Sudan’s interior minister announces plan to relocate foreigners to camps
April 17, 3025 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Minister of Interior, Police Lieutenant General Khalil Basha Sairin, revealed measures on Thursday to relocate foreigners from residential neighbourhoods into designated camps.
Sudan hosts 837,000 refugees, including 266,000 who fled to safer areas after the conflict erupted on April 23, 2023. The country had previously maintained a lenient approach, often allowing refugees, migrants, and other foreigners to settle within residential areas.
Sairin stated, in remarks published by the Khartoum State government media, that there are “measures to transfer foreigners to specific camps and remove them from the midst of neighborhoods, in line with the state’s vision regarding foreign presence.”
He declared his support for close cooperation among the components of the Khartoum State Security Committee through joint operations and a security cell to tackle rogue elements impersonating regular forces.
The Interior Minister visited Khartoum about three weeks after the army regained control of most of the state, including government institutions, following battles that forced the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to retreat to western Omdurman.
During his visit, the minister inspected the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, the Police Forces Command, the Commission for Refugees, the Customs Forces Command, the Civil Defence Forces Command, Al-Ribat University, the Police Hospital, and the Kober Federal Prison.
The Interior Minister pledged to reopen prisons and return criminals to them. He announced the resumption of work from the Ministry’s headquarters and the deployment of police across Khartoum localities to protect government buildings and establish security and stability.
He indicated that his visit aimed to help the state government normalise life by establishing security, supporting voluntary returns, and addressing the needs of police units.
In the same context, Khartoum State Governor Ahmed Osman Hamza said the army’s recapture of most of the state’s territory from the RSF made the state government responsible for restoring essential services that were looted and sabotaged by the RSF.
He stated that police forces had remained present in the Karari locality but needed significant support to impose state authority and expand their presence after resuming work in most central areas.
Since the conflict began, the Khartoum State government had been operating from a temporary headquarters in Karari locality, west of Omdurman, before relocating back to its main site in Khartoum
Hamza expressed hope that the Interior Minister’s visit would help reopen prisons to “complete the circle of justice,” hold collaborators with the RSF accountable, and address the “foreigners file.” He described foreigners living in residential neighbourhoods among citizens as posing a “security burden.”