GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday that it expected more than two million people displaced in war-ravaged Sudan to return to Khartoum within the next six months, if security conditions allow.
Fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15, 2023 between the army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
As the world marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted around 13 million, the UN’s International Organization for Migration noted the need to prepare for many of the displaced to begin returning home to Khartoum.
The capital city became a battleground almost from the start, but since the army recaptured it last month, the agency said “we are seeing people returning, we are seeing hope coming.”
“Our estimate in IOM is that over the next six months, we will have 2.1 million returning to the Khartoum capital,” Mohamed Refaat, its chief of mission in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Port Sudan.
This calculation, he said, was “based on the numbers we understand that... left the capital when the war started.”
“So we estimate that 31 percent of... IDPs (internally displaced people) in Sudan after the war are actually coming from Khartoum,” he said, adding that the agency expected around half of them to “be returning back to Khartoum.”
The returns, he said, would depend on “the security situation and... the availability of services on the ground.”
Getting the city ready for a mass influx will be a challenge, Refaat acknowledged.
“We see that some spots in the Khartoum itself have been cleaned, but the process I’m sure will take longer,” he said, adding that “the electricity system in the whole Khartoum has been destroyed.”
Refaat also warned that “as we see people are returning, the war is far from stopped,” with thousands still being displaced elsewhere in the country, especially in the Darfur region.
“The conflict has to stop, and we need to put all effort for this conflict to stop,” he said.
But Refaat acknowledged that the funds raised to address Sudan’s towering needs were far from sufficient.
The IOM unveiled a response plan Tuesday asking for nearly $29 million to reach around half a million people in Khartoum, including returnees, he said.
Over 2m displaced people to return to Khartoum over six months: UN
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Over 2m displaced people to return to Khartoum over six months: UN
- “Our estimate in IOM is that over the next six months, we will have 2.1 million returning to the Khartoum capital,” Mohamed Refaat, its chief of mission in Sudan, said
- The returns, he said, would depend on “the security situation and... the availability of services on the ground“
Iranian army vows to protect public property
- A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards were deployed and opening fire in the area from which they were speaking, declining to be identified for their safety
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned on Saturday that safeguarding security was a "red line" and the military vowed to protect public property, as the clerical establishment stepped up efforts to quell the most widespread protests in years.
The statements came after US President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Iran's leaders on Friday, and after Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday declared: "The United States supports the brave people of Iran."
Unrest continued as state media said a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, and blamed “rioters.”
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On Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said rioters were attacking public properties and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as 'mercenaries for foreigners.'
State TV broadcast footage of funerals of members of the security forces, it said, who were killed in protests in the cities of Shiraz, Qom and Hamedan.
A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards were deployed and opening fire in the area from which they were speaking, declining to be identified for their safety.
In a statement broadcast by state TV, the IRGC — an elite force which has suppressed previous bouts of unrest — accused terrorists of targeting military and law enforcement bases over the past two nights, killing several citizens and security personnel and saying property had been set on fire.
Safeguarding the achievements of the 1979 revolution and maintaining security was "a red line," it added, saying the continuation of the situation was unacceptable.
The military announced it would "protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure, and public property."
In a statement published by semi-official news sites, the military accused Israel and “hostile terrorist groups” of seeking to “undermine the country’s public security.”
On Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said rioters were attacking public properties and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners.”
The Revolutionary Guards’ public relations office said three members of the Basij security force were killed and five wounded during clashes with what it described as “armed rioters” in Gachsaran, in the southwest.
Another security officer was stabbed to death in Hamedan, in western Iran.
The son of a senior officer, Brig. Gen. Martyr Nourali Shoushtari, was killed in the Ahmadabad area of Mashhad, in the northeast. Two other security personnel were killed over the past two nights in Shushtar, in Khuzestan province.
Authorities have described protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.
Iranian rights group HRANA said it had documented 65 deaths, including 50 protesters and 15 security personnel as of January 9.
The Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said more than 2,500 people had been arrested over the past two weeks.
A doctor in northwestern Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals.
