More newly displaced families reach Kutum camp

Hundreds of families – more than 2,000 people – fled the recent attacks in Ein Siro and have arrived in a camp for displaced people in Kutum. Military confrontations have uprooted the local population.​

More than 2,000 people sought refuge in Kassab camp in less than five weeks after military confrontations uprooted the local population in Ein Siro, west of Kutum in North Darfur.

The Sheikh of Kassab camp reported that 475 families, about 2,210 people, from the area arrived in the camp.

“Centres in Kassab have received the newly displaced families,” Sheikh Tahir Ismail told Radio Dabanga on Friday. “They need assistance from aid organisations and the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission.”

According to the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), the entire population of the 50 villages of Ein Siro, roughly 30,000 people, have been reportedly displaced to Kutum and the surrounding mountains.

The attacks in Ein Siro occurred between 28 May and 6 June and included members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other government-sponsored militias. They fought against Darfuri armed movements – of which there is no presence in any of the attacked villages, according to the ACJPS. 

At least five villagers were killed and seven people were injured on 28 May, when an unidentified government militia and the RSF in more than one hundred vehicles attacked a number of villages in the area of Ein Siro. ACJPS reported that 12 people were killed in the attack.