NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) Sudan's Early Warning Flash Alerts provides immediate updates on incidents and sudden displacement in Sudan. Here's one on North Darfur.
To give some context, I've listed five reports including one of Hemeti, leader of Janjaweed RSF, aiming to turn Zurrug, North Darfur into a dream city.
Hemeti is supported and equipped by several foreign countries. He spent much of the last 20 years terrorising and killing Sudanese people in Darfur, Sudan to force them off their land and make them too scared to return.
If memory serves, the Janjaweed were incentivised by Sudan's President Bashir who promised the militia leaders they could keep the land and what they looted for stopping Darfur rebels advancing and reaching Khartoum.
Sheikh Musa Hilal controls huge swathes of Sudan and protects millions of Sudanese, ruling with benevolence. He's an old-style warrior who, like Mr Bashir, does not believe in taking hand-outs as it is not part of their culture.
Reportedly, Hemeti has grand plans for Sudan's remote western province. He feels at home in Darfur. He didn't fit in with the elites in Khartoum. Fighting and killing to take and get what he wants is what he knows best.
Hemeti is semi-illiterate. I saw footage of Messrs Burhan and Hemeti sitting next to each other at a meeting. While Hemeti lifted pages of a document, Gen Burhan's lengthy smiley sideways glance at Hemeti's hand was telling.
Surely, Sheikh Musa Hilal of North Darfur knows all about Hemeti's grand plans for North Darfur. Sheikh Hilal holds a lot of sway in North Darfur and beyond. Read more in the related reports posted here below.
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Flash alert from DTM
Dated Sunday, 18 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:
DTM Sudan Flash Alert: Conflict in Al Fasher (Al Fasher Town), North Darfur - Update Fourteen
On 16 February 2024, clashes renewed between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Al Fasher Town of Al Fasher locality, North Darfur. Reportedly, SAF conducted airstrikes targeting RSF positions across northern and eastern neighborhoods of Al Fasher Town.
Field teams reported that the event led to widespread displacement. Affected households sought refuge in southern neighborhoods within Al Fasher Town. Estimates on the number of displaced individuals are yet to be confirmed. The situation remains tense and unpredictable.
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POSTCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor
Just spent an hour down a rabbit hole of links and reading a dearth of word salads in an effort to find out who is behind DTM and how it is funded. I may be wrong, it appears that DTM and IOM are funded by the United Nations.
Curiously, DTM website translates for English, Spanish, French but not Arabic, Swahili, Russian, Chinese or other languages. Why Spanish? I don't know. Here’s what I found and put in a nutshell:
IOM's (International Organisation for Migration) Global Data Institute (GDI), established in 2022, works to enhance the availability and use of data to achieve stronger governance outcomes and positive impacts for migrants and societies in line with IOM's Migration Data Strategy. DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) is one of the founding pillars of the GDI, alongside the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC).
The Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) https://dtm.iom.int gathers, analyses and disseminates information on the mobility, vulnerabilities, and needs of displaced and mobile populations.
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Related
Sudan Watch - February 16, 2024
Situation Update Feb 2024: 10 months into conflict between SAF & RSF, war in Sudan is taking a new turn
"The mobilisation of rebel groups and ethnic militias in North Darfur forced the RSF to avoid a direct confrontation. In Kordofan, a sustained collaboration between the SAF and al-Hilu may push the RSF out of Dilling and other areas where the al-Hilu faction of the SPLM-N holds sway. However, clashes between these collaborators elsewhere in South Kordofan add to the uncertainty of the situation."
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/situation-update-feb-2024-10-months.html
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Sudan Watch - February 14, 2024
Darfur tribal leaders agree with Sudanese Sheikh Musa Hilal to lead initiative to stop war in Sudan
A civil delegation of tribal leaders in Darfur states announced that it has agreed with the head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, Sheikh Musa Hilal, to lead a national initiative to stop the war between the army and the Rapid Support.
The delegation, which included the principals of the tribes of Tarjum, Fallata and Rizeigat and notables of a number of tribes in the states of South, East, Central and West Darfur, visited Sheikh Musa Hilal in the suburb of Mistriha in North Darfur state, and the delegation spent about a week during which he held several meetings with notables of the region.
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/darfur-tribal-leaders-agree-with.html
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Sudan Watch - October 06, 2023
Sudan: Chief of Arab Rizeigat Mahameed clan to mediate between warring tribes in South Darfur
“Sheikh Musa Hilal will lead the initiative as head of the council and native administration* leader, along with other native administration notables and community figures from Darfur and some other states of Sudan”. A Revolutionary Awakening Council spokesperson said that “the root causes of the clashes need to be defined and addressed, to stop them forever”.
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-chief-of-arab-rizeigat-mahameed.html
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Sudan Watch - October 05, 2023
Sudan: RSF to turn Zurrug, N Darfur into a dream city
THE ruthless leader of Sudan's Arab militia has grand plans for the remote western province. But the transformation of Zurrug risks more unrest. Read more in this report from the archives of Sudan Watch, copied here in full.
Blood, sand and gold: victor’s city rises from ashes of Sudan’s civil war
Report from the The Observer - www.theguardian.com
Observer dispatch Darfur
By KLAAS VAN DIJKEN
Dated Saturday 29 February 2020, 17.05 GMT
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-rsf-to-turn-zurrug-n-darfur-into.html
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Sudan Watch - December 21, 2023
Understanding the Sudanese Civil War. Muslim Brotherhood is to blame. Janjaweed's home is Darfur
"The first thing [Sudanese] Pastor Kuku says when I ask him about the situation [in Sudan] is that the Muslim Brotherhood is to blame. “As far as they are concerned, they must be in control,” he says. “No one is allowed to govern the country while they are around — the country will be ruined, or they rule it… They feel that anyone else who might rule are infidels.”
The Brotherhood is an Islamic organization active in many countries. It supported the old dictator al-Bashir, and now supports his successor al-Burhan. The trouble is, Kuku says, the Brotherhood does not feel any sense of patriotism or belonging to Sudan. Their loyalty is to the Brotherhood. If they can rule Sudan, good — if not, let it be destroyed. If Sudan is ruined, they can move on. That’s their perspective.
The Janjaweed, which is currently occupying the capital Khartoum, isn’t any better. The Janjaweed just want to loot and pillage, in Kuku’s view. They don’t feel that they will get to keep Khartoum, so they want to destroy it out of envy and spite". Read more.
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/understanding-sudanese-civil-war-muslim.html
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UPDATE Wed 21 Feb 2024: changed title of this post from "Sudan: Conflict in Al Fasher Town, North Darfur" to "Sudan: Conflict in Al Fasher capital of North Darfur State"
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