Sudanese government forces who killed dozens of residents of a refugee camp in Darfur on Monday were gathering outside the camp again on Tuesday. Sudanese authorities claim the camp, which is strategically located near the regional capital airport and railways, is a base for Darfur's rebels and want to enter the settlement to search for smuggled weapons. But camp residents accuse the government of trying to clear the settlement and force them to return home under the auspices of a government resettlement plan.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Sudanese government forces are amassing outside the Kalma refugee camp in southern Darfur. Residents within the camp fear a repeat of Monday, when Sudanese troops stormed the camp, leaving dozens dead and wounded.

Kalma resident Omar Ali Omar Suleiman told Reuters Sudanese police and soldiers had built up their positions around the camp overnight. "They are gathering outside. We think they will try to come in again," he said.

"We now know 46 persons have died and 118 were injured" in Monday's clash, he said.

The New York Times writes that Doctors Without Borders corroborated the extent of Monday's casualties at Kalma, which is "a sprawling collection of shacks and mud huts."

Workers from the aid group Doctors Without Borders were treating 65 people at the camp for gunshot wounds, half of them women and children. About 45 severely wounded people were later evacuated to a hospital in the regional capital, Nyala, about 15 miles away, said Jose Hulsenbek, the Darfur coordinator for the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders.

Hussein Abu Sharati, a spokesman for the roughly 90,000 displaced people living in the camp, said dozens of heavily armed vehicles operated by Sudanese security forces surrounded the camp at dawn and opened fire.

The Sudanese police released a statement in Nyala on Monday saying that the operation had been carried out to seize weapons stored at the camp. It contended that Darfur rebel groups were planning to use the weapons to carry out assassinations.

The Sudan Tribune, a nonprofit news site based in France, reports that SUNA, the Sudanese state news agency, released a statement saying that only seven civilians were killed in the attack, which began when armed refugees opened fire on the government forces. Residents of the camp, however, denied the charge.

Abu-Sharati who described today's massacre as "genocide" denied the existence of any armed groups inside the camp who shot fire at Sudanese troops.

"Any one who dares to say that there was armed confrontation with the army is complicit in what happened today," he said angrily.

"The peaceful demonstration that took place today is the only means to protest against the daily oppression practiced against the refugees, and the clearest proof to what I say," Abu-Sharati said.

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