Raids and detentions continue in Sudan capital

Paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces in Merowe in northern Sudan, April 12 (RSF)

KHARTOUM / KHARTOUM NORTH / OMDURMAN –


Reports about members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) raiding homes are increasing. An activist was abducted by the RSF in Shambat in Khartoum North on Saturday whilst a former politician was seized by the RSF on May 19 and held for 30 hours in a ‘suffocating cellar’ of a building in Khartoum.

The resistance committee of Shambat reported yesterday that Ali El Maghribi was seized by RSF paramilitaries while he was securing houses of people who fled the violence in the area, together with other young volunteers.  

He was taken to an unknown destination.

The resistance committee holds the RSF responsible for the safety of El Maghribi and demands his immediate release “along with all civilians held in its detention facilities”.

30 hours

Noureldin Salaheldin, a former leading member of the Sudanese Congress Party, was held by the RSF on May 19.

He said on his Facebook page that he was beaten when he was detained in the neighbourhood where he lives, and taken to a cellar of a building, where between 200 and 300 other people were being held.

“I never saw a worse and more horrific place than the RSF detention facility I was in,” he said. “There was no electricity or lighting, and no ventilation at all. Because of the heat and the high degree of humidity, it was difficult to breathe, and many people fainted.”

Yesterday, Radio Dabanga reported about the abduction of Alaaeldin Nugud, Secretary General of the Sudanese Association of Surgeons, by “an armed force consisting of ten people” from his home in Khartoum on Saturday.

Both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have reportedly detained hundreds of activists and volunteers in the country’s capital since the start of the war on April 15.

Reports about sexual assaults and rapes are also increasing.

Raids

The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate reported “a significant increase” in RSF raids of homes of journalists in the country’s capital.

The syndicate has documented “repeated attacks by the RSF on men and women journalists and on public and private institutions.

“These recurrent attacks strongly indicate a systematic targeting of journalists, to force them to stop their work, and thus turn the areas of armed conflict into a dark spot,” the syndicate warned in a statement on social media yesterday.

The journalists called on “the relevant regional and international organisations to condemn these irresponsible actions of the RSF”.

On Saturday, an RSF force stormed the house of the acting president of the National Umma Party (NUP), Retd Maj Gen Fadlallah Burma in Omdurman.

The NUP said in a press statement yesterday that the force inquired about the owner of the house. They told Burman that they were searching for an army commander hiding in the neighbourhood and left the house without harming him.