KUWAIT: Sudanese Ambassador to Kuwait Awadal-Karim Al-Rayah Balla expressed his gratitude to both people and government of Kuwait for their ongoing humanitarian assistance to Sudan, which has significantly alleviated the suffering of the Sudanese people. During a press conference held at the embassy, the ambassador said the Sudanese government highly values Kuwait’s recent stance at the United Nations Human Rights Council, where it stood in solidarity with Sudan, reflecting the depth of the brotherly relationship between our two nations and peoples.
Regarding Sudanese nationals residing in Kuwait, he stated: "We have arranged favorable agreements with Kuwaiti authorities, particularly concerning passports. We now have a team handling passports and civil registration, processing nearly 8,000 passports for the Sudanese community in Kuwait. With the cooperation of Kuwaiti authorities, the team specializing in passports and civil registration was allowed entry to Kuwait to resolve these issues. As for educational certificates, starting last month, embassy employees gained access to the Ministry of Higher Education’s system to verify the authenticity of certificates. Kuwaiti authorities now accept verification statements from the embassy on the validity of educational credentials, given the current challenges facing Sudan.”
Speaking on the political situation in Sudan, he noted that there are nearly eight million internally displaced people, and close to two million who have been displaced abroad. "Approximately 11 million Sudanese are now homeless, with the pace of forced displacement accelerating recently due to militia activity, which has evolved from a military threat to a social and security threat. The militia now avoids army camps, focusing instead on attacking and humiliating civilians; ironically, the militia’s soldiers document these abuses.”
The Sudanese ambassador said that what is happening in Sudan resembles the events in Palestine in 1948, employing similar tactics and strategies, including forced displacement, humiliation, systematic looting, rape, and the degradation of civilians. "Since the early hours of Friday, October 22, 2024, villages and towns in East Al-Jazira and Al-Batana have been subjected to attacks by Janjaweed militias, targeting civilians based on ethnic and regional affiliations. These actions amount to genocide and ethnic cleansing. The death toll from these criminal campaigns has reached hundreds, with countless injuries, and thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their villages, now facing severe hardships.”
He noted that the militias have committed acts of killing, property looting, forced displacement, and mistreatment of elderly people, as well as abusing women and children. "In Al-Sereha village alone, 141 people were killed, including 50 who were slaughtered. The militia has taken civilians hostage, demanding ransom for their release, and has engaged in rape and sexual violence against women and girls. Over 30 villages in the area have been affected by these retaliatory campaigns.”
He revealed that since the start of the aggression on April 15, 2024, the rebellious militia has continued various violations, including taking over diplomatic missions’ premises in Khartoum and violating their sanctity, seizing humanitarian aid from international organizations intended for victims of the aggression against the Sudanese people, targeting civilian infrastructure, destroying buildings, and occupying citizens’ homes to use as military posts and weapons depots.
He continued: "That’s in addition to bombing populated areas, markets, places of worship, and displacement camps, resulting in hundreds of casualties across Khartoum, El Fasher, Sennar, and El-Obeid and blocking commercial truck movement, looting goods, livestock, and crops, and vandalizing or burning farmland. They expelled people from agricultural areas and imposed high taxes in Sennar.”
He said that his country’s government calls on the international community to condemn these campaigns immediately and take strong action to hold this "terrorist” militia accountable and prevent the flow of weapons and mercenaries to them, noting that the continued silence of the international community only emboldened the militia and its supporters to commit more massacres.