Darfur Muslims Cry for Help

Facing death and rape at the hands of army troops in Darfur, a Sudanese Muslim imam has appealed to the International Union for Muslim Scholars to support their “brothers in Sudan, and especially in Darfur”.

“On behalf of the Darfuri keepers of the Holy Qur’an, imams, and preachers, I urge the International Union for Muslim Scholars, and imams and sheikhs all over the world, in particular in the Muslim and Arab world, to support their brothers in Sudan and especially in Darfur,” Sheikh Abdallah Mohamed Abdelrahman, head of Religious Affairs of the Association of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday, December 2.

“We call on them to speak out, and denounce the continuing injustice, and the aggression practiced against them,” he added.

The imam’s appeal followed a recent attack by militiamen on a group of sheikhs and Qur’an scholars.

The incident occurred in Wadi Tabbaldin, 15 km east of Manawashi, South Darfur.

According to Radio Dabanga, 15 people were killed and many wounded in the attack.

Sheikh Abdelrahman has also accused army troops of performing mass rape in the village of Tabit in North Darfur on 31 October, as an example of “the ongoing, widespread attacks on citizens and displaced all over the region”.

Voicing concern over the exploding situation, the Commissioner of Mershing locality, Mohamed Nur Bosh, said that the situation in the area is still tense, “though Sudanese army troops have been sent to Hamada village, where the murdered sheikhs came from, to contain the situation”.

The Darfur conflict broke out in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government accusing it of discrimination.

The UN says over 300,000 have died as a result of conflict, disease and malnutrition and 2,5 million have been displaced.

The Sudanese government says that 10,000 have died.

No independent inquiry has been made to date.

The International Criminal Court has charged Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with masterminding genocide and other crimes in the region, a charge Khartoum dismisses as political.