Sit-in as Unamid heads visit North Darfur camp

The displaced of camp Shaddad in North Darfur’s Shangil Tobaya staged a sit-in protest to demand improved security, when a delegation of Unamid leadership visited the camp on Sunday morning.

A coordinator of camp Shaddad told Radio Dabanga that about 18,000 displaced people participated in the sit-in, which greeted the Unamid delegation which came from the state capital of EL Fasher.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, a group of teenage girls from camp Shaddad were accosted, beaten and gang-raped by militiamen while out collecting straw and firewood last week. The sit-in was in protest against the deteriorating security in the area. Protestors demanded Unamid patrols to protect women and girls when they must leave the camp to forage.

The coordinator said the protesters chanted slogans such as “freedom, freedom”, “security” and “no violence against women”. They then handed a to the Unamid leadership demanding a stop to violence against women in the camps, and provision of protection, food and health care.

Tabit

About 10,500 newly displaced people fleeing from East Jebel Marra to the Tabit area in Tawila locality in North Darfur are suffering from a lack of food, drinking water and medicine.

On Sunday, one of the leaders told Radio Dabanga that the water pumps and water stations have broken-down. He said that that the displaced persons were only provided with humanitarian aid only once in February. This has led to malnutrition and diseases among children and the elderly, worsened by a severe shortage of medicines and medical services.

He appealed via Radio Dabanga to humanitarian organisations and local authorities to speed-up the provision of aid and assistance to those effected.