Sudanese Government Announces Plan To Close Darfur IDP Camps

November 11, 2009 2:40 p.m. EST

Khartoum, Sudan (AHN) - The Sudanese government announced on Wednesday they plan on closing down camps for the displaced population in the war-torn region of Darfur next year. The government has begun constructing nearly 20,000 housing units to ease homeless in the towns of El-Fasher, El-Geneina and Nyala according to officials.

Essentially what the government is doing is converting the aid money to a service program to rehabilitate villages through gradual transformation to construction stages. A statement reveals that the displaced people will have the choice of returning to their village if they do not want to move to the new housing complexes.

Darfur rebel groups however are critical of the move and see it as a cover by the government to continue committing crimes against the Darfur people. Sudanese officials counter and say that they had always intended to assert the authority of the state by dismantling the IDP camps . However previous attempts led by former spy chief Salah Gosh, defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, former interior minister Al-Zebeir Bashir Taha and former state minister for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun failed due to resistance from the camp residents.

In published reports Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, leader of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) says, "The government wants to send our people back to the same places they fled from so that they can get killed again under the eyes of the world."

The largest rebel group in the region, Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM ) is urging Western leaders to force the region's top lawmakers to put an end to their plans. 'This is clearly and unequivocally a war crime what they are trying to do. They are taking advantage of the world easing pressure on them,' said JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein in numerous reports.

Currently nearly 2.5 million people are living in refugee camps in Darfur. United Nations estimates say up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in the region first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.