‘Sudan continues to displace people in Blue Nile’: human rights centre

The Blue Nile Centre for Human Rights and Peace Studies has accused the Sudanese government of continuing to forcibly displace people in the southern Bau and Geissan localities.

Anas Ibrahim Adam, human rights officer at the Centre, told Radio Dabanga from Ed Damazin, capital of Blue Nile state, that there are plans to build a military airport in the southern part of the state.

“This may most probably the reason why government forces are forcing people to flee their homes in the localities. Though it is not clear yet, where exactly the airport will be built,” he said.

Via Radio Dabanga, Adam called on international organisations to “monitor these developments”.

Relocations

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan ad interim, Geert Cappelaere, end May expressed his concerns about reported large-scale displacement, including possible forced relocations, in Blue Nile state.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, an estimated 24,500 people had fled Bau locality by 2 July. The reason for the displacement is still unconfirmed, OCHA said.

The Sudanese humanitarian organisation Faida reported in a press statement on 25 June that Sudanese army forces forcibly relocated people living in the Bau locality’s Ingessana Mountains. Their numbers are difficult to verify, as Khartoum does not allow humanitarian organisations to access the area.

In another action last month, people living in the area of Derenk, in Bau locality, were reportedly forced to embark some fifteen military trucks, and transferred to a camp for the displaced south of Ed Damazin.