Ministers inspect security in South Darfur

Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Reheem Mohammed Hussein and Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud were accompanied Saturday by intelligence chief Lieutenant General Mohammed Attal Mawla on a visit to South Darfur province to inspect security conditions and the measures taken by the authorities to combat militant groups in the troubled area. Hussein said the measures taken to improve conditions in the province included securing markets and trade caravans to ensure the continuous flow of goods in South Darfur. The visit, he said "focuses first and foremost on ending violations, especially that the city of Nyala is Sudan's second city in terms of economics and must be secured to achieve development." This is the first visit of its kind by a federal official to the province since a local ministry's workers' wages were robbed last week by an armed gang none of whose members have been apprehended. State radio reported Interior Minister Mahmoud as saying that the armed groups of Darfur have "turned into robbery and organised theft groups because they have lost their sources of income after the disappearance of the Gaddafi regime, so they have resorted to collecting taxes from citizens to fund their activities." The minister vowed that a "thorough scheme" the details of which he did not mention, would eradicate these groups' threat. The Governor of South Darfur, Hamad Ismail, and members of the province's security committee briefed the delegates about the situation in the province and discussed several issues, including securing goods in transit from and into the province. The recurrent attacks on trade caravans have created shortages in basic goods in South Darfur, with petrol being a particular problem. Fuel shortages were behind the breakout of clashes last year in the province's capital, Nyala. A number of students were killed in the flare-up and the federal government vowed to ensure that fuel reaches the province.