Sudan’s Demobilisation Commission accused of fraud

Former combatants of the Eastern Front have accused the Sudanese Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (DRC) of misusing funds and manipulating the lists of the demobilised.

According to demobilised eastern Sudanese rebels the DRC has added a new list by which the number of demobilised exceeds 10,000.

“The real number of registered ex-combatants demobilised at the camp is 2,902,” activist Omar El Sheikh told Radio Dabanga from Port Sudan.

He further accused the DRC of bringing in “entities that have nothing to do with the demobilisation file, such as the National Security and Intelligence Service (NISS) and the Islamic Relief Agency”.

“Moreover the Commission arbitrarily imposed conditions on the former Eastern Front fighters. The demobilised had to sign pledges not to engage in political activities, in exchange for financial support to begin a project or a small enterprise. Yet, the support is so trivial that it does not meet their daily needs, let alone help to establish a business project,” he said.

Omar Hashim El Khalifa, head of the Beja Congress Demobilised in Red Sea state, said that the jobs offered to the demobilised “are not commensurate with the spirit of Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA).

“Only a very few demobilised were offered a job at a Red Sea state institution,” he told Radio Dabanga.

He expressed his doubts about “the government’s ability to abide by at least SDG30 million ($4,900) allotted to the demobilisation projects”.

El Khalifa further accused the DRC of misusing the funds allotted for the demobilised, and said that the names of large numbers of paramilitaries of the Popular Defence Forces have been included to the lists.

The Beja tribes in eastern Sudanese tribe, together with other, smaller ethnic entities, founded the Beja Congress in 1958. In the early 1990s, the Beja Congress opted for an armed struggle against Khartoum.

In 2005, the Rashaida Free Lions joined the BC and formed the Eastern Front. A year later the Eastern front signed the ESPA with the Sudanese government. The ex-combatants of the Eastern Front have protested the delay of the demobilisation and reintegration programme for years.