The humanitarian chief of the United Nations complained on Monday of what he called "forced relocation" of internally-displaced persons (IDPs) from a camp in the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur.
"I am alarmed about the reports of forced relocation last night from Otash camp in Nyala, South Darfur, and the manner in which the relocations were apparently carried out," said John Holmes, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
He warned in a statement issued in Khartoum by the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) that such action could "contribute to more violence."
The Otash refugee camp is home to over 60,000 IDPs.
When a joint team of the UNMIS, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) managed to enter the camp, they observed 10 vehicles with heavy machine guns surrounding an IDP gathering while eight large commercial trucks were loading the belongings of IDP women and children.
The police informed the joint team that the people were being moved to Amakassara.
"While the United Nations notes the Government's concern about the security situation in the camps, it is imperative that any relocation be wholly voluntary, in agreement with the internally displaced," Holmes said in the statement.
"Given that security forces were threatening the displaced with sticks and rubber hoses at Otash camp, the involuntary nature of this relocation is clear, and is contrary to agreements with the Government," he emphasized.
Tensions remain high between various groups throughout IDP camps in Nyala, following a recent bloody clash in Kalma camp, the largest one in Darfur, which claimed the lives of three civilians.
The armed conflict in Darfur, which erupted in 2003 due to a deterioration of natural conditions and economic backward as well as tribal disputes, has made more than one million people displaced, most of whom are living in refugee camps.
Source:Xinhua
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