August 8, 2020 (NYALA) - Hundreds of the Fallata tribesmen in South Darfur held a sit-in to protest a 10-day campaign of arrests carried out by Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that at least 35 people residing villages located in Saadoun area have been arbitrarily arrested by the RSF without any legal justification.

"The villagers accuse the Rapid Support Forces of systematically targeting them, also they accuse the militiamen of preparing to arrest the head of the Fallatah Shura Council, Abdallah Mohamed Arsho, and the deputy traditional chief of Saadoun’s villages, Zakaria Mohamed Haroun," they added.

Adam Haroun al-Numair, a spokesman of the Fallata sit-in said that the tribal entity decided to carry out an open sit-in that began on Saturday outside the house of the Fallatah Shura Council to "uncover the scheme that is being hatched against the villagers to forcibly displace them and put them in prisons."

In a statement extended to the Sudan Tribune, he said that the violation is being committed by those who are both a judge and a party at the same time in the ongoing conflict and use that all means to achieve their goals against the peaceful Fallatah people.

He said that the idea of the sit-in stemmed from similar attacks in Nertiti and El-Daein areas which adopted a peaceful approach to express their legitimate demands.

He also added they count on the newly appointed civilian governor to achieve justice.

Sudan Tribune learned that representatives of the sit-inners filed a memorandum including their demands to the governor of South Darfur calling for the release of all the Fallatah from the villages of Saadoun area arrested by the RSF militiamen.

They also demanded the immediate return of villagers of Saadoun-Aldaka, who were forcibly displaced, to stop the arbitrary arrests carried out by the RSF, to withdraw them from the area, and instead to replace them by police forces.

The Sudanese police have been weakened by the former regime which replaced them by the dissolved security apparatus, NISS.

Nowadays, the transitional government replaced the NISS by the RSF who are more and more accused of arbitrary detention of civilians in several regions even in Khartoum State.

(ST)