IDPs: Hamadiya Camp under imminent threat of invasion

Displaced people (IDPs) in Hamidiya Camp in Zalingei expressed fears of a reportedly imminent attack by the government on the camp. The government may suspect the presence of weapons inside the camp, a charge that camp leaders strongly deny. Plans call for the search to begin Thursday.IDP leaders demanded that the UN – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) intensify its presence and patrols inside and around the camp. The camp leaders suggested that UNAMID was welcome to search the camp for weapons. The leaders appealed to the leadership of the peacekeeping mission to work alongside the camp’s 45 community policemen to protect the camp. The camp leaders have called an urgent meeting today with all the humanitarian organizations and UNAMID to keep them informed of developments.

This report comes only one week after a cordon-and-search operation in Zamzam Camp in neighbouring North Darfur Sate. Although that operation was bloodless, Hamadiya Camp itself suffered an invasion in September 2010, when a death squad entered the camp at night and killed at least eight people, including three camp leaders whom the government had sought to arrest. More than two dozen others were wounded.

Photo: Victims of the assault on Hamadiya Camp in September 2010.