The Government of Al-Qadarif: Absence of Responsibility and Hidden Agendas!

Al-Qadarif - Citizens

Eyewitnesses have stated that the joint security forces in the state of Al-Qadarif, eastern Sudan, attempted for the third time this morning, Saturday, to evacuate the youth hostel in Al-Qadarif City, where displaced people and their patients are being accommodated.

Informed sources confirmed to Citizens that the forces are currently surrounding the building and demanding immediate evacuation.

According to activists in the voluntary work in the state, the state government has asked them to evacuate the youth hostel, which hosts patients with kidney failure, diabetes, and disabilities among the displaced people. The youth hostel serves as the headquarters for the emergency room, which oversees a number of displacement centers. The hostel is the main reception center for the displaced people arriving from Khartoum before they are distributed to other locations. It also houses the main kitchen that supplies food to all other centers.

The activists explained that the youth hostel had been unoccupied for a long time before it was used by the emergency committee, noting that the state government did not provide any support to the emergency committee and continued to hinder its work. The latest obstacle was the administrative decision to evacuate the headquarters, accompanied by a massive deployment of forces and a prosecutor to enforce the decision by force on two previous occasions.

According to a government source in the state of Al-Qadarif, the decision to evacuate was made because the state government considers the youth hostel to be the main headquarters for the management of emergencies, and that there are a number of displacement camps outside the jurisdiction of the local popular emergency committee.

On the other hand, a member of the local emergency committee, who requested anonymity, said that in the municipality of Al-Qadarif, there are 33 centers, and the youth hostel is the main headquarters for managing these centers, as well as a reception center and a shelter for the elderly and disabled due to its proximity to the hospital.

He added that the youth hostel is affiliated with the Higher Council for Youth and Sports, and its function is to receive the states guests, sports and cultural delegations. He pointed out that any other claims are merely attempts to create a rift between the displaced people and the state government.

In this context, the State Emergency Room expressed its regret in a statement, stating that a large police force came to the youth hostel in a clear violation of the sanctity of humanitarian and ethical work, under the direct instructions of the Governor of Al-Qadarif State. The Emergency Room considered that there is no justification for forcibly evacuating the patients and people with special needs. It also noted that the youth always stands on the side of neutrality and spectatorship, and that humanitarian work is its essence, and it has no involvement in the decisions made by the Governor of Al-Qadarif State and his government.

Activists in the state fear that the authorities will proceed with forcibly evicting the hostel, calling for the voice of reason to prevail and for the intervention of civil society organizations and civilian forces to compel the authorities not to proceed with the implementation of their decision.

Some citizens have accused the authorities of inhumane behavior and likened it to the behavior of the previous regime in writing false reports about the Al-Qadarif Emergency Room and submitting them to the State Security Committee in order to control those centers and steal the efforts of the male and female youth volunteers.