Darfur displaced commemorate 2008 ‘Kalma camp massacre’

On Friday, thousands of displaced people commemorated the ninth anniversary of the ‘Kalma camp massacre’.

In August 2008, a group of militiamen and members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police (Abu Tira) raided Kalma camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur. Reportedly 36 people were killed and 126 others were wounded.

Yagoub Furi, coordinator-general of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, told Radio Dabanga that the commemoration began on Friday morning with a march.

“Thousands of camp residents gathered at the main square of the camp. After they marched to the graves of the martyrs, where they prayed for their souls and called for retribution, the leaders of the association handed a memorandum demanding the prosecution of the people responsible for the massacre,” he recounted.

“In the memo, we expressed our full support for the efforts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and pledged to provide the necessary material and legal support to bring the Sudanese authorities accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide to justice.

“We also demanded the implementation of Security Council resolutions concerning Darfur,” he said.

Furi added that in the afternoon a discussion meeting was organised at the main square. “Most of the camp elders demanded justice for the victims of the massacre.”

The displaced also appealed to Unamid and aid organisations to provide intravenous solutions and medicines for the cholera patients in the camp. They described the government’s silence on the cholera epidemic in the camps as a new genocide.