Demolitions leave families living rough in Sudan’s Omdurman

About 200 families in the west Fashoda area of El Salha in Sudan’s second city of Omdurman have faced harsh humanitarian conditions since Ramadan, after the government authorities demolished their houses and left them in the open.

One of the victims told Radio Dabanga that the majority of those whose houses were demolished in Omdurman, which lies just north of the capital Khartoum, are from Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile states.

He said that the homes of 800 families were demolished as the area has been sold to an investment company called Sogra.

600 of the families were moved, and the other 200 are now living in the open without services, drinking water, health, or education.

He said that humanitarian organisations have provided a little assistance, including sheets and other materials, but the government authorities have prevented them from receiving aid in order to displace them from the area.

He pointed out that they asked the government authorities to compensate them with alternative lands, but they received “nothing more than empty promises”.

He appealed to the relevant authorities and organisations to speed-up the provision of more plastic sheets, food and medicine.