ACJPS: ‘Detainees dying in cholera-ridden South Darfur prison’

Three detainees have reportedly died from cholera at Deqris Prison, near the South Darfur capital if Nyala, while others are showing symptoms. A statement today from the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) laments that that the prison is currently overcrowded with poor sanitation and limited access to food, clean water, and healthcare – conditions under which diseases, particularly cholera, can run rampant.

“Three detainees are suspected of having died from cholera at Deqris Prison in South Darfur, while symptoms appear in two others at the prison,” the ACJPS statement says. The prison facility is located 12 kilometres from Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and Sudan’s second-largest city. ACJPS point out that Deqris Prison was converted into a detention centre under the supervision of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shortly after the paramilitary seized the city. It is reported that the prison is currently overcrowded with more than 2,000 detainees, mainly from Khartoum, Kordofan, and Darfur regions, living under dire conditions, including poor sanitation and limited access to food, clean water, and healthcare.

While cholera cases tend to surge during the rainy season in Sudan, this years outbreak is proving particularly severe, with reports of an increase in cases of dengue fever and, along with measles and hepatitis. Figures released by Sudan’s the Federal Emergency Operations Centre of the Ministry of Health last week show 1,210 cholera infections recorded during a single week, including 36 deaths, bringing the cumulative number since July 2024 to 102,831 infections, including 2,561 deaths.

In today’s statement, the ACJPS says it was informed by a reliable source that cholera likely broke out in the prison on August 15, 2025, when a detainee showing cholera symptoms was transferred to Deqris Prison. “On the morning of August 16, 2025, an unidentified male detainee was moved by RSF military police from the prison to El Yageen Medical Complex in Nyala; he unfortunately died the next day. A second patient, a roughly 63-year-old man with cholera symptoms, died on August 16. The third case, a 35-year-old man, died on August 21, 2025. On August 22 and 23, 2025, two other detainees were transferred to the medical isolation centre at Italian Hospital in the El Nahda neighbourhood of Nyala.”

ACJPS also reports that at least 340 people from Ed Dein, capital of East Kordofan, also died after suffering from cholera symptoms. The organisation urges “international organisations like the WHO, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders to come together and swiftly provide emergency aid and cholera vaccines to those most in need. We further urge organisations with mandates to visit and supervise prisons to intervene and visit prisons in Sudan.”

It urges the conflicting parties agree to a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid access for civilians. “We also call on the belligerents to halt arbitrary arrests and detention, as these actions violate protections under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Additionally, we urge the release of detainees who are not charged with valid legal charges.

“We also urge the Sudanese authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the arbitrary arrests of civilians and hold those responsible accountable,” ACJPS concludes.