Photo: voa
map of sudan and south sudan
One day after Sudan's April 8TH deadline expired, the
government began registering Southern Sudanese as foreigners. Majority
of them have been stripped of their identity cards and other documents,
and most of them don't have the money to pay the hefty registration
fees. Several months ago, after South Sudan declared its independence
from Sudan, Sudanese authorities issued an ultimatum to South Sudanese
to either become Sudanese citizens, register as foreigners, or leave the
country
.
The director of foreigners' registration in Sudan said today only ten
South Sudanese arrived at the center yesterday and registered as
foreigners. A Brigadier General, who has been instructed not to speak to
reporters, said he doesn’t not expect more southerners to show up
because registration requires a valid South Sudan passport and a visa,
two things most South Sudanese citizens do not own.
Sudanese Information Minister Abdallah Masar said South Sudanese
citizens are now considered foreigners. “From today, all South Sudanese
are foreigners and they must regularize their status as happens to every
foreigner, and we are working on this now, our registration centers are
going on'' he said.
South Sudan has asked Sudan to extend the deadline, but the
government has refused. The spokesperson in the Sudanese Ministry of
Information Sana Hamad said South Sudanese wwere given enough time to
put their papers in good order. “We will not push the date because we
gave them nine months which was enough to reconcile their status, but
the government of South Sudan was not serious; all we asked the South
Sudanese government to do was to give them necessary documents, now all
their Sudanese passports and identity cards are no longer valid''.
The Interior Ministry has asked police stations to register
Southerners in various neighborhoods, but scores of police stations
told VOA they have never received such orders. Most of the South
Sudanese living in Sudan view the registration process as a major
obstacle, with little money for passports or traveling back home. Sana
said the government has opened a national registration center for Abyei
citizens, who live along the border of the two Sudans.
Meantime, international organizations said they are trying to fly
elderly and sick people back to South Sudan who have no chance of making
home alone.
Registration Of South Sudanese As Foreigners In Sudan
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