300 more Central Darfur families displaced as Zalingei fighting rages

Renewed fighting has prompted 300 more families to flee the El Wehda neighbourhood of Zalingei to the city’s El Hamidiya camp for displaced people due to renewed fighting between the army and the RSF  in Central Darfur capital on Thursday.

The International Organisation for Migration’s displacement tracking matrix reported that two people were killed and three injured as a result of Thursday’s clashes. The matrix confirmed the continued tension in the city.

Residents of the El Hamidiya and El Hasaheisa camps told Radio Dabanga that 80 displaced people were killed and wounded during the exchange of artillery shelling between the army and the RSF.

On September 1, Radio Dabanga reported that some 3,000 families had fled to the northern neighbourhoods of Zalingei and to El Hasaheisa and El Hamidiya camps on the outskirts of the city, fleeing SAF-RSF clashes. Ongoing violence in the area has seen the displacement of traumatised people grow.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, life in Zalingei has become extremely difficult. Most parts of Zalingei now resemble a ghost town. The SAF reportedly controls the army command and other SAF sites in the city, while the RSF controls the main roads, the police station, and government and other offices.