For the ninth consecutive day, thousands of citizens of the town of Nirtty, in the state of Central Darfur, western Sudan, sit in front of the local government building, waiting for a group of demands they meet to meet the officials, chief among them the provision of security and the dismissal of windows in the state authority.
Nirtati means in the Fur language “the washed and clean piece of pure” in relation to the cleanliness and splendor of the place.
The town is one of the largest local cities west of Jebel Marra, famous for its charming natural scenery, and most of its inhabitants are reluctant to cultivate, but their suffering is with the gunmen who prevent them from farming and attack farmers and women working in the fields and terrorize them and sometimes rape them, which led them to seek refuge in the local authority and its police in the hope of protection, But without heeding.
Among the demands are also the cessation of the use of motorcycles, the collection of unregulated weapons, the protection of the agricultural season, the recovery of livestock looted by armed militias, and the bringing of perpetrators against whom legal measures have been restricted to justice, as well as the opening of paths to bypass the frictions between herders and farmers.
And because the prevailing belief in the region and around it is that former regime officials still control the joints of local government, obstruct justice and detonate the security situation by various means, the most urgent requirement after imposing security was the dismissal of government officials.
Legitimate demands
Musab Ahmed - who is one of the youths of the two sit-ins - says that they have decided to resort to a peaceful option, especially since the demands submitted to the authorities are "very legitimate", because the Darfur community depends on agriculture and grazing and in the absence of security and the chaotic spread of weapons, it is difficult to practice these two professions.
In addition, he says, there are assaults inside the city of masked men wearing "kadmoul" - a costume from the common culture in Darfur, where men wear a cover that covers most of the features of the face - in order to prevent it officially to prevent criminals from being hidden.
On July 4, the Darfur Bar Association prepared a preliminary report on the situation in Nertati, in which it warned that failure to respond to the demands of its people may lead to the development of the sit-in and the production of similar models in other regions.
The commission considered the Nertiti sit-in a civilized behavior in demanding rights, and a democratic practice that must be invested for a positive action, by taking the sit-in platform as the start of a preparatory project for a forum that discusses security and peace issues, and to produce solutions to the nation's national issues and problems such as security and community peace issues.
According to the commission, “Since Eid al-Fitr 48 incidents, attacks and crimes have occurred against the citizens of the region and its vicinity, criminal communications have been filed with each other and the police have refrained from registering most of them. .
The report notes that the aggressor groups are nomadic herders, and that "there are two known families who practice violations on a continuous and systematic basis, some of whom have committed grave crimes and have been reported without being subject to accountability and criminal procedures, and that the practices of these individuals are protected by the regular agencies and local authorities."
Move the center
In the face of the prolonged sit-in, which garnered unparalleled response and support from the Sudanese, and after convoys from the cities of Nyala and Zalingei in Darfur and elsewhere joined it, the Sudanese government found itself facing a situation that required its intervention, so Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk described the demands of the people of the project, then decided to send a high-level delegation to meet The sit-ins.
Indeed, the official delegation made their journey on Sunday evening, and then engaged in meetings with local officials for more than 8 hours, to be surprised after the protesters refused to address them coming, especially after seeing the military convoys that accompanied the Khartoum officials, and they chanted against the scene, stressing that their peaceful sit-in is not worthy of this crowd Security. The delegation was only locked back to the city of Nyala at night, then returned to Nertati in the morning and addressed the protesters.
The media official at the sit-in headquarters, Muzamil Muhammad Ali, told Al-Jazeera Net that most of the demands related to development were agreed with the government delegation to postpone it until the peace agreement was signed, while the protesters met with some satisfaction - as Ali says - the second commander's quick support speech, Abdul Rahim Daglo. He pledged to provide 120 vehicles to catch the fugitive. The armed forces contributed 40 vehicles as well as the formation of the Ministry of Interior joint forces to pursue the perpetrators.
Apology and dismissals of officials
He affirms that "decisions were made to dismiss the local police director, its executive director and the intelligence official, in addition to removing the commander of the military zone and removing one of the judges, in response to the demands of the sit-in." However, he notes that the decision to break the sit-in has not yet been taken until it is confirmed that the demands are landed on the ground.
The media official at the sit-in indicated that the residents feared a repeat of the scenario of the city of Tals in South Darfur, which witnessed tribal clashes when joint forces returned to their positions within days of their deployment to sponsor a tribal reconciliation agreement.
In contrast, Musab believes that "providing the Rapid Support Commander with cars to confront the spoilers does not seem logical, especially if the attacks are often carried out by militias wearing uniforms," and he considers that there is collusion by some government parties with tribal motives in most cases, as well as That there is no commitment to the decision to ban motorcycles, and warns that the important step now is to disarm from the hands of irregular forces.
Member of the Council of Sovereignty, Mohammed Al-Hassan Al-Ta'ashi, presented an official apology to the people of Nertati, because the government delegation was late in reaching them until after 7 days of the sit-in, while Labor Minister Lina Al-Sheikh said that during their successive meetings since Sunday they discussed how to provide security for women working in the fields, and that the meetings will continue To reach a better reality.