AU says shocked by violence of Darfur’s Kalma camp
May 10, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in the Sudan, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe said deeply “shock and sadness over the lynching to death of an AU Language Assistant”, following an attack against an AU Civilian Police Station by internally displaced persons in their Camp at Kalma in south Darfur.
In a press statement issued in Khartoum, the
Special Representative strongly condemned these regrettable acts and requested the Umdahs and other local authorities as well as the parties who are now committed to peace to assume their responsibility and re-establish law and order to allow humanitarian workers and the AMIS to continue to render assistance to the needy.
Angry demonstrators killed a Sudanese interpreter working with African Union forces in Darfur on Monday 8 May in riots which broke out during a senior U.N. official’s visit to a camp for displaced Sudanese.
“The incident, which seemed to have been orchestrated to coincide with the visit of Jan Egeland, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, who was himself under threat of physical harm, took place on 8th May 2006.” the statement said
The African Union responsibles in Sudan said concerned about the spate of violent demonstrations by the IDPs in Darfur, particularly the ones that took place in Kalma and Hassahissa where, in addition to human casualties, a number of AMIS vehicles and other properties were either burnt, damaged or vandalized.
These developments, coupled with recent reports of violent clashes between the parties to the conflict as well as the rampage by the Janjaweed in Labado where no less than ten civilians were killed and thirty three (33) injured, “could undermine the commitment of the vast majority of the people of Darfur to the peace process. It could also undermine the supportive efforts by the international community” at this critical time as we plan the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement, said the AU statement.
(ST)