Sudan: UN raises alarm about forced relocation of displaced people outside Khartoum

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today cited alarming reports about the forced relocation of a large area for internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside Khartoum and the demolition of their houses, urging the authorities to immediately halt these activities.

“According to an UN team that visited the area, thousands of heavily armed policemen and several tanks surrounding Dar Assalam, an area about 40 kilometres outside Khartoum, early this morning and at 8 a.m. a bulldozer started demolishing hundreds of houses randomly with less than five minutes notice to the families,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

The team also heard a number of gunshots before being told to leave the area, he said, adding that the UN is “urging Government authorities to immediately stop the forced relocation and demolition of this area.”

In another development, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) has opened a new office in South Sudan, aiming to bolster the reconstruction effort in the vast region, which is benefiting from a peace deal that ended over two decades of war in that part of the country.

“Our officers are experienced at post-conflict management and recovery of shelter and human settlements issues and we look forward to working with all the parties in the north and Southern Sudan to re-house and resettle the over 2 million internally displaced persons and refugees,” said the agency’s Executive Director, Anna Tibaijuka.

The 2005 peace accord provides for a high degree of autonomy for the south of Sudan, one of Africa’s largest and most diverse countries, home to deserts, mountain ranges, swamps and rainforests.

The new office is headed by Garth Seneque, a senior South African urban and regional planner with close to 20 years of professional experience in developing and post-conflict countries.