Zalingei, July 8(Darfur 24)
A number of citizens of Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur state, which is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, expressed their concern about the spread of the phenomenon of armed looting within residential neighborhoods.
Citizen Ali Adam Ismail told “Darfur 24” that the situation in Zalingei has become worrying, due to the spread of armed looting gangs inside the neighborhoods at night, which requires the intervention of the Rapid Support Forces to resolve the chaos.
He pointed out that these gangs target Internet cafes via satellite “Wi-Fi networks,” as their members claim to be from Rapid Support Intelligence and are looking for collaborators with the army. They collect all the cafe’s phones, and even take the Starlink devices with them and return them the next day.
He added: “The worst thing is that although this is a clear impersonation of the Rapid Support Forces and a deliberate distortion of their image, they did not move to stop the phenomenon and arrest this gang despite the phenomenon being repeated more than once in less than a week.”
For his part, the young man, Abdul Shakur Hassan, said that an armed group arrested his neighbor two days ago in the Kanjumiya neighborhood and threatened him with either handing over his phone or shooting him, as he gave them the phone to protect his life.
He pointed out that this incident was followed by two citizens having their phones stolen by the same group that was active in the neighborhood.
The citizen, Ibrahim Muhammad Issa, was killed in the Al-Muhafadhif neighborhood, on Saturday, while trying to defend a girl who was intercepted by two masked armed individuals riding a motorcycle, who tried to steal her cell phone after she left the “Wi-Fi” Internet café.
The dead man’s father told Darfur 24 that his son was returning from a search trip for a cart that had been stolen from his house one day before the incident, when he heard a cry for help from a girl near the Internet café, so he got on his bike and headed towards it.
He pointed out that the girl begged him to pursue gunmen who forcibly snatched her phone and fled. The dead man was able to intercept the gunmen, but they rained bullets on him and killed him. They fled quickly on a motorcycle, but the people of the neighborhood arrested them.
Adam Muhammad Hussein, a member of the Rapid Support Forces, said that their forces are aware of the presence of sabotage elements seeking to distort their image in front of citizens.
He revealed their readiness to organize a campaign to combat negative phenomena in the coming days, a campaign that will not tolerate any criminal who exploits the name of rapid support.