Over 3000 Sudanese return to government-controlled areas in South Kordofan
April 2, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Over three thousand Sudanese have recently returned from the rebel-held areas to the county of Dalami in South Kordofan State announced the Humanitarian Aid Commissioner (HAC) in South Kordofan on Sunday.
In a statement released by the official SUNA, Commissioner Kamal Rahma said over 500 families (3500 individuals) have arrived from the SPLM-N controlled areas to Dalami and surrounding villages.
Rahma said he discussed with Dalami Commissioner and traditional leaders ways to respond to the humanitarian needs of the returnees and support the efforts of the local authorities to face the daily growing number of returning civilians.
He said that HAC has provided food and shelter to meet the needs of new flows of returnees and displaced persons and made arrangements for their settlement. He further added that the local authorities agreed with humanitarian organisations to provide a number of water sources in the locality to the new settlers.
HAC has recently toured, Dalami, Habila and Alqoz to inspect the humanitarian situation there following new wave of returnees in these areas.
Since the start of the armed conflict in South Kordofan in June 2011, the government and the SPLM-N rebels have failed to reach a humanitarian agreement enabling aid workers to reach the civilians in the conflict zones.
Last January, the SPLM-N declined a U.S. humanitarian proposal to deliver medical aid to the civilians in the rebel-held area. The initiative aimed to break the stalled talks over humanitarian access as the government refused a demand by the group to deliver 20% of the relief directly via the Ethiopian Asosa border town.
The recent divisions within the SPLM-N would delay the resumption of negotiations between the warring parties in the Two Areas.
Also, the fighting in the neighbouring South Sudan forced many refugees from South Kordofan to flee refugees camps in Unity and Upper Nile regions and to return to Sudan.
(ST)