South Darfur camp residents refuse DRA request to return to their villages

Residents of the Kubum camp for the displaced in South Darfur have refused the efforts of the Darfur Transitional Authority (DRA) to return them to their villages. A Kubum camp resident told Radio Dabanga that 20 representatives of the DRA Office visited the camp on Saturday. They requested the residents to return to their villages, in return for the provision of food, health care, and educational services.The camp residents, however, refused, because of the rampant insecurity and the “complete lack of basic services” in the areas of origin. The 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) contains provisions for an administrative structure for Darfur and a strategic authority to oversee the region as a whole. The Darfur Transitional Authority, chaired by Dr Tijani Sese, assumed its full functions in February 2012. In November, while reporting on the DDPD implementation process, Sese stressed that the peace agreement is implemented according to the priorities identified since its inception: security and stability, return of refugees and displaced Darfuris, and reconstruction, development, and “repair of the social fabric”. File photo Related:DRA begins reconstruction programme (3 December 2013) DRA ready to implement Peace Document in Darfur, funds available: Sese (7 November 2013)Plans to close Nyala camps and house South Darfur displaced in ‘model villages’ (5 November 2013)DRA to register displaced and refugees for return, West Darfur returnees in need of aid (2 November 2013)