Sudan: Phenomenon of Fires of Unknown Causes Renewed in North Darfur

El-Fashir — The phenomenon of fires of unknown source has been renewed in the state of North Darfur, as the village of “Eyal Amin” at the Locality of Al-Twaisha (245 km) southeast of the state, witnessed the ignition of those fires that led to the burning of (95) houses with their entire contents and the displacement of its residents one week after the return of the geological technical team, which was assigned by the government of North Darfur State to investigate the causes of frequent and unknown fires in the village of “Melissa” in the Saraf Umra Locality, which is 265 km southwest of the state.

In a statement to SUNA, the Executive Director of Al-Twaisha Locality Suleiman Ali Bahar revealed that the village of “Eyal Amin”, which is 45 km south of the locality headquarters, has been witnessing fires of unknown cause since the last February 15th, pointing out that these fires have been repeated for several times and continued to devour citizens’ homes with their entire contents of food stocks, furniture and personal belongings, due to the lack of a means of extinguishing.

He explained that more than (95) families have been completely affected by these fires and they are left homeless and without food or medicine, revealing that his locality sent a delegation yesterday that included the Deputy Executive Director and the Director of the Zakat Bureau in the locality to the area, where the delegation examined the conditions of those affected and provided them some assistances, stressing that the needs of the affected families in terms of shelter, food and blankets far exceed the local capabilities, urging intervention of the national and foreign humanitarian organizations led by the Humanitarian Aid Commission in the state to provide relief and shelter to the affected people.

Bahr added that his locality has started contacts with the state government and the University of El-Fashir to send a specialized team to conduct an urgent geological scientific study to find out the causes of these fires.

Meanwhile, one of the local dignitaries Suleiman Mukhtar, who spoke to SUNA, stressed the need to speed up the steps in order to provide relief to the affected families, whose conditions he described as tragic, affirming the necessity of conducting an urgent geological study to determine the nature of the fire problem and to prepare a plan to address it.