Al Takamul Refugee camp. Khartoum, Sudan burnt in arson fire/ Gettyimage

At least one person has died, and several others injured after angry Sudanese youth set on fire an entire camp hosting thousands of South Sudanese refugees in Khartoum.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at around 8:00 PM at the “Al-Takamul” refugee camp in Sharq Al-Nil east of Khartoum city.

“The fire outbreak that happened in the Al Takamul camp of Al-Haj Yasfu, started at 8:00 PM on Tuesday. The camp burnt all, no one came out without clothes”,  Achol Malong, a South Sudanese human rights activist based in Sudan said.

Most of the refugees were sleeping when their houses were set on fire.

According to Malong, the arson followed a misunderstanding between youth from the host community and the refugees.

“They [refugees] said there were Sudanese boys who come and abducted girls next to the cemetery. The boys were arrested a few days ago. This angered the Sudanese youth.”

” Then yesterday [Tuesday] they went and brought diesel and sprayed it all over the shelters and set fire [on the camp]. They [ refugeese] woke up when the fire was everywhere.”

Following the attack, Malong said, the Sudanese police force and firefighters rushed to the scene to put off the fire, but the entire camp was already engulfed in the fire.

She added that the authorities were considering taking legal and fact-finding measures to address the matter.

The refugees have reportedly lost their belongings including clothes, and electronic devices, among others in the inferno.