Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
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What is happening with the displacement camps in Sudan?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and at 14 hours GMT on Wednesday the 12th of February, these are our main stories. The paramilitary rapid support forces in Sudan are reported to have stormed the country's largest displacement camp, which houses half a million people who fled fighting. The United Nations says it believes 1,400 people were killed during last year's anti-government protests in Bangladesh, mostly by the security forces. And pressure is growing on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to clarify his latest Gaza ceasefire demands as the truce edges closer to collapse.
Also in this podcast. Between 20 and 60% of our nurses responding reported symptoms of anxiety or reported that they had depression or symptoms of depression.
A snapshot of the mental health burden on nurses around the world. Zamzam Camp in North Darfur houses half a million people who have fled violence in Sudan and who were already facing famine. It's been the target of shelling since late last year. Now refugees there say the RSF paramilitary group has stormed it. There's been looting and a market set ablaze. Our correspondent in Nairobi, Barbara Plett-Usher, has been following the story.
In terms of the casualties, it's really hard to get a clear picture. We don't really have information about numbers or injuries or deaths. What we have heard is that the injured are having a hard time getting treatment because the hospital in Zamzam no longer does surgeries.
What challenges are faced by Sudan's healthcare system?
And the North Darfur health minister has also said that people who were injured weren't able to get to the nearby city of Al-Fasher. If you remember, that's the city that's under siege by the RSF. He says the RSF is blocking the road. Although hospitals in Al Fasher have also either been shut down or damaged in the long siege. In terms of damage in the camp, it seems as if there was quite extensive damage to the market. That's what we're told. And there are also videos on social media which show smouldering ruins, which we are working at the moment at getting verified.
And we know that the people who were living there are already in a terrible situation. Why is the camp a target for the RSF?
Well, an RSF spokesman I contacted actually denied that the fighters had penetrated the camp. He said they had seized a military base near the camp, which belongs to a group called the Joint Forces. This is an armed group that fights alongside the Sudanese military, and he said it had been shelling RSF checkpoints for days. An eyewitness told us that the Joint Forces had confronted the RSF in the camp, but he said they arrived after the attack to respond to it.
And looking at the conflict which has been going on for some time now, are we reaching a decisive point?
We might be, broadly speaking. The army has made some significant gains in central Sudan recently. It recaptured the key city of Wad Medini and it has gained control of Jazeera State, which is a strategic state. And now it's closing in on Khartoum from the south. and has already reclaimed some regions of the capital city from the RSF, in particular Khartoum Behrie, and it's advancing to the centre of the city. It's not clear how much resistance they'll face, whether they'll get street-to-street fighting, or whether there will still be prolonged battles, or whether they will have a victory soon.
There really is nowhere else for the people who are currently in Zamzam to go, is there?
Not really, no. I mean, you know, before the war, there were about... 100,000, 200,000, it's not entirely clear, people in Zamzam who had been displaced by previous conflicts in Darfur. And the number has really swelled since the civil war. And so you even had people from al-Fasher coming to Zamzam because the fighting there is so intense. So if they're going to be displaced again, and according to reports, there was an exodus of quite a large number of people because of the fighting, it's not clear where they can go.
A BBC investigation has revealed allegations that British oil giant Shell ignored repeated warnings that a $1 billion clean-up operation of polluted land in southern Nigeria has been beset with problems and corruption.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is happening with the displacement camps in Sudan?
0:00–1:40
2
What challenges are faced by Sudan's healthcare system?
1:40–4:55
3
What is the alleged oil clean-up scam in Nigeria?
4:55–6:57
4
How has oil pollution impacted local communities in Nigeria?
6:57–11:16
5
What are the findings of the UN investigation in Bangladesh?
11:16–17:19
6
What is the current status of the Gaza ceasefire?
17:19–33:02