Darfur displaced reject proposal to return to Jebel Marra

The displaced of camp Sortony in North Darfur, which accommodates tens of thousands of people who have fled Jebel Marra, have rejected a proposal from the Sudanese government to return to their home villages in Jebel Marra.

They said they could not return because of the insecurity and repeated attacks by militiamen. They said they would only return on condition that their villages were secured, the militias disarmed, and the new settlers expelled.

The reaction of the Sortony displaced came during a visit to the camp by representatives of the Darfur Reginal Authority (DRA), HAC, and representatives of the voluntary return on Monday.

A number of displaced people from camp Sortony told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday that the government delegation asked the displaced to return, and to send their youths to training at the government camp in order to protect them upon their return to their home villages.

A displaced woman told Radio Dabanga that the displaced in Sortony refused the proposal of the government delegation and demanded they to fulfil their terms of provision of security, disarming of militias and the expulsion of the new settlers.

The latest registered population number in Sortony, near the base of Unamid, amounted to 68,000 people nearly two months ago. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has not been permitted to conduct registrations in the camp since 17 February. The UN said it expects this figure to decline with a revision of the registrations of February.

Disarmament

The workshop for control of light weapons which was concluded on Monday in El Fasher stressed the need for the state’s adoption of carrying out of disarmament by the military, without political interference, as well as combating arms smuggling and trading. The workshop called for the prohibition of four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Addressing the workshop, DRA head Dr Tijani Sese said that “the issue of disarmament in Darfur will face unprecedented resistance and unacceptable justifications from those he described as beneficiaries of this catastrophic situation”.

He said that evidence has proved that the proliferation of weapons throughout Darfur is one of the elements of deepening violence.

He called for the need to accompany voluntary disarmament with a reward.