Page 6 - aruba-today-20201228

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 28 deceMber 2020

Sudanese man’s death draws attention to paramilitary force

By SAMY MAGDY spearhead mass protests
Associated Press against al-Bashir, called for
CAIRO (AP) — The death of the closure of all detention
a Sudanese man who was centers run by the RSF. The
snatched while sitting at a association also called for
coffee shop has sparked the release of the RSF’s de-
controversy around the tainees or for detainees to
scope of a paramilitary be turned over to the po-
force whose members lice.
once formed the back- In a satirical tweet, Suda-
bone of a militia that rights nese analyst and the edi-
groups say committed war tor of the daily newspaper
crimes in Darfur. al-Tayar, Osman Mirghani,
Bahaa el-Din Nouri, 45, was suggested that Sudanese
taken on Dec. 16 from the drivers ought to remove
Kalakla neighborhood in their car license plates “to
the southern part of the force the government to
capital, Khartoum, by men ban” security forces from
wearing plain clothes and doing so.
riding in a vehicle without li- Activist Shamael el-Noor
cense plates, his family has called for those responsible
said. for Nouri’s death to be held
Five days later, his body accountable, and for an
appeared at a hospital In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by end to impunity when the
morgue in the city of Om- Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe’s rally, in suspects are members of
durman, just across the Nile the East Nile province, Sudan. the security forces. She said
River from Khartoum. The by the Rapid Support Forc- groups have accused the in April 2019, Dagalo has what happened with Nouri
family refused to take the es. Janjaweed of committing emerged as Sudan’s main could happen to anyone,
body for immediate burial Brig. Gen. Gamal Goma, war crimes, including rap- power broker, with his forc- adding “this is a serious in-
after seeing signs of appar- the RSF spokesman, said ing and killing civilians and es deployed in areas across dication of the state institu-
ent beating and torture, the head of the RSF’s in- burning down villages dur- the capital and other main tions’ inaction towards se-
according to Nouri’s broth- telligence unit as well as ing counterinsurgency raids cities. The country is cur- curity issues.”
er, Yasser. officers involved in Nouri’s in Darfur and other areas of rently led by a joint military- Another Sudanese man
Culture and Information detention and interroga- western Sudan during the civilian government. died on Saturday, a day
Minister Faisal Mohammed tion have been suspended conflict. A report by Sudan’s Monti- after his release from police
Saleh said the family met or detained, pending an The RSF is led by powerful Caroo news website, which custody in Omdurman, ac-
with the general prosecu- investigation into his death. Sudanese Gen. Moham- extensively covers RSF ac- cording to a police state-
tor on Thursday and asked The statement did not give med Hamdan Dagalo, who tivities, said Nouri was be- ment Sunday.
for an autopsy to reveal the further details. is also the deputy head of ing interrogated over alle- Ezzel-Din Ali Hamed, 22,
cause of death. The RSF is largely comprised the ruling sovereign coun- gations of belonging to a was arrested on Dec. 17 as
Saleh, who is also the gov- of former Janjaweed mi- cil. Dagalo was appointed “terrorist group trading in part of an investigation into
ernment spokesman, said litiamen who executed a to lead the RSF by former explosives.” The report did charges of robbery. On Fri-
an initial investigation brutal crackdown in Su- longtime leader Omar al- not provide further details. day, prosecutors had or-
showed that Nouri died dan’s Darfur region over the Bashir. The Sudanese Professionals’ dered his release pending
while being interrogated past two decades. Rights Since al-Bashir’s ouster Association, which helped the investigation.q

Hundreds of migrants freezing in heavy snow in Bosnia camp

BIHAC, Bosnia-Herzegovi- temperatures, no heating, iticians to set aside their dif-
na (AP) — Hundreds of mi- nothing,” the International ferences and take action.
grants were stranded Sat- Organization for Migra- On Saturday, migrants
urday in a squalid, burnt- tion’s chief of mission in crowded at the camp to
out tent camp in Bosnia Bosnia, Peter Van Der Auw- receive water and food
as heavy snow fell in the eraert, tweeted. provided by Bosnia’s Red
country and winter temper- “This is not how anyone Cross as police sought to
atures suddenly dropped. should live. We need po- maintain order. Some mi-
Migrants at the Lipa camp in litical bravery and action grants wore face shields to
northwest Bosnia wrapped now.” protect them from corona-
themselves in blankets and Bosnia has become a bot- virus.
sleeping bags to protect tleneck for thousands of “We are living like animals.
against the biting winds in migrants hoping to reach Even animals are living bet-
the region, which borders Western Europe. Most are ter than us!” said a man
European Union member stuck in Bosnia’s northwest from Pakistan who iden-
Croatia. A migrant walks through the snow wrapped in a blanket at the Krajina region as other ar- tified himself only by his
A fire earlier this week de- Lipa camp northwestern Bosnia, near the border with Croatia, eas in the ethnically divid- first name, Kasim. “If they
stroyed much of the camp Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. ed nation have refused to not help us, we will die, so
near the town of Bihac that Associated Press accept them. please help us.”
already was harshly criti- Despite the fire, Bosnian au- stuck in the cold, with no The EU has warned Bosnia Plans to relocate the mi-
cized by international offi- thorities have failed to find facilities or heat, eating that thousands of migrants grants temporarily to a
cials and aid groups as be- new accommodations for only meager food parcels face a freezing winter with- closed facility in central
ing inadequate for housing the migrants at Lipa, leav- provided by aid groups. out shelter, and it has urged Bihac have prompted pro-
refugees and migrants. ing around 1,000 people “Snow has fallen, sub-zero the country’s bickering pol- tests by residents. q