Commission starts verification of Darfur displaced

The Darfur Regional Authority’s (DRA) Commission for Voluntary Return and Resettlement has started with the verification of details concerning the displaced in the region. The DRA Legislative Council requested the establishment of a Darfur reconstruction and development fund, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan reported on Monday that the cumulative figure of civilian displacement since January 2014 stands at 385,600 people. The DRA Commissioner for Voluntary Return, Azhari Shata, in a statement issued in El Fasher on Tuesday, announced that the Commission has started its verification procedures of the displaced in Darfur. “In cooperation with the authorities of the Darfur Civil Registry, a workshop for the staff working on the project will be convened soon.” He stated that the number of Darfur displaced targeted in the first phase of repatriation amounts to 150,000 people. “The costs are estimated at SDG1,500,000 ($261,500).”   The Commission will also “do a full scan to assess the humanitarian and security situation in 42 villages recently attacked in El Salam, Bielel, and Niteaga localities in South Darfur”. “Besides, a committee has been formed to assess the conflict-affected localities of Mellit, Kutum, Alliet, and El Taweisha in North Darfur.” Shata added that practical steps have been taken for the implementation of the project. “Priority is given to the inventory of damage and losses caused to the people of Darfur by the armed conflicts, as well as to the training of the Commission’s personnel and the displaced and the refugees on matters relating to compensation and restitution.” “We are working to increase the staff of the Community Police. The Commission has already been authorised to accommodate 815 young Darfuris in the Community Police, in order to secure the villages of voluntary return.” Legislative Council In response on the Commission’s statement, members of the DRA Legislative Council requested the establishment of a Darfur reconstruction and development fund, “to adopt vital projects that will transfer the citizens from the cycle of poverty to the circle of production”. The DRA Council members emphasised the need for the establishment of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mechanism. “Partners are to be attracted for the implementation of development projects, based on the amount of ten million dollars that the Qatari government deposited at the UNDP for these aims.” They pointed to the importance of setting up a fund for “strategic services projects”, and called upon the DRA to remind the international community of its obligations to enforce the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, “in particular concerning microfinance projects”. “This should all be implemented within a limited period of time,” the MPs noted, “in order to serve the people of Darfur, who have been suffering long enough.” They also stated that companies who delayed the construction of the highway connecting Darfur with Khartoum are to be held accountable, “as well as those that have supplied corrupted food and defective commodities to the people in Darfur”.Newly displaced in DarfurOCHA in Sudan, in collaboration with humanitarian partners, on Monday released a situation update on new displacements in Darfur this year. “There are currently about 258,600 newly displaced people since January 2014,” OCHA reported. “The cumulative figure of civilian displacement since the beginning of the year is much larger, and stands at some 385,600 people. This cumulative number includes close to 127,000 returns.” Map: Part of the OCHA map of recent displacements in Darfur, 23 June 2014  Related: ‘DRA chairman misleads public opinion’: Darfur displaced (18 June 2014)