Farsha of Morney: no voluntary return of refugees to Nuri

The highest native administrator of Morney, Izzedeen Abdurrahman, told Radio Dabanga ‘there is no voluntary return of refugees from eastern Chad to their villages in Nuri’. He added that if anybody claimed he had been to Nuri and saw refugees returning ‘he must have confused trees with human beings’. He said claims made by the government or media that suggest otherwise are ‘false and misleading’. The Farsha returned to Nuri and found not a single returnee. He explained that he did not deal with voluntary return files, as the most pressing issue in Nuri and surroundings is the lack of security: ‘’80% of the people from Nuri are still living in refugee camps in eastern Chad’. The rest of the people found shelter in camps in El Geneina, Morney and Cisse: ‘These places are deserted, every school is destroyed’. New settlers in Darfur Abdurrahman also addressed the issue of new settlers arriving in the area of Fufeau. He said non-Darfuri started to cultivate land that belongs to Darfurian refugees. ‘Their land is now occupied by a small number of people from outside Sudan’. He said settlers should be expelled and efforts should be made to build peace and security so refugees can return to their villages. In the Um Shalaia area of West Darfur Chadian refugees arrived according to the Farsha of Morney. ‘People from Chad flee from conflicts in their country. The government accepted the Chadian refugees and opened small camps for them to stay in’. The observations of the Farsha are in line with earlier statements made by camp leaders in eastern Chad.