Grip tightened on Darfur camp
2008-08-26 14:57
Khartoum - Sudan boosted forces outside a volatile camp for displaced people in Darfur on Tuesday as fears rose of new armed clashes and rebels said the death toll had risen from fighting a day earlier.
"It seems last night there was a build up of security forces around the camp," one UN official said.
A community leader inside Kalma, Adam Mohamed, said by telephone that more government security vehicles were surrounding the camp, where living conditions were miserable and homes had been washed away by rain.
Ahmed Abdel Shafie, a commander in the nebulous rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said the death toll from clashes between camp residents and police on Monday had risen from 27 to 36, with all the victims now identified.
The dead included at least five women and two children, he said.
"The situation is very bad. The people are really suffering," he said by telephone. He said people lacked medication and having to cope with heavy rain, and lashed out at UNAMID for not doing anything to stop the police raid.
Reports of the casualties varied and there has been no confirmation of the numbers of dead from aid workers or UN peacekeepers.
"UNAMID evacuated 47 wounded IDPs (internally displaced people), mostly women and children, and some men to hospital in Nyala last night," said Noureddine Mezni, spokesperson for the joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force.
"We have information about other wounded IDPs, mostly young men, who refused to be evacuated for fear of being arrested," he added.
UN military and police commanders were huddled in meetings on Tuesday to determine the next course of action.
UNAMID has struggled to provide security in Sudan's war-racked western region of Darfur, more than five years after conflict broke out, with just over a third of the 26 000 troops they have been promised.