El Koma — Many people, residents and displaced, are fleeing El Koma in North Darfur as the Sudanese Air force has intensified its aerial bombardments on the town - while the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have not taken control of the area. The people also do not receive any aid.
Civil society activist Saleh Harirein told Radio Dabanga on Friday that El Koma witnessed about 70 air raids since the outbreak of the war, "most of them took place in the past two months". Hundreds of people have been killed.
Recently, the Sudanese Air Force intensified its air strikes on the town, Harirein said, "with attacks now occurring almost daily. This week alone witnessed four air strikes in four consecutive days."
The repeated airstrikes on the town forced the residents and the displaced people to move to other areas in search of safety. "Those who are unable to leave have begun to go out in the morning to spend the day in the open and then return in the evening in the bitter cold to avoid being hit," the activist reported.
"All these tragedies, and no responsible party intervened. The RSF has not taken control of the town, so there is no justification at all for these airstrikes," he said.
"The El Koma locality director is doing what he can. He operates under the Port Sudan government, which makes the people here wonder about his role and that of his institutions."
According to the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), the Sudanese army fighting the RSF that used to recruit Arab herders in western Sudan, is systematically targeting Arab communities in the region.
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'No aid'
The people in the town are also wondering why humanitarian organisations in the town seem to neglect them.
"El Koma has now become an important humanitarian aid centre from where aid is distributed to the rest of North Darfur, while the people in the town do not receive any aid despite the tragic situation they are living in," Harirein stated.
He called on relief organisations "to intervene and address this humanitarian disaster we are experiencing, not only because of the air raids, but also severe food shortages and the lack of life-saving medicines".
El Koma (Kuma) lies about 75 kilometres northeast of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. In November last year, the town already hosted more than 45,000 displaced families who fled the violence in El Fasher, other places in Darfur, and Khartoum.
The strategically located town connects eastern Sudan with the west. It is a central point for travel to the Darfur state capitals of Nyala, Zalingei, and El Geneina. The town is a commercial hub for cargo trucks from eastern Sudan, passing via Ed Debba in Northern State.
