Sudan to relocate South Sudanese refugees in three camps after W. Nile violence
August 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese interior ministry Sunday has decided to divide a camp for South Sudanese refugees in the White Nile State into three camps, together with a number of measures to control the security situation.
The decision intervenes five days after a riots at Khor Al-Waral Camp where a mob of refugees set fires to tents before to looting stores and humanitarian services buildings. Also, there were reports that four Sudanese teachers have been raped.
The violence started in the large camp which houses 53,000 refugees when the police arrested a youth refugees had died in police custody, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
In statements to the semi-official Sudanese Media Center (SMC) Sudan’s State Interior Minister Babekir Digna disclosed that the interior ministry, in coordination with the UNHCR and Sudan’s Commission for Refugees (COR), has put in place precautionary measures to secure the camp.
It was decided to relocate the residents of the camp in three news sites, Digna said.
Further, new refugees will be admitted in the camps only after their registration at the police. Also, he said they increased the number of police forces and vehicles to protect the camps.
Last Thursday during a visit to the camp, the state minister, the Sudanese official said they arrested 78 people involved in the violence.
Also, he vowed to review the security measures in the refugee camps in the state of White Nile which received more than 160,000 South Sudanese among the 410,000 refugees who are in Sudan since December 2013.
SPLA ACCUSED
In a press conference held in Rabak town, the White Nile State Governor Abdel-Hameed Musa Kasha said that “officers belonging to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) were behind the riots in the camp.
He further said that an SPLA officer’s card they found in the camp represents an evidence against the SPLA, according to the official news agency SUNA.
For his part, Qureshi Saleh the White Nile State Police Director said they arrested all those who took part in the violence and recorded their judicial confessions.
He said the big damage caused by the violence that it raised doubts in the camp between the pro-government refugees and those who support the opposition groups.
(ST)