fRom thE CountRy to thE toWn 1252002 when the crisis in Darfur began, and most if not all NGOs directed
their attention to the crisis there, or to rehabilitation in the south.
The most challenging issue for migrants is housing. The settlements
of the urban poor can be categorized into four kinds: low-density neigh-
bourhoods in remote locations; urban villages; official IDP camps; and
informal squatter settlements or pockets of habitation. The increase
in the urban population has led to land speculation, which means that
poor migrants are squeezed out of the market for accommodation. The
extent to which they are disenfranchised is evident from the fact that
some who have lived in Khartoum for decades are yet to obtain their
own residential plots.
Two settlements on the Omdurman side of the Nile – Al-Salam and
Al-Fatih – provide clues as to how migrants survive in the city. The
naming of Al-Salam camp is itself revealing. While officially called
Al-Salam (‘peace’), the camp is generally known as Jabarona, meaning
‘we were forced’. The name suggests how the relocated groups that were
moved there felt about their new location.
Jabarona is on the western periphery of Omdurman, around 15
kilo metres from the great market at Suq Libya. It is one of four official
IDP camps in Khartoum, established in February 1992 to host IDPs
expelled from different parts of Khartoum after their squatter settle-
ments were destroyed by the city authorities. It is ethnically highly
diverse: Fur, Dinka, Nuba, Nuer, Shilluk, Azande and members of
ethnic groups from Darfur and Kordofan live there. In 2005 the popula-
tion stood at over 100,000. Some male inhabitants of Jabarona work
on building and construction sites in Khartoum; women sell tea, or
work in the homes of affluent persons, or brew local beer, marissa. Since
1998, with the near cessation of relief supplies, the population of the
camp has had to rely increasingly on income from wage labour and
the informal economy. Young men and women go for work in areas at
a great distance from their homes, where they may stay for the week,
returning at weekends. Women commute daily between Jabarona, Suq
Libya and other locations where they can find work or set up tea stalls.The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors A few of the educated IDPs work at schools in the camp itself, even
(www.riftvalley.net).