Al-Neelain university blocks Darfuri students

The administration of Al-Neelain University in Khartoum has refused to let Darfuri students take exams and it has blocked results of other exams they took, a Darfur students’ committee member told Radio Dabanga on Thursday, 18 October. The committee member, Abdul Aziz al-Toam, added the university refused to hand out certificates to graduate students from Darfur, under the pretext they did not pay their tuition fees. He said that the university will only hand out the certificates once the tuition fees for the last two years are paid, which range between 750 and 1000 dollars per student (five million Sudanese ponds). This means these students, from the faculty of arts, may have lost many university years, he explained, adding that students from the faculty of law may be facing the same fate. Darfur Regional Authority In light of previous problems concerning the payment of tuition fees by Darfuri students, Toam told Radio Dabanga that the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) had committed to pay these bills. However, he said, the DRA failed to fulfill its commitment, what prompted the university’s administration to block the exams’ results of Darfuri students from the faculty of arts. Abdul Aziz al-Toam appealed to the DRA and to the ministry of finance to meet their agreements to pay the tuition fees, as stipulated in the Abuja and Doha peace agreements. Related content: 29 Darfuri university students arrested (2 October 2012)