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| Africa Horn | |
| Dozens feared shot dead in Darfur camp | |
| 2008-08-26 | |
| A deadly firefight on Monday killed at least 25 people after Sudanese security forces thrust into one of the largest camps for displaced people in Darfur, witnesses and rebels said. Reports of casualties varied wildly and there was no immediate confirmation of numbers from aid workers or UN officials compiling their own statistics. The violence came just hours before Djibril Bassole, the new international mediator trying to find a political solution to end five years of war in Sudan's western region of Darfur, was to arrive to take up his post.
Adam Mohamed, a community leader in Kalma, said 30 people were killed and 25 wounded in clashes with police before the heavy gunfire subsided. "The government forces still surround the camp. There is no fighting now but tension is high throughout the camp and no one knows where the wounded people have been taken," Mohamed told AFP by telephone. "This morning security forces surrounded Kalma camp and demanded that every IDP (internally displaced person) leave," said Ahmed Abdel Shafie, a commander in the nebulous rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), from elsehwere in Darfur. "Later, they opened fire on the eastern side of the camp. There were many casualties. Up to now, we have 27 confirmed dead and 75 wounded." Five of the dead are women and two are children, he told AFP. He accused the government of wanting to disband IDP camps near main towns to isolate victims of the conflict after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir. Another rebel commander lashed out at African Union and UN peacekeepers, who are struggling to provide security in a region broadly the size of Turkmenistan with just over a third of the 26,000 troops they have been promised. "Government forces killed 25 IDPs. This happened before the eyes of the hybrid force. I urge the international community to protect IDPs," said one commander from the SLA faction commanded by exiled leader Abdul Wahid. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Well, now that the Olympics are over and the Chinese can take the veil down over Sudan and Darfur I am sure things will get back to normal over there. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-26 13:22 |