Sudan’s government has started to treat South Sudanese living in Khartoum as foreigners by prosecuting those without proper papers, a senior official at the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum said.

Deng Dangdit, the Deputy Chargé d'Affaires of South Sudan's embassy in Khartoum, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the embassy has observed prosecutions to South Sudanese nationals before the deadline set by Sudan’s cabinet.

He said the Sudanese authorities recently stopped South Sudanese citizens at Khartoum International Airport and imposed payment on them retroactively. He added that security personnel also raided a church-run school in Khartoum and demanded names of South Sudanese students, saying they are foreigners. 

The South Sudanese diplomat also revealed that even the Dean of Nursing College in Bahri suburb had sent a South Sudanese student to the Ministry of Interior to process his stay permit.

Deng noted that they set up a committee to deal with the effects of the recent decision taken by the Sudanese government against the South Sudanese nationals.

He called on the Sudanese government to respect his country's citizens and treated them in accordance with international norms, pointing out that the people are refugees who fled to Sudan due to war.

South Sudanese to be evicted 'gently'

Separately, Sudan’s parliament has accused South Sudanese citizens of occupying several houses unlawfully in Khartoum suburbs.

Ahmed Imam al-Tuhami, the head of parliament’s committee for defense and security, claimed that South Sudanese citizens occupied a number of houses but will be evicted gently. 

Al-Tuhami accused the SPLM leaders of serving a foreign agenda to destabilize Sudan. He said that the recent decision taken by the government to treat southerners as foreigners will preserve the nation’s sovereignty.

Related:

Sudanese citizens criticize cabinet's plan to treat S Sudanese as foreigner (21 Mar.)