Sudan called on the international community, donors, and organizations to develop a strategy to provide the necessary support to refugees and host communities, and to fulfill their duty towards asylum issues.
Khartoum: AlTaghyeer
The Sudanese Minister of Interior, Lieutenant-General Ezz el-Din el-Sheikh, stated that Sudan had been hosting, for a long time, large numbers of refugees from various neighboring countries, despite the economic conditions that most countries of the world suffer from.
Sudan is a home to more than 80,000 Ethiopian refugees, who fled their country after fighting intensified in several Ethiopian regions.
Sudan also hosts refugees from Eritrea and South Sudan.
El-Sheikh called on the international community, donors, national and foreign organizations, to develop strategy and plans to provide necessary support to refugees and host communities, and to fulfill their duty towards asylum issues.
The minister affirmed the state’s keenness and interest in legalizing asylum in the country in accordance with the internationally regulated and enforced rules and regulations.
On Sunday, the Minister visited the Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Refugees in Khartoum State, accompanied by a number of officials.
He inspected commission offices and assessed the nature of their work and the services they provide to refugees.
El-Sheikh noted that refugees and illegal residents constitute a great pressure on the community’s social and security environment, and complained about the weak support from the international community and donors for refugees and host communities.
He stressed the need to unite all efforts from the relevant authorities to provide for all the refugees’ needs in camps and cities, in addition to the local communities affected by the presence of these camps.
El-Sheikh affirmed cooperation between the Ministry of Interior represented by the Refugee Commission and the UNHCR to register refugees and the unregulated foreign presence in the country, while noting the importance of asylum laws and regulations.
For her part, the Assistant Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner in Khartoum, Suhair al-Sadiq Hassan, renewed the office’s keenness and interest in carrying out service work for refugees and resolving all issues facing them in cooperation with the UNHCR.
She pointed out that there are 8 refugee camps inside Khartoum state, and the office is carrying out legal procedures that require providing them with the necessary protection and support.
Last June, the World Bank announced that it would allocate $250 million to support refugee projects and host communities in the states of Kassala, Gedaref, and White Nile.
