Zalingei, May 23 (Darfur24)
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detained several students from Central Darfur last week while they were traveling to neighboring Chad to sit for the postponed Sudanese secondary school certificate examinations scheduled for next June, according to local officials and relatives of the detainees.
A local official in Darfur, speaking anonymously to Darfur24, said an RSF unit arrested 23 students traveling from the town of Golo in Jebel Marra toward Chad to take their postponed Sudanese Certificate exams.
According to the official, the force acted on direct orders from the RSF commander in Central Darfur, Abdul Rahman Juma, instructing that the students be transferred to Zalingei and not released.
The official further alleged that some families later received calls demanding a ransom of 7 million Sudanese pounds in exchange for the students’ release.
“All the students are under 18 years old,” the official said, adding that families and local mediators were able to identify the location where the students were being held and had begun negotiations for their release.
Abkar Mohamed, a relative of several of the detainees, told Darfur24 that three of his relatives were among the arrested students and had been traveling to sit for the examinations.
He said the families received the news with shock and sadness and that the students’ fate remained uncertain.
Darfur24 contacted several relatives of the detained students, who confirmed that their sons had gone missing after being arrested by RSF members in Central Darfur. However, they said they could not independently verify reports that ransom payments had been demanded.
The newspaper also said it had obtained a list containing the names of the detained students.
Meanwhile, local sources in Zalingei told Darfur24 that six Sudanese Certificate students were released last week after a ransom of 500,000 Sudanese pounds per student was reportedly paid by a benefactor on their behalf.