- Title: SUDAN: REFUGEES REFUSE TO LEAVE KALMA CAMP, DARFUR, UNLESS THEY GET COMPENSATION.
- Date: 22nd August 2004
- Summary: (W6) KALMA CAMP, SOUTHERN DARFUR, SUDAN (AUGUST 22, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: OF KALMA CAMP. (3 SHOTS) 0.13 2. VARIOUS: OF PEOPLE IN THE CAMP MARKET AND ON STREETS. (4SHOTS) 0.34 3. WS: SUDANESE POLICE PATROLLING INSIDE CAMP. 0.39 4. CU/WS: WOMAN COOKING FOOD ON THE STREET TO SELL INSIDE THE CAMP. (2 SHOTS) 0.49
- Embargoed: 6th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DARFUR, SUDAN
- Country: Sudan
- Reuters ID: LVADOB6M6XSZPUVOR9B7LW7DR86I
- Story Text: Villagers who fled Arab militias demanded
compensation before they would agree to leave a camp in
Sudan's remote Darfur.
Villagers who fled Arab militias who looted and
burned their homes and crops demanded compensation on
Sunday (August 22) before they would agree to leave a camp
in Sudan's remote Darfur to make the long trek home.
The huge Kalma camp for internally displaced people in
southern Darfur state shelters just under 150,000 African
villagers who fled attacks by Arab militias known as
Janjaweed.
Despite international pressure for cooperation between
the government and rebels to ease the plight of civilians
in the impoverished region, tensions among victims of the
fighting run high and distrust of the Sudanese government
is deep.
After years of low-level conflict between Arab nomadic
tribes and African farming communities over dwindling
resources, rebels took up arms in February 2003, accusing
the government of helping Arab militias known as Janjaweed
to loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic
cleansing.
Khartoum denies the charge calling the Janjaweed outlaws.
The U.N. says about 200,000 refugees who fled the
violence are encamped in Chad, more than a million others
have fled their homes within Darfur, and up to 50,000
people have been killed in the conflict.
Sudan has less than two weeks to prove to the U.N.
Security Council that it is serious about disarming the
Janjaweed and making it safe for displaced people to return
to home, or face possible sanctions.
Many villagers said they were promised compensation for
their losses when they arrived in the camps and would not
budge until they received it.
The mistrust extends to Arab villagers who had
previously lived among their African-speaking neighbours.
Some of the people in Kalma say they will no longer live
alongside Arab tribespeople.
One Arab who fled the fighting was stabbed and beaten
to death when he took refuge in Kalma last week and some
hinted the attack may have been fuelled by revenge.
But most of the displaced people's anger and distrust
was reserved for the government.
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