Darfur authority to organise IDPs conference in April

March 16, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) will hold a conference for the internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees next month before to set out plans to organise the voluntary return to their villages.

Speaking with Sudan Tribune from Nyala where he chairs the first preparatory meeting for the conference, Tadjadine Bechir Niam, DRA Minister of Reconstruction, Development and Infrastructure stressed they want to associate the IDPs in the process and take in consideration their concern.

“We want to listen carefully to their concerns but also to their points of view and criticisms. Everyone can speak freely without fear of arrest or persecution,” he said. “Also it means to encourage reconciliation among the different tribes,” he added.

Asked about the voluntary character of the process, Niam underlined that the DRA will not encourage them to return unless security and basic services such as water, education and medical services, are provided.

The conference which will take place during the third week of April aims to involve the concerned population and to prepare things in a way to respond to their expectations, Niam said.

The regional minister said they know that there are IDPs who are not willing to return to their original places and prefer to remain where they are. But he pointed out that the camps have to be transformed into residential areas.

Niam said donors should continue to provide the humanitarian assistance to those who return to their villages and areas because they will keep depending on aid during the first phase of the process.

There are more than 2.6 million IDPs in the different camps of Darfur and 250.000 refugees in Chad. The decrease of violence stabilized their number but many still refuse to return expressing fears of insecurity.

(ST)