30 Darfuri students banned from Babanusa University

The management of the University of Peace in Babanusa, West Kordofan, on Monday, reportedly banned 30 students from Darfur and issued an official warning to 14 others. One of the students concerned told Radio Dabanga that the management of the University of Peace in Babanusa on Monday released a list banning 30 Darfuri students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences for a period ranging from one to two years. Fourteen others received a warning. The students are charged with involvement in the September riots, according to the banned student. In reaction to the banning, 61 of a total of 800 students left the University of Peace on Monday. The student described their banning as politically motivated, arbitrary and unjust, and appealed to the national authorities, in particular Vice President Dr El Haj Adam, and Tijani Sese, President of the Darfur Regional Authority, to intervene and to cancel “the unjust banning”. Darfuri students protested in September against the University’s refusal to exempt them from tuition fees. They suffered various injuries when security forces and police stormed the University, using live ammunition, tear gas, and batons to break up a sit-in. The Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, signed by the Liberation and Justice Movement and the Government of Sudan in July 2011, provides that Darfuri students are exempt from tuition fees.The agreement however does not define who exactly benefits from the measure. Since then the exemption is implemented differently by the various Sudanese universities. File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid Related: 22nd Darfuri student arrested in Babanusa, West Kordofan (22 September 2013) Darfuri students injured, 20 arrested in Babanusa, Sudan (22 September 2013)