Sudan indiscriminately bombs, abuses citizens: human rights report

The human rights situation in Sudan worsened in 2013 with Sudanese forces bombing Darfuri people and communities in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, attacking and detaining protesters, and failing to protect citizens from tribal clashes, Human Rights Watch concluded in its annual report. According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Report 2014, published on Tuesday, conflicts in Darfur, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan displaced over half a million people in 2013. In South Kordofan and Blue Nile, Sudan’s indiscriminate bombing and ongoing clashes with rebels of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) have displaced tens of thousands within those states. Sudan also obstructed humanitarian access and food supply to the displaced in areas controlled by rebel factions. The government has attacked and bombed communities presumed to support these rebel groups, such as Golo and Guldo in East Jebel Mara in February, killing an unknown number of civilians. A 38-year-old woman, a cleaner in the Golo girls’ school, told HRW: “One of the bombs fell on a group of students and killed two teenage girls, right in front of me.” Aerial bombings by the Sudanese Air Force killed dozens of civilians in the Nuba Mountains in April and in East Jebel Marra in October and November, according to Radio Dabanga reports. Tribal clashes “As international attention shifts to new crises elsewhere in Africa, Sudan’s people are unlikely to get the protection and justice they deserve”, Daniel Bekele, Africa director at HRW said. In Darfur, authorities “failed to protect people from tribal clashes” particularly between Arab pastoral groups. The Beni Halba and Gimir tribes fought violently after a dispute over land ownership in South Darfur, torching villages and displacing thousands of people, in February. And according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 60,000 people have been displaced in Central Darfur or fled to Chad since April as a result of armed clashes between Misseriya, Salamat and Taisha tribes. “Thousands of people have fled to Chad”, witnesses of an attack confirmed to Radio Dabanga in April. “State authorities or government forces were nowhere to be seen,” listeners said after a tribal clash in November. September protests According to HRW, Sudanese security forces continued to arrest and detain activists, opposition party members and protesters. In September, demonstrations swept the country in response to hikes in the price of fuel and other basic commodities. Sudanese forces responded to protests with live ammunition, tear gas or rubber bullets. According to the opposition parties under the National Consensus Forces (NCF), 300 people were killed or went missing and around 1,000 people were injured during the demonstrations. The Governor of Khartoum announced a few weeks after the protests that between 60 to 70 people were killed. National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) officials ‘detained hundreds of protesters, most of them without charge and for several weeks’, the report wrote. Three released protesters said that there are still people detained in Khartoum North as of 9 January. More than 200 people have been on trial in the beginning of January; among them were at least 80 minors, the chairman of the defence team told Radio Dabanga. Press freedom Authorities also censored the media in September. The security service ordered media not to publish pictures of the riots and the government shut down the Internet. Through 2013, they have suspended publication of some papers, blocked websites, and suspended journalists. Activist and blogger Tajeldin Ahmed Arja has been detained for nearly a month in Khartoum, his concerned family told Radio Dabanga last week. On the other hand, ‘authorities have not prosecuted the vast majority of serious crimes committed in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law during the Darfur conflict’, the report stated. The human rights organisation concludes its report saying Sudan has yet to pass a new permanent constitution, as the National Security Act of 2010 and many other laws ‘are contravening basic human rights norms’. President Omar Al Bashir called upon political parties to join the Permanent Constitution, Radio Dabanga reported in October. The opposition remained suspicious. “No constitution is prepared in a climate of oppression and war,” a spokesman for the NCF said. File photo: Village in Darfur (Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid) Related: Detention, health of Darfuri blogger ‘concerns’ family (14 January 2014) 60,000 displaced since January by Central and South Darfur inter-tribal clashes: OCHA (22 November 2013) Al Bashir’s dictatorship in Sudan will last, says uncle (21 November 2013) Central Darfur tribal clashes continue amid authorities absence (8 November 2013) Sudan’s opposition parties reject President Al Bashir’s speech (29 October 2013) Sudanese doctors report 210 dead in Khartoum during demonstrations (29 September 2013) Photos: Protests across Sudan (27 September 2013)