Houses demolished, residents forcibly removed by Khartoum authorities

Khartoum state Land Department authorities demolished and forcefully removed the residents of dozens of houses in El Shajara, during which a child was injured.

The authorities “brutally dealt with residents and beat them with sticks”, according to the omda in El Takamol district, Abdelrahim El Haj. Several people, including women, were wounded, and seven people were arrested.

Lawyer Muawia Khidir El Amin also reported that women were beaten by the removal authorities. Approximately 88 houses were demolished and the authorities are working to demolish the small cottages, where people take shelter from the sun, from the site.

A number of homes were destroyed in the same area in August 2016 without prior notice to inhabitants.

Demolition

Dozens of residents in Soba East in Khartoum carried out a protest in April against the demolition of their houses and sale of land to the Social Security Fund. Similar protests against land seizure occurred in El Jireif district in October last year.

As part of a campaign 'to demolish all illegal buildings', a church building in Soba Aradi in south-east Khartoum was removed on 7 May, according to the Commissioner of Jebel Awlia locality. Like the other 26 churches in the capital threatened with demolition, the ownership of the land it was built on is disputed. In Soba Aradi, the authorities planned a housing project.

Weeks before, a dispute over the right to manage the land of the Evangelical School and Church in Omdurman escalated. The head of the visiting executive committee is accused of killing one of the church elders. Another church member sustained injuries before police arrived and arrested people.