UN relief official discusses security with Kalma IDPs

November 25, 2008 (NYALA) – The head of the UN relief started his visit to Darfur today by a meeting with the displaced in one of the largest camps for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the war-torn region.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, visited the Kalma camp in Nyala, where he saw first-hand the work of aid organizations, met with schoolchildren and saw a women’s handicraft project.

During his meeting with the IDPs representatives, the sheikhs praised the efforts by the hybrid peacekeeping force to secure their camps since last August incident where 33 people were killed by the Sudanese forces and other 108 others injured.

However, they told the UN official about the need for reinforced protection in the camp. Hussein Abu Sharati the IDPs spokesperson since last August blamed unidentified assailants of punctual attacks against some centres inside the camp; he also spoke about arbitrary arrest of the IPDs by the local authorities.

The UNAMID police are patrolling the camp at all hours which has helped residents to feel safer, said Holmes. “But we still need to do more, not least to ensure women can feel safe as they move in and out of the camp.”

The visiting official also discussed security with UN agencies and NGOs, who spoke of increasingly frequent carjackings and break-ins, as well as of bureaucratic and other obstacles, particularly in sensitive areas such as protection of civilians.

These issues were also part of talks Mr. Holmes held with Ali Mahmoud Mohamed the governor of South Darfur.

International experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in Darfur’s conflict which is entering its fifth year.

Later in the afternoon, Holmes visited UNAMID’s headquarters in El Fasher, where he met with Rodolphe Adada, the head of the peacekeeping mission and the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the AU in the region, among other senior officials.

Tomorrow, he will travel to West Darfur to assess the humanitarian situation there before moving on to southern Sudan on Thursday.

The United Nations and African Union aim to have some 26,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, but only over 9,000 are on the ground.

(ST)