Urgent Action: Stop the killing of the displaced in Darfur
Urgent Action: Stop the killing of the displaced in Darfur, September 8, 2014 – PDF
Brutal attacks by paramilitary forces on protesters in Kalma camp for the IDPs
SHRN is alarmed by the recent attacks on “Kalma”, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp that was carried by paramilitary forces, which led to the death of eight people and injury of roughly 39 civilians some understood to be in serious condition.
Reports received by SHRN from Darfur, confirmed that heavily armed paramilitary forces, stormed Kalma camp on Friday, September 5, 2014. The armed paramilitary forces randomly opened fire, which led to the death of eight people including a lactating mother, and injuring 39 others.
Kalma camp is located outside Nyala, the capital city of South Darfur State, is considered the largest IDP camp in Darfur accommodates around 100,000 IDPs. The camp has government checkpoints on its perimeter, the joint African Union and UN peacekeeping mission has a base inside the camp and conduct regular patrols. Since the inception of the camp, Sudan government continues to view it as a security threat, a shelter for opposition and armed movements against the government and state within state. Hence, the government made several attempts to remove the camp and relocate the IDPs to other areas.
SHRN strongly condemns deadly attacks against civilians in IPDs camps, calls on the Government of Sudan, the joint African Union, and UN Peacekeeping Mission to take immediate actions to protect the civilians in Kalma camp and all IDPs living in other camps in Darfur.
SHRN urges the Government of Sudan to launch an independent and impartial investigation into the latest attacks that led to the death of those innocent civilians in the camp and ensure that their findings are published promptly and within a clear timeframe, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
SHRN calls on the United Nations-African Union to stand up to their mandate and responsibility to protect vulnerable communities living in the camps and putting in force adequate measures and caveats to ensure such attack will not occur again.