the killing vehicles mounted with machine guns and carrying militia fighters appeared and rounded up some of the men, a survivor said.

“They laid them down and they came up close and shot them in their heads,” Abakr Abdelkarim, told Reuters. He further said “some men were tied with rope behind the cars and dragged until they died.”

(ST)