El Daein — Residents in the city of El-Daein, the provincial capital of East Darfur State, have long complained over the continuous firing of live ammunition inside the city’s residential neighborhoods.
The ammunition is fired for the purpose of testing and selling, and has become a threat to security and stability in the city, a resident told Darfur24. “The firearms market is expanding day after day,” they said.
The resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there has been a frightening expansion in the arms trade. In the southern market in the city, on the truck road, firearms are displayed — and heavy weapons, including Dushka and RPG guns are tested.
Hamdan Hussein, another resident of the Arab neighborhood west of the city, told Darfur24 that the use of weapons in the markets of El-Daien has become a major threat to the stability of the city. El-Daien has become a major market in Darfur and the East Darfur state turned into a major gathering place for thousands of internally displaced people, Hamdan said.
He called on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the native administration to put an end to the phenomenon of arms trade inside the city.
Last April, the RSF, which controlled four states in Darfur, announced the formation of a joint force with the El-Daien police to secure East Darfur State, after the increase of looting, abductions and the spread of weapons in the city.
But Hamdan said that while the joint forces conduct routine patrols in the city, they have failed to put an end to the indiscriminate shooting.
Mohamed Ali Eidam, a retired police major general, told Darfur24 that under the current circumstances, it is difficult to control weapons and their trade.
East and South Darfur contain huge numbers of advanced weapons that entered Darfur for the first time, due to the transfer of army divisions weapons to citizens after the Rapid Support Forces took control of the military bases in these states — and the army withdrew, leaving behind all its weapons.