‘Central Darfur returnees to be relocated to avoid tribal tension’: OCHA

Returnees to Muradaf village, Central Darfur, are to be relocated to other areas in Um Dukhun locality, according to the latest Humanitarian Bulletin by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan:

On 16 December, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese Commission of Refugees (COR) conducted a verification mission to Central Darfur’s Muradaf village, Um Dukhun locality, to verify reports of the return of 30,000 people from refugee camps in Chad.

The verification team identified that 22,617 Sudanese citizens from the Salamat tribe have returned to Muradaf village this year. The Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Central Darfur is concerned about the returns to Muradaf village as the village belongs to the Fur tribe who are currently displaced in camps in Um Dukhun. If the Salamat settle in the village, conflict with the landowners is possible. Consequently, HAC has requested UNHCR and COR to conduct another mission in January 2016 to register the returnees before an inter-sectoral assessment is conducted. According to HAC, the government plans is to relocate the returnees to three areas in Um Dukhun locality to avoid possible conflict with the landowners.

The returnees are in need of emergency shelter and household supplies as well as water and sanitation services, according to findings of a mission conducted to the area by the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the international NGO Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH), and traditional leaders on 17 November. The existing water points are in need of rehabilitation and people are drinking from the nearby wadi. Also, the lack of a proper sanitation system is putting the population at risk of contracting diseases.

These returnees fled their home villages and from Um Dukhun town in 2013 due to inter-tribal fighting between the Misseriya and Salamat tribes. According to the returnees, they had been living in Abu Gadam refugee camp in Chad until June 2015 when the Chadian Government decided to close the camp and move the refugees about 110 kilometres inside Chad. The refugees opted to return to Sudan but not to their areas of origin in villages to the south of Um Dukhun town, which they still see as unsafe to return to due to the continued presence of Misseriya tribesmen in these areas.