Urban and rural banditry

(a) Urban and rural banditry

Banditry has increased and has become ferocious. Attacks can flare up.

Banditry continued to plague Darfur in May, and there are indications that those criminal acts are increasingly being committed by rebel and militia fighters, in addition to common criminals acting without a political agenda.

Banditry, looting and hijacking of vehicles increased during the reporting period, with consequences for the safety of all travellers and the delivery of relief supplies.

Firstly, they must control their military commanders and reverse the slide into predatory warlordism and criminal behaviour.

The Kuchma regime s vast wealth, stolen from ordinary Ukrainians, suggested that the reign of thuggery and deceit could go on forever.

During the reporting period, continued insecurity and banditry on the Ed Daein Nyala road (Southern Darfur) seriously hampered access for humanitarian relief operations.

Article 224 is applicable in those cases, when the establishment of armed unit not envisaged by the law does not contain the features of the crime (banditry) prescribed by Article 222.

This banditry, which spares neither countryside nor city, much less roads, takes many forms carjacking, armed robbery and hold up of motorists.

The armed rebellion has ended but it has had after effects, including armed banditry, bringing about lasting vulnerability.

The upsurge in cross border banditry and the proliferation of weapons in the subregion have increased insecurity in the Central African Republic and are hindering its economic recovery.

In addition, joint action involving the Government, the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the African Union should be planned, in order to stop banditry and the bandits.

Humanitarian workers are increasingly subjected to threats and intimidation by forces from both sides, in addition to facing random danger from military action, banditry and armed robbery.

Inability to reach those in need is due, in large part, to the fighting, but it is due also to rising banditry and to interference from armed forces on both sides.

Another recurring theme in his work was social banditry, which Hobsbawm placed in a social and historical context, thus countering the traditional view of it being a spontaneous and unpredictable form of primitive rebellion.

Ituri based businessmen have all acknowledged to the Group that the traditional trading network with businesses located in Uganda and points beyond has not been interrupted by the violence and banditry of the Ituri armed group leaders and their militias.

For example, the month of May witnessed an increase in the level of violence and insecurity as compared to April. This was evidenced in clashes between the Government and the rebel movements, banditry, livestock thefts and the harassment of civilians and relief workers.

The many small scale clashes and acts of banditry that were reported in May underscore the increasing volatility in this region and other parts of Darfur where nomads compete with farmers for access to land and other resources.