‘700,000 street children in Sudan’s capital’

There are about 700,000 street children living in Khartoum, according to the Sudanese Homeless Child Association.

On the occasion of the Festival of the Child, Majda Suleiman, the spokeswoman for the Association, told the press in Khartoum that most of the homeless children trying to survive in the Sudanese capital, are from Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile state. Their families fled the insecurity in these regions and sought refuge in the national capital.

Suleiman criticised the Sudanese authorities for neglecting the children, and urged them to establish child protection centres. She appealed to organisations to provide psychological, social, and material aid to the displaced children.

She added that many street children are “used by criminal groups” for begging and human organs trade.

The Sudanese Minister of Social Welfare, Mashair El Dulib, stated that the number of homeless children in the country is growing fast, and announced that her ministry is working on an initiative to improve the dire situation, in which more than 10 million Sudanese children are living.