‘Sudan dry season campaign includes widespread detentions’: HRs organisation

In April, the Sudanese Minister of Defence, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, announced the decisive phase of its “dry season operation to eliminate the insurgence in the country”. He stated that the war in Darfur had subsided, and that more troops could be moved to South Kordofan. The “dry season operation” in South Kordofan was accompanied by an unprecedented number of bombardments and attacks targeting civilians in the areas under control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), especially the area of Kauda, and areas east of Kadugli, the South Kordofan capital. At the same time, security forces, backed by military intelligence and police, launched a widespread detention campaign in South Kordofan, and among displaced Nuba in Khartoum, the Nuba Mountains-based Human Rights and Development Organization (Hudo) says in its May-June report. Hudo documented more than thirty detention cases. “The detained, including women, are accused of cooperating with the SPLM-N, without any tangible evidence to use in a trial”. Seven people who were detained in the Nuba Mountains have been released so far. In Khartoum several displaced have been taken in custody. Hudo noted the case of Abdel Hamid Abdallah, an activist member of the Nuba Mountains Student Union. “Security forces on 17 June raided the house of Abdallah. When they did not find him, they captured three young visitors, who were released the following day after interrogation.” The Hudo report also mentions the “unprecedented detention campaign” in En Nahud, where the chairman, members of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), and “a journalist who was just covering their activities” were detained in June. They were taken into custody “under the emergency law, which has not been declared in En Nahud, or the locality.” “Based on this fact, the detainees embarked on a hunger strike for a week. After their health began to deteriorate, they were transferred from the prison to the hospital in En Nahud. When they broke the strike, the authorities deported them to the prison of El Obeid. Their lawyers were harassed, and threatened to be detained too, for defending the detainees.” Politics The report also criticises Thabo Mbeki, the chairman of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), mediating between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N two parties. After the collapse of the last negotiation round on 24 April, “Thabo Mbeki visited Khartoum as planned, but failed to visit the areas in South Kordofan controlled by the SPLM-N.”. “During his visit Mbeki focussed on politics, and discussed with government officials the progress of the National Dialogue proposed by President Al Bashir. However, he did not meet actors in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile, and he did not visit the war-affected areas in the two states.” Security and humanitarian situation The security situation in South Kordofan is worsening, Hudo states. Women and girls in the villages around Abbasiya town in South Kordofan are exposed to abduction and rape by masked armed groups, believed to be members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The villages also are prone to armed robberies at night. “At midnight on 17 June, three masked gunmen raided a house in Gardud Jodug village. They wanted to seize two young women of 18 and 16 years-old. Their father resisted, which enabled his daughters to flee. He was then stabbed and beaten into unconsciousness.” The humanitarian situation of the South Kordofan displaced is dire. “Displaced have been removed from schools in Rashad town, where they had taken refuge from attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on their villages in the neighbourhood. No alternative was offered, and the establishment of a camp was prevented.” “The population in Rashad town was thus forced to host the displaced in their homes. Most houses in Rashad are overcrowded, which causes all kinds of problems regarding hygiene and sanitation, apart from food shortages.” Nuba displaced who fled to relatives in Umbadda and El Izba in Omdurman, the sister-city of Khartoum, saw their homes destroyed by the authorities. “Even their church was demolished in El Izba.” “They were relocated to far remote areas without providing any relief. The authorities claim that they were living there illegally. However, they were staying with their relatives, who have been living in Omdurman for tens of years.” Appeal Hudo appeals to the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese “regime to release all detainees immediately and unconditionally”. “Those charged legally are entitled to a fair trial that guarantees their legal rights.” The organisation also calls on the international community to “immediately access the Nuba Mountains and provide relief for the affected people”. File photo: The logo of Hudo Related: ‘South Kordofan littered with unexploded ordnance’: SPLM-N (7 July 2014) Attacks on South Kordofan ‘may constitute war crime’: Amnesty Int (25 June 2014)Resumed peace talks between Sudan government and SPLM-N collapse (24 April 2014)