KALMA CAMP / NYALA

(

21 Aug

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The head of the AU-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, visited Kalma camp for the displaced in South Darfur on Wednesday.

During his meeting with representatives of the camp residents, Ibn Chambas asked them if the displaced would be prepared to participate in the National Dialogue, launched this year by the ruling National Congress Party.

The displaced leaders unanimously refused. They stressed to the head of Unamid that a national dialogue should be a really national and comprehensive one that will restore security in Sudan, and lead to a democratic transformation, Hussein Abu Sharati, the chairman of the Association of Darfur Displaced and Refugees told Radio Dabanga from Kalma camp.

“When Ibn Chambas told the camp leaders that he supports the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), they replied that the displaced reject any partial solution for the crises in the country, and do not support the DDPD,” Abu Sharati said.

Regarding the dire living conditions in the camp, the Kalma camp elders said that, “apart from the continuous threats and assaults by militiamen and other outlaws, the displaced suffer from a lack of food, clean water, medicines, and a polluted environment”.

“The Kalma camp residents urged Unamid to run patrols for 24 hours a day to protect them against militia attacks. They also requested the peacekeeping mission to prevent the raiding of the camp by military forces. Ibn Chambas, however, replied that Unamid cannot stop government forces to enter the camps for the displaced.”

The Unamid head, later on the day, told the press in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, that he paid a visit to South Darfur because of the “emergency measures” recently taken by the government of South Darfur State to curb the rampant insecurity in the region. He said that Governor Adam Mahmoud Jarelnabi had briefed him elaborately on the issue.

News photo: Unamid head, Mohamed Ibn Chambas (white cap), at the meeting with Kalma camp leaders today (see more photos of the meeting below) (Radio Dabanga correspondent)

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