Honourable Minister Carl Bildt
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Gustav Adolfs Torg 1
111 52 Stockholm
Dear Sir,
RE: Dafuri Refugees living in the Shousha Refugee Camp, Tunisia.
We are writing to you this letter in the name of the Dafur Association in Sweden regarding the situation of the Dafuri Refugees living in the Shousha Refugee Camp, Tunisia. These refugees have been living and working in Libya for many years before the Libyan upheaval. Most of these refugees are highly educated professionals – doctors, engineers, agronomists – including students in different fields. During the Libyan upheaval, the Dafuris, like all other Africans from Africa south of the Sahara, were regarded as mercenaries of the Khadadi-Libyan regime. Many of them were tortured and put into prisons. As all of these refugees are ethnic Africans from Dafur, therefore they cannot return to their homeland, Dafur, because of the ongoing conflict there.
For your information, the UNHCR has recognized these people as refugees, numbering some 126 – 54 being children – according to the Geneva Convention of 1951. Suffice to say that the plight of these refugees, especially that of the children, are of the utmost concern of the Dafuri Association in Sweden.
Our foremost request to the Swedish Government is to consider giving these refugees asylum in Sweden. This, to enable them to start a new life under much more favourable conditions compared to the situation they are living in now.
The Dafuri Association in Sweden is a humanitarian, non-profit and non-religious association established in 2007 in Norrköping. In the event that these refugees are granted asylum in Sweden, the Dafuri Association in Sweden is prepared to work with the responsible Swedish authorities in order to enable them to quickly adapt to their new country of abode. Such areas will include the following, among others:
-initial and day-to-day contact with the responsible Swedish authorities.
-translation and interpreting services, for example documents etc., in the languages spoken by these refugees.
-civic education.
Yours Sincerely,
A.Kangoum.
President.
M.D., Ph.D., Diploma in Health for Developing Countries