Gunmen kill three IDPs in South Darfur camp

May 7, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Gunmen killed three people in an attack on a youth football team in South Darfur’s Kalma camp on Saturday.

Kalma is home to over 100,000 displaced people who fled their areas and villages during the counterinsurgency campaign launched by Sudanese government militiamen in 2003.

In a statement to the Sudan Tribune, the general coordinator of the displaced people camps in Darfur Yagoub Fori accused a government force without indicating their affiliation of attacking a training of the youth football team, organized by the junior team in Kalma camp.

“The perpetrators shot at the young men, killing three of them on the spot and wounding four others,” he said.”

“The assailants belong to a well-known regular force as it is confirmed by the license plate number of their vehicle,” he stressed.

Speaking about the circumstances of the incident, Ezaldin Musa, a resident of the camp, told Sudan Tribune that the football team objected to the intrusion of the gunmen into the training field.

“In response, the armed men fired several rounds of bullets at the youth before fleeing,” he added.

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur, in a statement on its website, said the perpetrators of the attack belong to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Kalma residents support the holdout armed group and back its position on the Juba Peace Agreement.

The RSF recently participated in the intercommunal fighting between Massalit and the Arab tribes in West Darfur state.

The authorities in Khartoum dispatched troops from North Kordofan to end the attacks as the former rebels from the area were also involved in the fighting.

(ST)