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Ahmed Fadul, spokesman of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) issued a statement concerning the amount of universities’ seats the Doha document allocates to students from Darfur, on Wednesday, 3 October in Khartoum.<\/p>\n
Fadul, who is also the state minister of the cabinet, pointed out the Doha document stipulates that 15 percent of the available seats in universities and colleges must be allocated to Darfuri students.<\/p>\n
The spokesman pointed out that the document also stipulates the allocation of 50 percent of the available seats in the national universities in the states of Darfur to Darfuri students.<\/p>\n
During the statement, Fadul said that a committee has been formed to examine the cases of students affected by war or displacement to be exempted from paying tuition fees for five years.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that the Doha document will come into force in the current academic year 2012 \u2013 2013. He also foresaw the president will issue a decree directing to take the Doha Peace Document into account and respect the clause of exemption of paying tuition fees for Darfuri students.<\/p>\n
Finance ministry to pay fees on behalf of students<\/strong><\/p>\n Fadul also said that the federal ministry of finance will pay the fees on behalf of the students and that the agency responsible for follow-up is the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA).<\/p>\n He explained the DRA, whose chairman is Dr. Tijani Sese, formed a committee of experts to follow up on the issues relating to Darfuri students, such as enrollment, tuition fee exemption and other issues.<\/p>\n On another note, the recent incidents at Bakht Alrida and Alsalam universities in Babanusa have encouraged Ahmed Fadul to appeal to university departments to reconsider the issues and not to resort to expulsion of students due to non-payment of tuition fees.<\/p>\n He said that students have no say in the matter and are waiting for settlement of the issue between the ministry of higher education, the federal ministry of finance and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n Fadul appealed to the students to be patient and to continue the dialogue with the universities’ departments.<\/p>\n He emphasized they will continue their efforts to release the detained students.<\/p>\n Related content: 29 Darfuri university students arrested<\/a> (2 October 2012)<\/p>\n