2 women killed, 4 children injured in government raid on South Darfur IDP camp
September 5, 2014 (NYALA) – Two women were killed and four children injured in a government raid on Kalma camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in South Darfur state.
The deputy secretary-general of refugees and IDPs’ union in Darfur, Adam Abdallah, told Sudan Tribune that a heavily armed military force stormed the camp in an “inhumane” manner and randomly opened fire leading to the death of two women including a lactating mother besides injuring four children.
He said that following the incident, camp residents went out in a demonstration and destroyed the headlamps of the building of Darfur’s joint peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) police which is in charge of the IDP’s protection inside the camp.
Abdallah added that the military force was unable to arrest any camp resident, noting that the residents managed to prevent the force from entering the camp.
He announced that the IDP’s will organise a major demonstration to protest against security raids which seek to push them to leave the camps.
Abdallah held the UNAMID and the state’s governor, Adam Mahmoud Jar al-Nabi, responsible for the massacres carried out by the security and military forces against IDP’s in the state.
In 2008, Kalma residents denied government forces entry to the camp, prompting the latter to use military force, which led to the death of 49 people
Last month, the security apparatus in South Darfur state stormed several IDP camps in areas around the state’s capital of Nyala, including al-Salam, Attash and Diraig, arresting several residents on charges of looting and murder in Nyala.
On 15 July, Jar al-Nabi declared a one-month emergency order in South Darfur state, including a curfew from 7pm to 7am in Nyala.
Last month, the state security committee decided to renew the order indefinitely and called on civilians to hand over any weapons they have in their possession.
The decision also banned riding of motorcycles by more than one person, vehicles driving around without license plates, and wearing a kadamool (a turban which covers the face).
It also prohibited tinted glasses on cars in Nyala even for government officials unless permission is being obtained from the traffic police. The decision further prevented firing of gunshots in social events in Nyala.
A special tribunal has been set up to investigate crimes, with residents supplied with phone numbers to contact authorities to report crimes and other violations of the emergency laws.
The commissioner of Nyala locality, Abdel-Rahman Hussein Mohamed Gardoud, said the security situation achieved a stabilisation rate of 90% as a result of applying the emergency order, pointing they would continue to implement these security measures until the situation has been stabilized.
Gardoud pointed that 300 suspects were tried for violating the security order, as well as confiscating large quantities of illegal drugs, weapons and ammunition.
Last month, UNAMID expressed concern about the security raids conducted by the government on IDP camps in Nyala and surrounding localities in South Darfur, saying it will make every possible effort to reduce the negative impact of these raids.
The head of UNAMID, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, said role of his mission is to “ensure that the activities on law enforcement agencies are carried out without infringement of the rights of innocent civilians, especially vulnerable communities in IDP camps”.
South Darfur state has witnessed a near total security breakdown in recent months with recurrent incidents of looting, banditry and murder including from pro-government militias.
Businessmen and commercial convoys in South Darfur are regularly attacked by armed gangs which demand ransom for their release.
(ST)