The Sudanese authorities have decided to restrict the movement of their citizens to the Libyan border, in order to prevent thousands from infiltrating the city of Kufra, which is crowded with displaced people forced by the fighting in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to flee from the ravages of war.
Under the new decision, Khartoum has banned travel from war zones to the border triangle between Sudan, Libya, and Egypt, which serves as the main gateway for Sudanese refugees to Libya following intensified battles in El Fasher.
According to an administrative circular reported by the local website “Darfur 24” on Friday, those behind organizing refugee trips were urged to “stop travel from the site of conflict to the triangle until further notice,” emphasizing that violators would face legal accountability, as stated.
Ceasing Ongoing Refugee Movements to Libya
One of the trip organizers in the border triangle, located about 400 km from Dongola, the capital of the Northern state, justified the Sudanese authorities’ decision to halt travel as a measure “to stop ongoing refugee movements towards Libya, overcrowding in the triangle with citizens in miserable conditions without shelter, food, or medicine, and the spread of diseases and thefts and negative phenomena such as drugs.”
Hundreds of Sudanese families headed to the city of Kufra are also in dire humanitarian conditions, with no centers to accommodate more families.
Meanwhile, the Libyan authorities have restricted the movement of Sudanese refugees into their territory by closing the Al-Awaynat border crossing between the two countries, deploying dozens of desert patrols, and tightening entry procedures by confiscating vehicles and imposing financial fines on drivers exceeding seven thousand Libyan dinars (equivalent to 1000 US dollars).
The fighting in the city of El Fasher has forced thousands of residents to flee to Libya via the El Fasher route in East Darfur state towards the city of El Dabba in the Northern state, and travel to the border triangle to reach Kufra in Libya.
Increase in Sudanese Refugees in Libya
The spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephane Dujarric, stated that the number of Sudanese refugees in Libya has significantly increased since the onset of the conflict in Sudan.
He said, in a statement last Wednesday, that the Emergency Relief Coordinator allocated $5.3 million to support about 195,000 refugees and vulnerable host communities. He added: “The war in Sudan has forced a fifth of its population to flee, including more than 2.1 million people who have crossed the border into neighboring countries.”
Sudanese newspapers reported on July 13 that about 1200 war-displaced individuals were entering Libyan territory daily, representing a sixfold increase from statistics at the end of last year, pointing to warnings of a humanitarian disaster in Kufra if the provision of urgent humanitarian aid to the displaced refugees were to stop.
