Number of new arrivals at Darfur’s Zam Zam camp reaches 45000

The number of new refugees that have arrived at Zamzam IDP Camp reached around 45.000 people. They come from 62 villages in the areas of Dar es Salaam, Tabit, Shangil Tobaya, Khor Abeche and Tutumare.Activists in the camp told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday and said an activist in the camp to Radio Dabanga that the number of newly displaced people who were registered up until yesterday was about 39560, according to records of IOM and other organizations working in the camp. Others are still unregistered.

The activists in Zamzam camp appealed to aid organizations, the international community and the United Nations to move quickly to save the thousands who have said they are facing very difficult conditions.

During the past days, tens of thousand of people fled from areas north and west of Shangil Tobaya and villages east of Jebel Marra. Aerial bombardment and ground attacks by the army and local militias loyal to the government targeted areas controlled by the rebels. A witness told Radio Dabanga that about 15 villages were abandoned or burned. Militias carried out daily looting and attacks in those areas. The witness said that he had seen helicopters landing in the area of Tangarara to provide assistance and support to the local militias. The witness, speaking from Tangarara, added they found the body of a person who was killed.

For its part, the army denied that it targets civilians in its military operations in those areas. However, spokesman Colonel Al Sawarmi Khaled Saad admitted in an interview with Radio Dabanga that the armed forces conducted a sweep in those areas in search of what he called “armed militias.”

He explained that the search operations included the areas Tayra, Tabit, Shangil Tobaya, Tutumarre, and others. Al Sawarmi attributed the displacement to attacks by militias and not by the army.