A section of El Daein residents in East Darfur State have complained over increasing incidents of murder and robberies recently.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, several residents of El Daein town said they have been receiving death threats while business people carrying large sums of money are being targeted by criminals operating in the city.
Hussein El Sayed, a local activist, said, “Many negative activities have resurfaced in El Daein. In the month of Ramadan alone, five robberies and murder incidents occurred within the city, especially as the state now hosts more than 83 displaced families due to the war.”
He called on relevant authorities to address the crimes, warning that the situation could spiral into a worse security situation.
Yassin El Maqbool, a youth from El Daein, described the recent crimes as foreign, blaming them on the ousted National Congress Party and the Islamic Movement’s brigades who would like to “destabilize security in areas under the control of the RSF.”
He urged the RSF to deal decisively with these phenomena, which include kidnapping, murder, and robbery against the city’s residents, while also discouraging various sectors of society from defending criminals from their own communities.
Major Hamdan Hamid Al-Ajib, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Commander in East Darfur, told Radio Tamazuj on Saturday that the force has a plan to combat crimes in the city.
“We have also put in place a comprehensive plan to secure El Daein, especially during the festival of Eid al-Fitr holidays,” he said.
Hamdan said RSF will enforce the state’s authority in all areas under its control and will secure all roads within the state.
The RSF officer urged residents of El Daein to report any insecurity threats and advised them to work closely with security organs in the city.
East Darfur State is one of the states controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Sudanese army and the RSF have been fighting since mid-April last year in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people and which the United Nations says has displaced 8.2 million.
Throughout the current war, both the army and the RSF have been accused of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, and arbitrary detention of civilians.