Officials on Monday after completion of assessing damage to villages in Jizan Region. (Okaz photo)tinuous efforts, officials completed their work Monday to determine the amount of damage in villages on the southern border that were harmed by confrontations with infiltrators. Brig. Gen. Hassan Al-Qufaili, chairman of the Damages Assessment Committee, said all information related to the cases involving shops, homes and other property has been forwarded to Ahad Al-Masariha Court to issue temporary documents for ownership, in preparation for referring displaced citizens to the Ministry of Finance to be paid compensation. Officials are also working to ensure everyone can get help, he added. “The committee will be at the shelter site to help border-area villagers who have difficult circumstances, particularly old and disabled people and widows,” Gen. Al-Qufaili said. “The committee will give them the chance to submit their files, taking their circumstances into consideration.” Officials will work to speed up payments to displaced villagers who were threatened with eviction and having their power and water cut off because they didn't pay the rent, Gen. Al-Qufaili said. “These matters are the concern of the Ministry of Finance, but we in the Social Protection Administration will coordinate with the Finance Ministry to expedite the payment of entitlements to the displaced villagers,” he said. “The objective is to prevent their facing problems and being evicted by the apartment owners.” A number of displaced people demanded that they be returned to their villages, which are at least three kilometers away from the border, after damage assessment work is complete. Mudhayyi' Majrashi and Ali Zeila'iy, from Al-Ma'ttan village said, they left their villages during the confrontations with the infiltrators as acts of obedience to Allah and the rulers. “If we had been allowed, we would have defended the nation side-by-side with the armed forces, but we obeyed the rulers and departed from the area,” they said. “As the committees have completed their work, we hope the rulers would issue directives to authorities to return us to our villages and homes so we can safeguard them.” Othman Alwani and Muhammad Saiban, residents of Al-Raha village, said they look forward to going home. “The situation in the villages is now reassuring and there is no longer any problem,” they said. “We long to return to our villages. We have spent more than 18 months away from them. It is where we have our farms, pastures and all our memories.”
