KHARTOUM: Gunmen have attacked and burned a camp for displaced people in Sudan’s Darfur region, peacekeepers said yesterday, adding to an upsurge of suspected militia violence which has wreaked havoc.
The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has reported a series of attacks on villages in the region this month, but the Khor Abeche camp in South Darfur, assaulted on Saturday, was an unusual target.
Recent unrest and a soaring number of displaced has evoked comparisons with the early stages of war in Darfur, which captured the world’s attention more than a decade ago. “The situation in Darfur is beginning to deteriorate for the worse, and has gone back to the days of deepening crisis 10 years ago, and even surpassing it,” veteran columnist Mahjoub Mohamed Salih wrote in The Citizen.
Events in the region “are heading towards catastrophic results” without a quick correction, he said. UNAMID said in a statement that about 300 heavily armed men attacked the camp, “setting fire to dozens of shelters and stealing livestock belonging to the residents”. About 3,000 sought refuge at the nearby UNAMID base but one person who could not flee apparently died in the blaze, UNAMID said.
The attack occurred about 75km northeast of the South Darfur state capital Nyala. On the same day hundreds of families approached another UNAMID base, in Korma North Darfur, reporting that nearby Kobe town had been attacked.
“One fatality was reported, alongside the looting of property and burning of houses,” said UNAMID, which deployed additional peacekeepers after about 1,000 people sought safety at their compound.
Korma is northwest of El Fasher, the state capital. Local sources said militiamen were suspected in the latest attacks.
Rebels from Darfur’s black tribes rose up in 2003 seeking an end to what they said was the domination of Sudan’s power and wealth by Arab elites. In response, government-backed Janjaweed, recruited among the region’s Arab tribes, shocked the world with atrocities against civilians.
Over the past two years, Sudan’s deteriorating economy has led to worsening crime and intercommunal clashes, a February report by UN chief Ban Ki-moon said. It added that some cash-poor paramilitaries have joined the tribal fighting over gold and other resources. AFP
