Trust the tale not the teller: A Darfur fact-finding committee makes public findings (News analysis by Mohamed Osman Adam, PANA correspondent)

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Setting a precedent in decades in Sudan's restive region of Darfur, a fact-finding committee has made public its findings, sending a message that what it needs was political will for concrete actions, not political rhetoric.

The committee was formed by the Sudanese government after dozens of persons were killed or injured and scores of villages were either looted or burned down while thousands of civilians had been displaced.

The committee headed by Ehab Mohammed Al-Taj, an attorney with the Sudanese judiciary, revealed that at least 32 people were killed and injured, 17 villages were burned down in the December 2022 attacks at Beleil locality, South Darfur state, near the border with Central African Republic.

The report was made public by the committee on Thursday and published in Khartoum media.

The clashes erupted on 23 December 2022, in the Bileil locality of South Darfur, reportedly following a brawl on 21 December between youth from the Arab Rezeigat and the Dajio tribe that quickly escalated into inter-communal violence.

This spurred thousands to leave their homes, drawing an outcry by local and international human rights and UN organisations.

A United Nations report at the time quoted what it described as “unverified local reports” as saying that at least 10 people were killed and 25 injured.

It also indicated that several villages in Bileil locality were burnt including Amori, Gimaiza Arba, Saiengo, Um Himeada, Kamaski, Tagla and Doka.

The villages belong to the Dajo tribe and are populated with more than 10,000 spontaneous and seasonal returnees from IDP camps including Kalma, Otash, Dereige and Bileil.

Government Security forces were deployed to the area and a state of emergency was declared on 24 December for Bileil locality and a curfew imposed.

There was mounting fear that the situation might deteriorate and spread to other areas in the Darfur region, an area about the size of France.

But with little action taken by the local authorities, as the investigation committee has now revealed, the federal authorities in Khartoum dispatched the second highest official in the government, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who spent almost three weeks in the region to restore order.

After deploying troops with clear orders to discipline any persons that disturb public order and arrest anyone undermining security, the Vice President asked for an independent committee, with full power to identify those guilty of committing those atrocities and bring them to justice.

Daglo promised that the outcome of the investigation would be announced publicly.

The committee spent two months and came out with a compelling report specifying that 416 police complaints were submitted by the Dajo tribe, and 2 reports by Al- Rizeigat tribe, with the confirmation of the death of 14 civilians and injury of 18 persons from both sides.

On Friday, in the first case of its kind as could be recalled by observes of the Darfur disturbances since 2003, Al-Taj announced his committee has named 89 persons of being involved in the attack, of whom 21 have now been placed under arrest and 68 are being sought by the authorities the region. He identified those persons by name and by affiliations.

The report said the committee listened to and interrogated hundreds of people, victims, eyewitnesses, hospitalised persons, families of victims, security and police and other regular forces before compiling its findings and making its recommendations.

The report specified that 419 cases were submitted by the Dajo tribe, and two reports from Rizeigat tribe, confirming the death of 14 and the injury of 18 persons from both sides.

It reported that 17 villages were burned down by outlawed groups from the Rizeigat tribe.

It added that unruly individuals from most of the tribes of other neighbouring villages have been implicated, as well as elements hailing from some armed movements.

It said that two policemen and two elements from the Rapid Support Forces, were also killed during the attacks.

Addressing the open gathering at which the compelling three volume report was announced, Gen. Daglo, accompanied by Sovereign Council (the collective presidency) member Dr. Al-Hadi Idris Yahia, as well as the Federal Attorney General and the federal Minister of Justice, reiterated that apart from the regular forces, no one should be allowed to carry arms in these areas any more.

The report recommended that the committee should follow up its work until the rest of those accused are brought to face the law. It also recommended that a joint force comprising the army, the rapid support forces, police and national intelligence carry out the task of arresting the accused, collecting weapons, seizing 4X4 vehicles and all unlicensed motorbikes. It cautioned that in such incidents the native administration should be kept at bay, to avoid inflaming the feelings.

During a visit in December 2022, Daglo, accompanied by a member of the Sovereign Council, used the stick and carrot policy promising no one involved in the incidents would be spared no matter who or to what tribes they belonged. He gave clear orders that those deployed in the area have free hand to use all necessary means to restore order and security.

“Any person seen carrying a firearm or wearing military fatigues or its look alike, apart from the regular forces, shall be considered and dealt with as an outlaw”, he warned. He stressed the need to “bring any criminal to justice immediately. No one is above the law.”

He also promised to dig water wells and provide services in the areas affected. And during the current visit to witness the publication of the report, the Sudanese officials inaugurated dozens of water wells and health facilities.

The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reporting from South Darfur said more than 300 families and more than 700 people, displaced in previous incidents, have now returned to their home area.

It quoted Dr. Idris, himself a former leader of an armed opposition group now a full member of the Sovereign Council, as commending the “great effort made by the investigation committee and other committees and many actors for compiling this conclusive report on the events in Beleil Locality”.

This was one of the few times that a committee was formed to look into incidents and clashes in Darfur and its recommendations and findings were announced publicly in all transparency.

To many people it is now clear that what was lacking in Darfur was a political will and matching words with deeds.

The concrete results, as reported from the field by the official media, tell the story for the first time since the year 2003 when the pacifist region fell into anarchy, that what Darfur needs is concrete action: a trust of the tale not the teller.

-0- PANA MO/MA 17Feb2023