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French Ruling Grants Asylum to South Darfur Residents

Displaced Sudanese from Darfur move across the border into Chad last August. (Reuters)
Displaced Sudanese from Darfur move across the border into Chad last August. (Reuters)
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French Ruling Grants Asylum to South Darfur Residents

Displaced Sudanese from Darfur move across the border into Chad last August. (Reuters)
Displaced Sudanese from Darfur move across the border into Chad last August. (Reuters)

A French specialized administrative court said on Monday that South Darfur State in southwestern Sudan is facing “a blind fury of violence”, which could increase the chances of “protecting its residents through granting them asylum to France”.

The National Court of Asylum (CNDA) took its decision on Wednesday and announced it Monday in favor of a citizen from Darfur, which is witnessing ongoing battles.

The Sudanese war broke out on April 15 between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

This decision by CNDA, which rules on appeals of asylum applications, sets a precedent for all similar cases in France.

The court granted the applicant “the benefit of protection stipulated by European law”. It added that if he returns to his home state, he will face a “real risk of being exposed to a serious threat to his life or person without being able to obtain effective protection from the authorities of his country.”

The CNDA said this threat ensues from the violence resulting from the domestic armed conflict that could harm civilians.

Until this situation changes, the ruling allows the protection of people coming from South Darfur to France.

A total of 1,947 Sudanese applied for asylum in 2022, according to a report by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless People (OFPRA). Sudanese represented the majority of asylum applicants to Paris in the period between Oct. 9 and 15, according to official figures.

The fighting has killed more than 9,000 people and displaced 5.6 million.

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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)

More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia's northern states, disaster officials said Saturday.
The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country's worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours.
The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak.
Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people displaced, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were nearly 35,000 people evacuated in Terengganu, with the rest of the displacements reported from seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began early this week, continued to hammer Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where people could be seen walking through streets inundated with hip-deep waters.
"My area has been flooded since Wednesday. The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside," Pasir Puteh resident and school janitor Zamrah Majid, 59, told AFP.
"Luckily, I moved my two cars to a higher ground before the water level rose."
She said she allowed her grandchildren to play in the water in front of his house because it was still shallow.
"But if the water gets higher, it would be dangerous, I'm afraid they might get swept away," she added.
"I haven't received any assistance yet, whether it's welfare or other kinds of help."
Muhammad Zulkarnain, 27, who is living with his parents in Pasir Puteh, said they were isolated.
"There's no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighbourhood," he told AFP.
"Of course I'm scared... Luckily we have received some assistance from NGOs, they gave us food supplies like biscuits, instant noodles, and eggs."
Floods are an annual phenomenon in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March.
Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed in flood-prone states along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee.