Travellers in South Kordofan complained of lawlessness along the road linking the state capital Kadugli with the city of El Obeid to the north. A number of citizens told Radio Tamazuj that the road has become problematic, plagued by persistent insecurity in the absence of police and security forces. A listener speaking to Radio Tamazuj last Friday said that both farmers and pastoralists along the route carry guns.

She added that the road linking Kadugli and Rashad and Abu Jebeha, and the one leading to El Obeid, have even begun to be called ‘robbery road’. The destitution of the inhabitants along the route has pushed many into a life of preying on others to survive.

“All of the citizens have become afraid of the road to El Obeid… The [bandits] will stop the car and take your money and take anything you have in the care,” she said.

The listener elaborated that there have been seven attacks in the current month in which travellers have been robbed of possessions and money, without any cases of prosecution by the authorities. The number of cases is perceived to have risen in the days before the Eid holiday.

Earlier this month a driver employed by the UN World Food Programme was killed in an ambush on the road to El Obeid. The assassination of state parliament speaker Ibrahim Balandia also reportedly took place on that road, which is the main route from Sudan into the Nuba Mountains. 

Photo by Radio Tamazuj: Refugees from South Kordofan in El Obeid, June 2011.