Khaberni - Abu al-Qasim Omar Kandool, the head of the Civil Administration in Shattaya locality of Darfur region, said on Tuesday that the administration paid a ransom to the Rapid Support Forces for the release of displaced persons who were kidnapped while escaping from Al Fashir to the Twaila area.
Kandool added that the siege by the Rapid Support Forces of citizens in Al Fashir for 500 days without food or medical treatment, along with subsequent intense fighting, forced a large number of citizens to leave the city.
He explained that the citizens move to Twaila, the closest safe area from Al Fashir, where the Rapid Support Forces arrest them on the way, then interrogate them, and then demand money for their release, according to Kandool.
Kandool added, "I know of people whose relatives had to pay ransom money for their release. We paid 38 million pounds in two installments (the dollar equals 3700 pounds) to release 5 people."
He affirmed that these released individuals have reached the Twaila area.
About those who fled to Twaila, Kandool said their number was 70,000 people, and there are still citizens in Al Fashir, and the humanitarian situation there is bad.
The Rapid Support Forces seized Al Fashir on October 26 and committed massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations, and according to human rights reports.
On the 29th of the same month, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) acknowledged that violations occurred in Al Fashir, claiming an investigation was opened on the matter.
