No peacekeepers deployed near Darfur camp — IDPs
September 3, 2008 (NYALA) — Darfur Internally Displaced People (IDPs) at Kalma camp in South Darfur said there are no peacekeepers deployed near the camps to protect civilians and prevent government troops from attacking them again.
Yesterday the hybrid mission said that it decided to deploy, on a permanent basis, a joint force of the UNAMID Military and Police, following fears that the camp could be once again raided by the government troops.
However, Darfur IDPs spokesperson, Hussein Abu Sharati said they didn’t notice any peacekeepers deployed near the camp where he lives. He further said they had been told by the deputy head of the hybrid operation that UNAMID could be able to protect them within some months.
The UNAMID Deputy Joint Special Representative, Henry Anyidoho, on Tuesday 3 September 2008, visited the camp in order to assess the situation there after the attack.
Abu Sharati who attended the meeting said Anyidoho told them that peacekeepers currently based in EL-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, would be in Darfur to protect them in the near future.”
The head of the UNAMID, Rodolphe Adada, on Monday protested officially against the excessive use of force inside Kalma Internally Displaced People (IDP) on August 25.
Adada emphasized that UNAMID mandate includes the protection of civilians in the troubled region of Darfur.
Abu Sharati said Kalma IDPs delegates who took part the meeting with the deputy head of UNAMID were very frustrated by Anyidoho speech who told them they came to investigate the 25 August attack and its causes.
“We rejected to talk with them about the deadly raid by the Sudanese troops on August 25 because they were there and know all what happened there.”
Kalma displaced delegates told the deputy chief of the hybrid mission “they need a protection force and not a peacekeeping force because there is no peace to keep.”
A total of 32 camp residents, including seven children as young as 11, were killed after armed Sudanese forces entered Kalma on Monday August 25. The authorities said they were searching for weapons and “suspects”.
The killing of civilians par the regular troops angered many tin Darfur. Also around 18 officials from the Sudan People Liberation Movement suspended their participation in the executive and legislative bodies of all three Darfur states.
After five years of fighting, the civil war in Darfur has killed 300,000 and forced more than 2.5 million to take refuge in camps inside the Sudan like Kalma or in the neighbouring Chad.
(ST)