State-led investigation into West Darfur camp killings

The Government of Sudan will form a committee to investigate the incidents in Kerending in El Geneina locality which have led to the killing of three camp residents. The UN-AU peacekeeping mission has been handed a memorandum by displaced people.

The memo by a group of displaced people demands the accountability of the police and security forces who opened fire on the protesters in the camp on Sunday, killing two women and a child, and wounding twelve others.

As on Sunday, when the demonstration erupted, the signatories rejected the relocation of the Rokorko Market to the El Shaabi Market, outside of the camp. One of them told Radio Dabanga that they will assign a committee in order to count the losses of the vendors and camp residents, after their property went up in flames.

Witnesses told this station that police and security forces started a fire in Rokoro Market stalls after the Commissioner ordered them to implement his decision by force. This angered camp residents who set fire to the police post and a number of locality buildings. Others took to the streets in a protest march.

The memorandum signatory said that they hope to coordinate the opening of a fund to receive donations for the treatment of the wounded and orphan care. There has been no reaction from the hybrid peacekeeping mission Unamid on the memorandum so far.

Yesterday the government announced to form an investigative committee and count the losses. It will be headed by the head of the legal department in West Darfur and is expected to submit its final report within two weeks.

The situation is calm but has remained tense yesterday, a camp elder said. “People are still extremely angry about what happened.” Shooting police and security forces purposedly targeted people in the chest, the abdomen, and the thighs, a legal expert confirmed yesterday after a medical source reported to this station the outcome of the medical investigation of the victims.