Unrest broke out at Kalma displacement camp in South Darfur on Tuesday, with the camp administration headquarters set on fire following the killing of a young displaced man, according to local officials.
Ishaq Mohammed Abdullah, a leader at Kalma camp and with the General Administration for Displaced Persons and Refugees, told Radio Dabanga that the violence began after a 20-year-old displaced man was killed during a fight with another young man outside the camp.
He said relatives of the victim gathered in large numbers outside the camp administration office and demanded that authorities hand over the suspected killer, who was being held by the administration.
The crowd later damaged and set fire to the administration building before calm was eventually restored, Abdullah said.
He urged residents to exercise restraint, avoid taking the law into their own hands and allow the justice process to proceed.
Adam Rijal, spokesperson for the Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees, gave a somewhat different account, saying tensions inside Kalma escalated after the criminal incident outside the camp and amid what he described as incitement by unidentified parties.
Rijal said two young men were killed, another person was wounded and the camp administration building was burned during the unrest.
He further accused individuals he said were linked to military intelligence and the Port Sudan authorities of attempting to exploit the incident to target camp leaders.
No independent evidence was immediately available to substantiate that allegation.
Rijal called on displaced residents to remain vigilant and avoid being drawn into what he described as efforts to manipulate or distort the incident.
Kalma, one of Darfur’s largest displacement camps, has for years housed people uprooted by successive rounds of conflict in the region.
