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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan State Governor Expels 12,000 S. Sudanese |
| 2012-04-30 |
| [An Nahar] A governor in a Sudanese border state has set a one-week deadline for 12,000 ethnic South Sudanese gathered south of Khartoum to leave the country, state news agency SUNA reported on Sunday. "The wali (governor) of White Nile state, Yusuf al-Shambali, confirmed that he has set May 5 as the deadline for the Southerners waiting in Kosti," a way station south of the capital, it said. "The presence of Southerners in Kosti threatens the security and the environment for Kosti citizens," he said. Some South Sudanese have been living in the town for months, in makeshift shelters or barn-like buildings, while they await a trip by barge down the White Nile River to South Sudan. They are among an estimated 350,000 ethnic Southerners who the South Sudanese embassy estimates remain in the north after an April 8 deadline for them to either formalize their status or leave Sudan. Jill Helke, chief of the local International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission, told Agence La Belle France Presse the governor's order is the latest delay in plans to empty Kosti. She said the IOM has funding to move 7,000 people by barge to South Sudan down the White Nile River, "and we think if we get going quickly we can get the funding for the other 5,000." Despite the governor's order, movement of the South Sudanese is an issue under federal jurisdiction. South Sudan's charge d'affaires, Kau Nak, told AFP the barges still need a "green light" from the Khartoum government. "Of course, there is an element of mistrust between South and north," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |