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At least 24 people killed in attack on Sudan camp for displaced people

Site raided after dispute between Arab and African ethnic groups, officials say

Wednesday 01 January 2020 18:43 GMT

An international peacekeeping mission has said a camp in West Darfur for internally displaced people was raided on 29-30 December (AP)

At least 24 people have been killed after an attack on a camp for displaced people in Sudan, according to an international peacekeeping group.

The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has said Krinding Camp in the state of West Darfur was raided on 29 and 30 December following a dispute between Arab and African ethnic groups.

“The Arab tribesman’s people came to the camp and started shooting and killing and burning,” Ashraf Eissa, a UNAMID spokesperson, said.

“Then relatives went to the hospital and threatened hospital staff at gunpoint and destroyed the blood bank.”

Mr Eissa added that a government police officer was shot dead when they tried to intervene at the hospital.

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

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1/12The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Khadija Saleh, 41, a political activist and blogger, poses for a photograph in Khartoum, Sudan. After six years abroad, Saleh returned to her home country when people took to the streets demanding change. She was at a sit-in near the defence ministry in Khartoum on 3 June when security forces stormed the site. The area had become a centre for anti-government protests. Saleh said she was beaten with sticks, and still wears bandages on her wounds. ‘I came back from a safer place because I want a better future for this country,’ she said.

Photos Reuters

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Awadiya Mahmoud Koko Ahmed, 60, is the head of Food and Tea Sellers Union. She said: ‘I went to see the sit-in area to check what is happening there. I served them free tea with the money my daughter gave me. And we made a kitchen as a group of union members. We prepared food every day. All the people were good. They called me “mom”. When I was in America, I saw that even animals had rights. If I was the president, I would make sure that there was justice. I would treat everyone equally.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Duha Mohmed, 23, escaped the sit-in site at the beginning of the June raid, returning later to help the injured. The student said she was also motivated by a desire for a better life. ‘I don't want to wear headscarf, but it is not my choice. I want my right to wear what I want,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Shems Osman, 32, is an employee at an international company. Osman studied psychology in Canada. She has Canadian citizenship but she chose to return to Sudan. She said: ‘In Sudan it is definitely different how women carry themselves and how they are treated, and I think this is because of our African culture more than our Arab culture. Sudanese women are just naturally strong. So, they are naturally on the frontline and they are naturally a part of revolution.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Mai Atya, 27, is a musician. Atya said she was beaten during the raid. She said: ‘My main objective like many others is that we believe there should be a change; a good change in a good direction. I was at the sit-in area during the raid. I heard gun shots and ran away but when I jumped over a fence a Rapid Support Force (RSF) soldier caught us. They kept beating us again and again ... they think women should stay at home.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Amel Tajeldin, 41, a housewife and mother of four. Tajeldin said she would take turns with her husband to watch the children so that she could go out to protest. ‘While it was his turn to look after the children, I took part in the demonstrations,’ she said. She used to teach songs to street children in a makeshift tent at the sit-in. On 3 June, members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shouted at her and other protesters and told them to run, she said. ‘We ran. We were surrounded by soldiers and policemen,’ she said. Both her arms are now wrapped in bandages. ‘While we were running, they beat us. To protect my head, I used my hands. This is why my two arms are broken,’ she said. ‘The ones like us beaten by police were lucky, the ones beaten by RSF members were brutally injured.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Nagda Mansour, 39, is a translator. Mansour was imprisoned for 75 days after attending a demonstration in December. She said it was difficult for many to accept the idea of negotiating with the military because of its leadership’s involvement in the war in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by the deputy leader of the council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, are accused of committing atrocities in Darfur – charges officials have in the past denied. ‘The finalisation of an agreement with the military council remains the beginning not the end,’ said Mansour. ‘We as human rights defenders want to have a guarantee for transitional justice in Sudan.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Hadia Hasaballah, 42, is a counsellor and political activist. Hasaballah works for an NGO dealing with the victims of the 3 June raid. She and her team are supporting more than 100 victims. ‘This regime thinks in a traditional way,’ she said. ‘They know that if they humiliate the women, they will humiliate the whole people... None of the Sudanese women will officially say that they were raped because of the stigma.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Samra Siralkhatim, 21, is a student. During the June protests, Siralkhatim hid from the military in various people’s homes for five days. She said: ‘Sudanese are almost like refugees in their own country. During the June 3 raid night, we sought refuge from the military like we did in previous attacks. That time, they let us go into the defence ministry compound. But this time, the doors were closed during the raid. Security personnel were laughing and a member of the military behind the fence told us that the military was “taking a holiday”,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Mahi Aba-Yazid, 35, is unemployed. Under President Omar al-Bashir’s rule, women’s lives were tightly controlled by men, even the way they dressed. Morality laws meant that a woman could be arrested for wearing trousers. For that reason, Aba-Yazid wore trousers while she called for change at the sit-in site. She believes she was beaten more because of this choice. ‘There was already a bullet in my arm. I was bleeding but they continued to beat me,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Nahid Gabralla, 53, is a human rights activist. Gabralla said she was beaten with sticks and threatened with rape at the sit-in. ‘Sudan can be better,’ she said. ‘My daughter deserves to live in a nice country... We will fight for a democratic Sudan, real change and for our rights.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Manal Farah, 49, is a housewife. Farah lost her son, a 22-year-old university student, when security forces stormed the sit-in. She said he insisted on protesting even though she asked him to stay home. ‘The aim of the government is to convince mothers of revolutionaries to prevent their sons to join the revolution, but no matter what we say to them they will never stop before achieving their objectives,’ Farah said. ‘When he started in university, he started to ask why there is corruption in Sudan. He said there must be a change, a new Sudan ... I pray for my son’s dreams to come true.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

At least 17 people were also wounded in the violence which occurred just east of the state capital of el-Geneina, according to Mr Eissa, and many people from the camp have fled to the city or nearby mountains.

The violence has reportedly spread to the surrounding area, where at least 10 villages have been burnt, and some people have tried to flee across the border into Chad.

A statement from the non-Arab Masalit ethnic group has put the death toll at more than 50 people, although that figure has not been independently confirmed.

The UNAMID statement came as senior officials arrived in el-Geneina, the state capital, on Wednesday and were briefed on the security situation in the area.

Military and civilian authorities have been attempting to broker lasting peace in region of Darfur and other parts of Sudan following the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir.

The former leader, who had been in power since 1989, was removed by a military coup in April 2019 and convicted of corruption in December.

Mr Eissa said West Darfur has been generally calm since 2010, although tensions between the Masalit and Arab tribes resurfaced in 2017 and have led to occasional, smaller scale skirmishes.

UN estimates suggest up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people displaced, including more than 180,000 displaced in West Darfur, since conflict broke out in 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against the government.

UNAMID has been gradually winding down its presence in Darfur and withdrew from el-Geneina in May 2019.

Last week, hundreds of men in uniform and civilians raided and looted another former UNAMID camp in South Darfur, according to the peacekeeping group.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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