Sudan’s Bashir paints rosy picture of humanitarian situation in Darfur
March 29, 2008 (DAMASCUS) — Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday painted a rosy picture of the humanitarian situation in Darfur saying that Darfur displaced have started voluntarily to regain their villages.
Addressing the opening session of Arab summit in the Syrian capital al-Bashir said more that 350 thousand IDPs have returned to their villages. He pointed out that the Sudanese government is now working to enforce the reconstruction programme and the return of displaced persons.
He further said that the government has enlarged the circle of basic services and development projects in stable areas that include most of Darfur region.
The Sudanese president also praised Arab the convening of the Arab Conference to support and address the humanitarian situation in Darfur and applaud Arab generous pledges.
“We have begun to see some of it reality on the ground a matter that stimulates the voluntary return of displaced persons to their villages, which have already begun and exceeded more than 350 thousand returnees.” Al-Bashir said
At the end of February the UN refugee agency said that more than 13,000 Sudanese have fled to a remote area of Chad following the new wave of attacks by the Sudanese army in West Darfur.
The UNHCR said Chad’s camps already house 240,000 people uprooted by the five-year conflict in Darfur, in which the Sudanese Government and militias are fighting rebel factions and in which over 200,000 people, mainly non-combatants, have died.
He also announced that Sudan is poised to receive two thousand Palestinian refugees trapped on the Syrian-Iraqi border. He underlined that his government is committed to the Palestinian cause and intends to “contribute to the reduction of the suffering of our Palestinian brothers.”
The Sudanese President further condemned the republication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers and called for a charter to guarantee respect for religions. He called for “a legally binding international charter to guarantee the respect of religions and beliefs to all the peoples of the world.”
(ST)