The Sudanese authorities have decided to restrict the movement of its citizens to the Libyan border, to prevent thousands from infiltrating the city of Al Kufra, which is crowded with displaced people who were forced by the battles in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to flee war.
Under the new decision, Khartoum has banned travel from war zones to the border triangle between Sudan, Libya and Egypt, which is considered the main gateway for Sudanese refugees to Libya after the battles intensified in El Fasher.
According to an administrative order, reported by the local Darfur 24 website on Friday, those behind organizing asylum trips were asked to stop travel from war areas to the triangle until further notice, stressing that anyone who violates the decision will face legal accountability.
A trip organizer in the border triangle, which is about 400 km from Dongola, the capital of the northern state, justified the Sudanese authorities' decision to stop travel as a way to "stop the ongoing asylum operations towards Libya, and the overcrowding of the triangle with citizens in miserable conditions without shelter, food or medicine, and the spread of diseases, thefts and negative phenomena such as drugs."
Hundreds of Sudanese families heading to the city of Al-Kufra are crowded together in tragic humanitarian conditions, with no centers to receive more families. While the Libyan authorities have restricted the movement of Sudanese refugees toward their territory by closing the Al-Oweinat border crossing between the two countries, deploying dozens of desert patrols, and tightening entry procedures by confiscating cars and imposing fines on drivers exceeding 7.000 Libyan dinars (equivalent to 1000 US dollars).
