Thousands of Darfur IDPs flee violent clashes in camp

30 July, 2010 (Khartoum) – Violent confrontations between anti and pro Darfur peace talks Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in south Darfur’s biggest displacement camp, Kalma, have led thousands of refugees to flee the camp and seek refuge around the premises of the UN-AU Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), according to a statement released by the mission.

Clashes between IDPs opposed to Darfur peace talks, currently held in Qatar’s capital Doha, and others supporting them erupted in the last two days in two IDP camps in Darfur, resulting in a total death toll of eight people and injury of dozens.

On 29 July, violent clashes broke out in Kalma IDP camp, the biggest camp in southern Darfur where some 100.000 IDPs live, leaving five people dead and three others injured. UNAMID issued a press release in which it said that many of the IDPs who fought in Kalma were “armed with sticks and machetes” and that sporadic shooting was heard throughout the camp.”

UNAMID’s release also reported that 7000 people, many of them are women and children, fled the camp and gathered around UNAMID’s Community Policing Centre.

A day before on Wednesday, 28 July, UNAMID said that three people reported to be supporters or members of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) were killed in an IDP camp in Zalingei West Darfur. UNAMID further said that the authorities had arrested four suspects on the case.

LJM is the only rebel group engaged in a floundering peace talks with the government in the absence of the two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement’s (SLM) faction of Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur.

South Darfur’s governor Abd-al-Hamid Musa Kasha was quoted by the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA) as accusing Nur’s loyalists of attacking Kalma camp with heavy and light arms. Kasha said that the camp had become “a safe haven” for Nur’s followers, adding that the purpose of their actions was to scuttle the peace process in Doha.

In response, the SLM’s Nur faction had denied that its members shot gunfire in the camp and accused the government of infiltrating the camp through its agents along with weapons and ammunitions.

“This is a flat out lie. Our forces would never expose the life of our people by firing in the camp,” Al-Nur told Sudan Tribune. “These are government elements that infiltrated the camp with the consent and knowledge of the UNAMID people. They are trying to intimidate the people there and pressure them to join the Doha talks under El-Sissi [Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) chairman]” he added.

Similarly, JEM’s spokesperson Ahmed Hussein told Sudan Tribune that Kalma camp incidents are “part of a plan by the [Sudanese] government to find an excuse to raid the camp on grounds of chronic insecurity and then seize the opportunity to take apart the camps because they think this is the road to making the Darfur conflict disappear.”

“The IDP’s and refugees issued their verdict on the Doha process and rejected it so now the government wants to retaliate” Hussein said.

JEM has suspended participation in the Qatar-hosted peace talks despite a promising start which led to signing of a framework agreement earlier this year. The movement accused the government of breaching the temporary ceasefire agreement and attacking its positions.

The JEM spokesperson called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate these events and urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to intervene saying this constitutes “a war crime.”

Furthermore, Hussein accused the UNAMID of “inefficiency”, saying that they had failed in protecting the people.

“They just stood there and watched. They are part of the plan by Khartoum” he said.

Earlier today, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the situation in Kalma camp, urging all parties to “address their differences through political dialogue and to refrain from any action that could incite violence.”

(ST)