Sudan’s Al-Jazirah state deports 3,000 South Sudanese

March 9, 2025 (WAD MADANI) – Sudan’s Al-Jazirah state government said on Sunday it had deported 3,000 South Sudanese nationals to the Joda border crossing.

The move follows a diplomatic row between Khartoum and Juba sparked by allegations that the Sudanese army killed South Sudanese in Wad Madani, Al-Jazirah’s state capital, after retaking the city on January 12.

The reported killings prompted retaliatory attacks against Sudanese nationals and their property in South Sudan, forcing thousands to flee. Some went to Darfur via the Al-Ruqaibat crossing, and others to Uganda, according to aid workers and Sudanese officials.

Al-Jazirah’s acting Minister of Welfare and Social Development, Fath al-Rahman Mohamed Ahmad, said in a statement that “three trips” had been completed, removing the migrants, who included women, children, the elderly, and young people. They were taken to the Joda crossing in White Nile state, he said.

Sudan hosts about 613,000 South Sudanese, with 411,000 residing in White Nile state and the remainder spread across other states, including 5,500 in Al-Jazirah, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a Jan. 31 update.

The UNHCR said that Sudan hosted 837,000 migrants in total at the end of last year, with 266,000 having moved to safer areas since the conflict erupted in the country on April 15.

Ahmad pledged that all migrants residing “illegally” in Al-Jazirah would be deported in the near future.

The Sudanese government has accused some migrants, particularly those from South Sudan, of fighting alongside the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and of involvement in looting and other abuses against civilians. The RSF has denied those accusations. The RSF and the Sudanese army have been battling each other for control of the country.

The government is registering migrants in army-controlled areas of Khartoum state and has started deportations after meetings with the UNHCR, state media reported.