UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 04 September 2008 -- In the wake of an strike by Sudanese forces against the Kalma displaced persons camp, UN-AU peacekeepers have become more visible around the facility. More UNAMID soldiers have been sent to the camp and will be carrying out added patrols.

So far 31 people have been confirmed killed and preliminary accounts said that 117 others wounded in the attack, which took place on 25 August. UNAMID says that 49 people were taken to Nyala to the hospital.

The attack was ostensibly part of an attempt to seize illegal weapons and drugs, in accord with a Sudanese search warrant. Residents tried to fight back when the 60 Sudanese vehicles arrived and the soldiers and police moved into Kalma. The fighting and shooting went on for around two hours.

UNAMID personnel seeking to get into Kalma were impeded by the Sudanese forces and were able to go in only following extensive talks. The Sudanese forces claim that they fired only after being shot at first and say that their assailants were sheltering behind women and children.

UNAMID has said that, on the contrary, the people living in Kalma have only sticks, knives, and spears and could not have shot at the police. The mission has made clear that “[w]hile the alleged presence of weapons in the Kalma camp is a real security concern for the Government of Sudan authorities, the actions taken to address it are a clear violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement.”

It told the international community “that the presence of weapons voids the status of IDP camps granted to them by international humanitarian law and exhorts the IDP community and its leaders and representatives to ensure that their camps are, and remain, weapons-free zones” but “UNAMID strongly condemns the excessive, disproportionate use of lethal force by the Government of Sudan security forces against civilians, which violated their human rights and resulted in unacceptable casualties.”

Around 80,000 people live inside Kalma and they have grown increasingly worried about future violence and the possibility of further attacks. UNAMID personnel in Nyala recently noticed a greater concentration of Sudanese police than usual in the vicinity of Kalma.

On Monday, additional tents belonging to the police were visible around five kilometers away from the camp. A sheikh inside Kalma revealed that another attack on the camp is in the works. The displaced people in the camp say that the fact that Sudanese police are still in the area is adding to the fears and worries within Kalma.

The increased patrols are to be a temporary measure and a detachment of mission police and military personnel are to take over the duties permanently. Yesterday UNAMID Deputy Joint Special Representative Henry Anyidoho traveled to the camp and spoke with members of the mission about a variety of elements of the situation at Kalma.   

Rodolphe Adada, head of UNAMID and AU-UN Joint Special Representative for Darfur instructed officers from the mission to talk with the people living in the camp, as well as with others concerned with the situation in Kalma.  

Also yesterday, the new chief of the joint United Nations-African Union peace initiative, Djibril Yipènè Bassolé, landed in Darfur . Upon arriving in El Fasher, where UNAMID is based, he explained the talks cannot prosper and find a way to end the conflict if they are conducted amidst suspicion and uncertainty. Mr. Bassolé hopes to bring into the process the myriad rebel organizations.

He will travel through Darfur over the next few days and will talk with Rodolphe Adada, the head of UNAMID and the Joint Special Representative of the UN.

On the issue of Kalma, he explained that, “Of course there is need for security on the ground, and also I think that we should avoid and be careful that people [do not] use the camps for fighting, arms and ammunition. This specific question should be a point for our negotiation and when I was in Khartoum yesterday I talked about this situation and this consequence. For the mediation, security will be the first point of our talks.”

--- Caroline Patton

Labels: United Nations, U.N., MaximsNews

 

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