Soba massacre, or the unwise Khartoum State land policy

Editorial, The Khartoum Monitor

May 19, 2005 — SOBA Aradi 30 km south of Khartoum, entered into a dark history yesterday when 30 Sudanese lost their lives in violence sparked by ill and unwise Khartoum State land policy. The killing of 17 civilians and six children is massacre that could only be measured at the Iraq terrorist scale.

On 18 May 2005 the residents of Soba were ordered to evict their houses to nowhere.

This policy of forced eviction is not new. It is a strategic policy that was designed to discourage people who hailed from rural Sudan to permanently settle in the national capital. It is an injustice to expel a resident who had stayed in an area for over 10 years, and especially at short notice. There are school-going children whose education would be disrupted.

Is the government working for the welfare of the people?

The federal and Khartoum state governments must bear the responsibility of those killed. The blood of the 10 policemen killed is very dear as that of the civilian populations.

After 22 years of war Sudanese people have peace. But it seems there are elements within government who are against it, and they are working industriously to short-live the peace agreement. The government of Khartoum State is one.

The president of the republic, Omar Ahmad Hasan al-Bashir, should dismiss Khartoum Governor Abd-al-Halim al-Mutafi, and the chief of Khartoum police. Police are trained not to kill but to protect.