A Sudan solution?

Sudan Developments | "Very surprised" State Department officials plan to look into cases reported in WORLD of Sudanese refugees stranded in Syria; senator tells human-rights protesters in Washington that a new deal is struck in Congress for passage of the long-awaited Sudan Peace Act | Mindy Belz

After learning about Sudanese refugees trapped in the Middle East, officials at the State Department contacted the U.S. embassy in Damascus to request a review of the cases cited in WORLD's Sept. 21 cover story ("The road to Damascus"). At the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, officials were "very surprised," one officer told WORLD, to learn that the United Nations is processing only about one in 10 Sudanese for political asylum.

In other parts of the world, Sudanese—particularly Christians from south Sudan—are more readily approved because of the Islamic government's long-running war on them. The State Department's trafficking office could get involved in the cases as well, if officials can confirm that some of the refugees left Sudan involuntarily. An official asked WORLD to continue to follow those cases as the government investigation proceeds. We will.