Sudanese parliament vows to deal swiftly renegade policemen
April 23, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese parliament today vowed to punish a renegade group from the Central Reserve Police (CRP) unit that has staged a mutiny last week in West Darfur state and looted government property. FILE - Soldiers in a miltary unit calling themselves variously the Border Intelligence Division, Second Reconnaisance Brigade, or the Quick and the Horrible, also believed to form part of the Janjaweed militia, walk around the weekly animal market in Mistiria in North Darfur, Sudan (AP) According to Sudan official news agency (SUNA), a "limited" number of officers broke away from their CRP unit in the capital of West Darfur state, El-Geneina on Saturday, after stealing four Land Cruisers vehicles, weapons and other supplies. The mutineers then fired shots into the air before leaving the city, SUNA said, adding that there were no casualties and that the army was chasing them. The head of the parliamentary Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense, Mohammad Hassan al-Amin, disclosed that the government is consulting with some tribes to mediate with the defecting unit, describing the incident as “unprecedented and warned that the renegades will bear serious consequences for their act. Al-Amin attributed the incident to tribal affiliations of the policemen saying it has serious implications on Darfur security. He pointed out that government soldiers were involved in their own capacity at Jabal Amer clashes last month which erupted as a result of a dispute over a gold mine. “Had it been possible to replace Darfuris in the police in order to avoid tribal loyalty, we would have done it” he said. In statement sent to (Sudan Tribune) attributed to the renegade force, the latter claimed that their original plan was to occupy the police headquarters in El-Geneina but that this information was leaked before executing the plot. The statement, which could not be independently verified, said that the government “wanted to use us in a lost battle against the people of Darfur” and in the tribal strife, pointing out that they had contacts with the “leadership of the revolution abroad”. They further said that the renegade force has become part of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement – Unity led by Ismail Rahama, promising that more defections will take place in the days ahead. But SUNA later reported that the unit has agreed to return after three days of intense negotiations led by El-Geneina mayor Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Saeed. Saeed denied that the move by the policemen was politically motivated and insisted that it was related to administrative shortcomings. Events in Darfur are difficult to verify because Sudan severely restricts access to journalists. This incident will come as an embarrassment to the government, which has been trying to convince donors that conflict in Darfur is largely over. Violence in Darfur has subsided from its peak in 2003 and 2004, but a surge in fighting has forced more than 130,000 people to flee their homes since the start of this year, according to the United Nations. War broke out in Darfur in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the central government, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the remote region and marginalizing its ethnic minorities. Last week a UNAMID peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded in southern Darfur town of Muhajiriya. Most major Darfur rebels remain outside the Doha peace deal signed two years ago in Qatar. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
