The authorities say it is almost inevitable that there will be retaliation by Arabs against Africans.

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Concern

The screaming mob first stoned the fleeing man, then they stabbed him, hacked off his ears and nose, before severing his genitals and sticking them in his mouth. It was retribution Darfur-style, in this most vicious of communal conflicts.

Medibor Ahmed Mohammed, an aid worker with the charity Care, was attacked at a refugee camp after he was accused of being a member of the Janjaweed Arab militia, and of being personally involved in murderous ethnic cleansing.

For two days after the killing of Mr Mohammed and the stabbing of three of his Arab colleagues by the African crowd, which included a large number of women, the authorities shut Kalma camp to outsiders, including aid workers.

On Sunday, soldiers and police charged in and arrested 270 people. In the process, it is claimed, they indiscriminately beat up many of the refugees, sexually assaulted women and stole money and property.

The murder of Mr Mohammed has led to an upsurge in ethnic tension and anxiety about further violence. Among those being held by police are a number of local employees of Care, and a 9pm curfew has been imposed by the United Nations and the aid agencies on their staff.

At the Mussei camp, where Mr Mohammed and his family lived among other Arab refugees, there is talk of revenge attacks on Kalma. The authorities say it is almost inevitable that there will be retaliation by Arabs against Africans. Many of Mr Mohammed’s compatriots are also blaming foreigners for taking him and his fellow Arabs to the waiting mob at Kalma.

Yesterday, there were patches of dried blood where Mr Mohammed was lynched and pieces of his white shirt, stained dark crimson, stuck to barbed wire fences through which he had tried to escape. But for the inhabitants of Kalma, it was the actions of the police which were the cause of most complaints. “They said they were looking for knives, but they stole a hundred thousand Sudanese pounds [about £25] from our hut,” said Mohammed Adem Ahmed. “They also took our watches and a radio. I protested, and they beat me with their sticks, and then kicked me when I fell down.”

Fauzia Selim Bashir, 22, said a family lost 60,000 Sudanese pounds during police searches: “They said they could do anything they liked. There was no one there to stop them.” Rahima Abdullah, 19, standing next to her, added: “My aunt would not tell them where she had hidden her family’s money, so two of them took hold of her, and a third man started touching her in her private parts.”

Two sons of Suleiman Ahmed Ali, 57, were taken away. “I don’t know where they are and I’m very worried,” he said. “Hassan, my eldest one, was already bleeding from his head, mouth and nose after being hit with a rifle butt. They knocked one man down and stamped on him, I think his arm got broken.

“They dragged a girl behind some huts, they said they wanted to question her. They kept her there and she started crying. After a while an officer came and told them to let her go.”

Omar Mahmud Mohammed, 27, was one of the Mussei Arabs who was attacked at Kalma. He recalled: “We were worried about going there, but the man from Care said we must go for training. While we were working at Kalma, people started coming over and shouting that we were going to be killed.

“One of the Care officials put us in a car and tried to drive us out but a large crowd surrounded us. They said they wanted Medibor, they even knew his name. We were then put in a store house, and we were told the police are being called. But we waited for hours, and the only people who came were more and more crowds.

“Then they forced their way in, and with everyone shouting and fighting, I ran away. They tried to stop me and I was kicked and punched.

“Medibor was near the front of the room as the crowd came in, he was very afraid, that is the last time I saw him.”

Adem Yahir, another Care official, said: “The crowd cut their way through the canvas wall of the store room. At the end, Medibor and another man rushed at them with knives. Both were attacked, and I think the other man has died, too.”

Yusuf Ali Hamid, a Kalma refugee, countered: “The man was a Janjaweed. At Tabaldial [near by] more than 50 people were killed, and he was part of that gang. He deserved to die.”