Tribal leader detained in Sudan’s Blue Nile State

More than 50 citizens have been detained in Blue Nile State since the beginning of August. The Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator of Blue Nile State, Hashim Orta, told Radio Dabanga that the leader of the Angasana tribe, Rizig Tawer, is among the “innocent citizens who were detained recently”. The detentions came after the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) forces had attacked Blue Nile’s area of Agadi. “The detention campaign is still ongoing. In particular the people of Fundi village, near the state’s capital El Damazin, are terrified by the continuing arrests.” According to Orta, the detainees were subjected to torture. He appealed to humanitarian organisations to “intervene, visit the detainees, and help with their release”. Genocide The Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator also accused the government of planning to break up the camps for Blue Nile refugees in South Sudan. “The authorities are now equipping a force of South Sudanese militiamen stationed in Khor Magar, 30 km south of El Tadamon in the Blue Nile, to launch attacks on the refugee camps, in order to dismantle them, and force the refugees to return to the Blue Nile State.” He called on the international community to be alert. “The genocide that happened in Darfur may be repeated in the Blue Nile. This would not be the first time in Sudan.” He appealed to the international community and humanitarian organisations to intervene, and protect the refugees of the Blue Nile State in South Sudan. Following the eruption of heavy clashes between government forces and militias and combatants of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Blue Nile State early September 2011, Khartoum dismissed the elected state governor, Malik Agar, and replaced him with a military governor who subsequently declared the State of Emergency. Hundreds of citizens suspected of supporting the SPLM-N were detained. Thousands of people have fled the violence in the Blue Nile, and sought refuge in areas over the borders of South Sudan and Ethiopia. Locator map of Blue Nile State  Related:SPLA-N kills Sudanese commander in “continuously bombed” Blue Nile (27 December 2011)Appeal to Sudan government: ‘Fair trial for Blue Nile detainees’ (17 May 2013)War opens on third front in North Sudan (2 September 2011)