El-Geneina death toll reaches 12, as the government orders investigation
January 11, 2016 (EL-GENEINA) – The death toll of El Geneina violence increased to twelve people, as the Sudanese authorities ordered to investigate the incident.
Following condemnations and conflicting reports on the number of the people who are killed at the incident, a local official Monday admitted that at least 12 denied in the riot.
In statements to the private channel Ashorooq TV, the commissioner of Nyala County al-Taher Abdel Rahman Badre Eddin said 12 people have been killed and others were wounded on Sunday and Monday.
The statements come as the Minister of Justice Awad al-Hassan al-Nur decided to set up a committee to probe the incident. The investigation body which is head by a judge, will include officials from the interior, defence ministries, and security services.
The text of the ministerial decision provides that the committee should submit its report within a week. The committee members will take oath before the minister on Tuesday.
The incident was also discussed at a meeting of the High Security Committee headed by Vice-President Hasabo Abdel Rahman.
Reports from El-Geneina say the funerals were organized Monday, where the victims were buried.
UNAMID CALLS FOR RESTRAINT
In a statement issued Monday they hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) called to avoid escalation after Sunday’s incident in order to reach end the unrest.
The hybrid mission voiced concern about the “continued tension” in El Geneina town and around Moli village, pointing it has been receiving reports about the
“UNAMID calls on the government authorities to exert their utmost efforts to contain the situation and investigate the incidents”.
“UNAMID emphasises the importance of restraint by all parties and stands ready to assist the state authorities as well as the Darfuri people in their efforts to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the situation” said the statement.
The villagers fled Moli after attacks on their by armed pastoralists on 9 January. The gunmen accuse the former of killing one of their relatives and demanded them to pay blood money (diyya) or to surrender his killer.
The affected IDPs moved into El Geneina and demonstrated outside the premises of the state government before to storm the building, leading to the closure of schools and commercial businesses in the town.
WIDE CONDEMNATION
The killing of displaced people by the security forces in El-Geneina has drawn wide condemnation from the opposition groups which denounce the targeting of innocent civilians by the government troops and militiamen.
In the meantime, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement(JEM) issued a second statement on Monday signed by the chairman’s adviser Mahgoub Hussein who called for an urgent international investigation.
“The Movement considers the “massacre” of El Geneina, as a war crime. The President and the pillars of his regime should be held accountable for it. And, we call on the international community to provide international protection for Darfur people,” Hussein said in a statement to Sudan Tribune.
For his part , deputy chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Abdul Aziz al Hilu has expressed his wonder about what he called the silence of the international and regional communities , the UNAMID in particular, with regard to the incidents . He said al-Genaina had twice come under a state of lawlessness in 15 days.
Hilu urged, in a statement received by Sudan Tribune, each of the AU and the UN to shoulder their responsibility of protecting civilians as stipulated in the International Humanitarian Law and the UNAMID mandate.
He called upon the youths in Darfur and Sudan at large to head towards the SPLA /N training camps to prepare themselves for the protection of their citizens.
Also, the New Justice and Equality Movement (NJEM), led by Mansour Arbab, has also deplored the incident that targeted people from his tribe Massalit, considering what had happened as “a crime”.
The NJEM, which recently joined the national dialogue conference, has called upon the dialogue’s 7+7 mechanism to give this issue due concern.
The Sudanese Congress Party condemned the killing of civilians and called to respect freedom of expression.
“Demonstration and peaceful expression of opinion is a natural right of any group that feels injustice or calls for a right,” said the opposition party in a statement on Monday.
(ST)