What do the refugees and IDPs Expect from Their Global Day?
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
ماذا يتوقع اللاجئون والنازحون من يومهم العالمي؟
In response to the above question, the refugees and the Internally Displaced persons as if they were chanting the verse of the Arab poet, al-Mutanabbi which says: “Oh Eid of this year, did you bring something new, or did you come with past misery? However, the possible answer might be according to a recent update from the Government of Sudan, the number of IDPs across Sudan has reduced from 2.3 million to about 2 million, 1.76 million of whom are in Darfur. Based on revised estimates, there are about 386000 returnees in Sudan, mainly in Darfur.This is the DarfurHumanitarian Overview on (1 April 2018) by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
shttps://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-darfur-humanitarian-overview-1-april-2018
According to other international humanitarian sources, IDPs in Darfur continue to face difficulties in securing a durable solution to their displacement. Recent developments may offer new hope for some, but complex challenges remain.https://www.fmreview.org/return/elzarov
To begin this article, one would like to remind the public in the refugees and IDPS to follow as much as they can to adhere to the Public Health advice to protect selves against the COVID-19 Pandemic. Furthermore, and in this window of opportunity, I find myself must salute and value the struggle of all the Sudanese refugees and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) especially those who are still languishing in need of the basics for the survival of a human being, on the occasion of the International Day of Refugees, which falls today, Saturday, June 20, 2020. And one of us as Sudanese understands the size of your suffering, especially those who are in the camps of humiliation and suffering and hope that your suffering will end as soon as we begin Just Peace that all of us hope to achieve and at the same time it satisfies the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and of course the refugees in particular- as the Day carries their Name – in hope of returning to their original homes from which they were forcibly forced to flee and abandon them. One as well hopes that they receive fair, individual and collective and above all just compensation. It is known that nothing in existence will compensate for their suffering during the past sixteen lean years.
As we and the World know that the conflict in Darfur, which erupted in 2003, resulted in widespread human rights violations and the displacement of a large number of people throughout the region. The conflict has destroyed infrastructure, damaged social cohesion and community stability, and seriously curtailed employment and livelihood security.https://www.fmreview.org/return/elzarov
Formidable challenges lie ahead in the post-revolution Sudan. The military generals who have helped to oust the defunct National Congress Party (NCP) regime and have monopolised power in Sudan for the previous three decades will not share it easily with civilian-led government. And the new administration will inherit an economy in ,deep distress and recess, so to speak. However, it is a blessing that the post-revolution cabinet is dominated by civilians such as the Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok and his civilian Ministers. Sadly, Sudan’s economy inherited from the corrupt defunct regime remains at the verge of collapse adding to the public need for the life basics.
Nevertheless, hopes remain with the UNSC to establish the New UN Mission in Sudan and Extend the Mission of the UNAMID until the end of the Year 2020 based on the New UNSC Resolution number 2524 known as the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan: “UNITAMS”. https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/unitams/2347570
One of the emerging options for durable peace in Darfur and Sudan in general is the emergence of the UNSC Resolution 2524, in which the United Nations Integrated Mission for the Transition in Sudan (UNITAMS) will begin on January 1, 2021, for an initial period of 12 months.
The new UN Follow-up Mission (UNITAMS) aims to help transform the country into democratic rule, and to support the protection and promotion of human rights and sustainable peace. The unit will also support peace operations and the implementation of peace agreements in the future. Peacebuilding assistance, civil protection, and the rule of law, particularly in Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and the Blue Nile
In addition, the Council mandated UNITAMS to support the mobilization of economic and development assistance and the coordination of humanitarian assistance operations
The above title comes against the backdrop of the slow but going on Sudanese peace process in the Juba, capital of the South Sudan Platform. As it is a fact that several unresolved factors seem to remain as stumbling block in the way of the required peace that is just and lasting peace in all the regions of Sudan that suffered woes of absurd wars launched by the former defunct National Congress Party regime led by the Genocidal criminal Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir who is currently detained in a reformatory Institution for the elderly criminals of his ilk.
The achievements of the Sudanese people are remarkable, not just in ending Bashir’s rule but also in standing up to the junta’s series of schemes to seamlessly replace the ousted strongman with a like-minded lieutenant.
There are stones, pitfalls, and roadblocks to achieving sustainable peace, for many reasons and factors. Unfortunately, one of these obstacles is the persistent differences between the components of the armed struggle movements. The strange thing is that some armed movements have their priorities not peace, but rather doctrinal issues such as secularism as the ideology for the post-peace Sudan!
The strange thing is that some armed movements have their priorities not peace, but rather doctrinal issues such as secularism. While another group of factions within the tent of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) may be announcing their dissociation form it to establish a separate entity, perhaps thinking that its share of the power and wealth obtained by the final peace agreement will be enlarged, and there is also another Movement leader who remained over the years too proud or arrogant faction that considers itself not part of the group unless All the unexpected impossible will come true. They do not talk about priorities such as holding the corrupt symbols of the ousted ruling regime and its entourage, for example as criminals to be subject for trials.
Negative developments took place in Darfur recently, in that the armed forces reported that the Abdel Wahid movement and the Revolutionary Awakening Council had attacked areas in Jebel Marra and confrontations had occurred; an escalation of warfare again which will decrease the going forward for peace process which is virtually at a standoff already.
Furthermore, there are reports that in Kalma IDPs camp, too, there was a crime against the civilians. A joint investigation committee was established between the government and UNAMID, but how do you look at the incident and talk about the presence of weapons in the camp? An important question addressed to one of key members of an armed movement. He responded as follows: “There has been a lot of talk about Kalma camp. There are those who say there is a movement that enters the camp and performs some operations. There are those who say that there are some armed men inside the camp who intimidate citizens, but until the moment the complete truth is absent and there is death and weapons. Thus the facts will be revealed.
Furthermore, the is the group that described as the Incubator of the Revolution of December 19, 2018 – consisting of a group of professionals and political parties and along with so-called the Forces of Declaring Freedom and Change (FDFC)that dominate all the joints of the revolution besides the hegemony of the military Junta which presents its members as the saviours of the Sudanese people as they are the force that sided with the demands of the citizens by removing Omer al-Bashir and his entourage through coup d’etat.
The survivors of the wars of attrition in the war zones of Darfur, Nuba Mountains, South Blue Nile, Ingassana long with the Beja, in Eastern Sudan and those in the far north of the River Nile, specifically citizens of all have grievances that need to be addressed. Moreover, other matters such as howdoes the community of Darfur and Sudan restore their social cohesion and achieve a comprehensive national reconciliation that brings matters back to before the conflictwill remain to be addressed rationally?
The people in Darfur felt that they were neglected and marginalised by the Sudanese government in Khartoum, the capital city, since the First of January 1956 when Sudan gained its independence from Britain.
What do refugees and IDPs expect from their global day?
An initiative to achieve comprehensive justice and national reconciliation in Darfur and Sudan is highly required and awaits action after achieving peace. In this respect, Juba dedicates itself for the parties of the two countries to reach a sustainable peace. Juba will give the Sudanese people in the two countries a peace that is excluded from every defect, without incision or inclination, thanks to President Salva Kiir. Furthermore, Justice is likely to take its Course No matter how long or short Time it takes and the case of the arrest of the fugitive from the international justice, the war criminal so-called Ali Kushayb, for more than two decades,is the best example and give some hope to both the refugees and the IDPs from the Darfur region. In addition to that, the head of the ruling regime, the génocidaire Omer Al-Bashir, is imprisoned in the elderly reformatory for the elderlycriminals for stealing and storing millions of US dollars in his house from the people’s money. Without a doubt, the rest of the criminals wanted by the International Criminal Court, such as Muhammad Harun, Ali Othman Muhammed Taha and Abdul-Rahim Muhammad Hussein and others will be extradited to The Hague, in the Netherlands, no matter how long or short time it will take. Added to the foregoing, the current Dr. Abdalla Hamdok government is actively working and in contact with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for security and material support for the refugees and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Darfur through the (UNSC) Resolution 2525 referred to earlier, to provide security and material help for the survivors of the war in Darfur.
Tennessee Office for Refugees has been quoted as saying: “To be called a refugee is the opposite of an insult; it is a badge of strength, courage, and victory.”https://www.globalgiving.org/learn/12-shareable-world-refugee-day-quotes/
Whereas Amela Koluder who is the Innovation Manager at TINE and Deputy Chairman of The Lillehammer Museum Foundation and Originally from Bosnia, she traveled to Norway in 1993 as a war refugee. has been quoted as saying “A refugee is someone who survived and who can create the future.”https://www.facebook.com/asiaohio/photos/a.174880665884250/2330497106989251/?type=3
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/