Darfur prosecutor completes investigations on IDPs killing

June 21, 2016 (EL-FASHER) – The office of the special prosecutor for Darfur crimes has completed its preliminary investigations on the killing incident that occurred in the IDP’s camp in North Darfur area of Sortoni.

Last month, 8 people including 2 children were killed in an attack carried out by gunmen on an IDP’s camp in Sortoni near the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) site.

The deputy special prosecutor for Darfur crimes Ali Karam Allah on Tuesday said that UNAMID notified his office via the Foreign Ministry that gunmen attacked Sortoni IDP’s camp on May 9 th, saying that 8 people were killed and 4 others injured including a woman.

He added that a committee from his office headed by Abdel-Rahman Amara was dispatched on June 16th to Sortoni to complete the investigation with the witnesses and the wounded and to examine the crime scene.

At the time of the incident, UNAMID said the peacekeepers arrested two gunmen and will hand them over to the Sudanese authorities in Kabkabiya.

The head of the investigation committee Abdel-Rahman Badi said the two gunmen have been transferred to Shala prison in El-Fasher, saying the families of the victims and the witnesses besides the physician and the medical staff and the UNAMID’s operations officer have been investigated.

He added that the committee has also examined the crime scene and the entrance and exit used by the perpetrators.

Badi pointed to the difficulty of their mission saying that charges have been filed under article (139) pertaining to the serious harm and article (130) pertaining to the premeditated murder besides article (5&6) of the Terrorism Act and article (26) of the Weapons and ammunition Act.

Following the incident, the deputy governor of North Darfur Adam al-Nahla criticized the peacekeepers for arresting the cattle herders and ignoring the gunmen from the other side.

“The herdsmen tracked the perpetrators until the camp where an exchange of fire took place inside the camp between the herders and the cattle raiders,” al-Nahala said.

He added that the UNAMID peacekeepers intervened and arrested the herders only and didn’t detain the alleged perpetrators.

Since the start of hostilities between the Sudanese army and militants of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur in Jebel Marra in early 2016, Sortoni is hosting over 90,000 displaced persons.

(ST)