Clashes erupt in north Khartoum between villagers and RSF militia
December 26, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese army acknowledged on Friday the death of one of its members today in clashes between recruits under training, believed to be affiliated to the controversial Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and residents of a village north of Khartoum which continued from Thursday through Friday.
Eyewitnesses said the recruits from Sulait camp blocked the Khartoum-Shendi highway and threw rocks at trucks and buses and clashed with villagers after discovering the death of one their colleagues, forcing army units to intervene.
There were also a confrontations between villagers in Samra and Shal’ab areas north of Hattab in which RSF recruits burned some shops, while villagers burned parts of the camp.
According to Sudan army spokesman Colonel al-Sawarmi Khaled Sa’ad, the events broke out initially because of a fight between villagers in Hattab area and recruits in a nearby camp.
Col. Sa’ad told pro-government Sudani website that the clashes renewed today after the disappearance of one of the RSF recruits who was later found dead due to traffic accident.
He stressed that the situation was contained and would be addressed with villagers.
The passage of these forces earlier this year in North Kordofan state led to skirmishes between residents and RSF soldiers causing several deaths.
Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir dismissed allegations of misconduct committed by RSF militia.
“I challenge … a challenge I put to everyone, everywhere … that they should provide one single event that these RSF committed in Darfur. If found, we are ready for an investigation anywhere,” Bashir told the Washington Post in an interview published this week.
“Of course, one of the missions of these groups is to face the rebel groups. But, at the same time, they are helping give assistance to the people. And if we track the route of these forces, wherever they go, they are welcomed by the people. They are commended by the people because they deliver services to the people. They give them food. They give them medicine. They repair the pumps,” he added.
The head of the National Umma Party (NUP) al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Sudanese Congress Party (ScoP) chief Ibrahim al-Sheikh were this year arrested because of their criticism of RSF.
The RSF militia, which is widely known as the Janjaweed militias, were originally mobilized by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan’s western region of Darfur in 2003.
The militia was reactivated and restructured again in August 2013 under the command of NISS to fight rebel groups in Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following joint attacks by Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebels in North and South Kordofan in April 2013.
(ST)