Government militia attack rebels in North Darfur

October 23, 2017 (EL-FASHER) – Sudanese government militia, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Monday said they defeated a rebel force led by Ali Rizkallah that tried to attack Kutum town, 115 km northwest of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

Rizkallah aka (Savannah) is a member of the Mahameed tribe who was part of the government militias but rebelled after Khartoum decision last August to merge his militia in the RSF led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, (aka Hametti), another member of the same tribal clan.

Mohamed Ali Suleiman, a member of the Native Administration in Kutum confirmed to Sudan Tribune the arrival of SRF fighters on 400 vehicles to the area after the arrival of “armed outlaws” from Kabkabiya.

“The RSF fighters attacked the outlaws inside the market forcing them to flee outside the town on their Land Cursors,” Suleiman said.

There are no details about the human casualties of the attack.

Recently the North Darfur authorities announced the arrival of 10,000 RSF fighters to El-Fasher within the framework of arms collection campaign.

RSF spokesperson, Colonel Abdel Rahman al-Jaali, told the official SUNA that their forces were arrived in Kutum to remove the outlaws who tried to enter the city “to cause chaos and destabilize security and stability.”

He further said that the RSF would clear the whole Darfur region from rebels and outlaws warning that the government militia will deal decisively with “whoever wishes to harm the security and stability of the citizen” in Darfur.

It is not clear if Rizkallah returned to Kabkabiya, a Musa Hilal stronghold area.

(ST)