Port Sudan, July 16(Darfur24)
The Sudanese authorities have called on foreigners residing in 8 states under the government control to regularize their situations, indicating that next week the authority will open centers designated for this purpose.
The official spokesman for the police forces, Brigadier General Fath al-Rahman Muhammad al-Toum, said that the General Administration of Passports and Immigration will open offices to manage foreigners’ affairs early next week.
He confirmed the allocation of passport departments in each of “the Red Sea, Khartoum Karari State Passports, River Nile State, Kassala Passports, Northern State, Gedaref Passports, Blue Nile Passports, and White Nile Passports.”
The General Administration of Passports called on foreigners residing within the specified states to visit the offices to rectify their situation.
Two days ago, the Sudanese authorities in White Nile State launched a campaign of repression against South Sudanese refugees, according to the Sudan War Observatory.
The Observatory said, “Security forces are arresting, detaining, and deporting citizens from South Sudan through the town of Al-Jabalin in White Nile State.”
She noted that this campaign raises fears of refugees being returned to their country, as many of them fear “the authoritarian regime in South Sudan and may face persecution upon return.”
A deported South Sudanese traditional leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity from Renk, told the Sudanese Monitor newspaper, “The arrests began on July 2, 2024, in Al-Duwaim, White Nile State, about 100 kilometers north of the capital, Rabak.”
He reported that the repression campaign extended to other states, as refugees were arrested in the states of Gedaref and Kassala in eastern Sudan, Atbara and Al-Damar in the Nile River state, and Halfa in the northern state in the north of the country.
The Sudanese army accuses some refugees from South Sudan and Ethiopia of fighting alongside the Rapid Support Forces, as nearly one million refugees reside in Sudan, most of whom are from South Sudan.