Political Repression in Eastern Sudan
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
– AI Index: AFR 54/051/2005 (Public)
– 20 May 2005
Since January 2005, human rights violations by the Sudanese authorities in Eastern Sudan are fuelling tensions and discontent, which could lead to further human rights abuses.
The Sudanese government must respond to the situation in Eastern Sudan by protecting human rights and providing accountability for human rights violations. Failure to do so in other regions, such as Darfur, has led to armed conflict, massive human rights violations, the forced displacement of millions of civilians now dependent solely on external aid, and international condemnation of the government.
Eastern Sudan, with the Red Sea State, which capital is Port Sudan, and Kassala State, with Kassala town as its capital, is one of the poorest regions of Sudan. It is inhabited mainly by the Beja and the Rashaida, two nomadic ethnic groups, southern and western Sudanese internally displaced as a result of conflict and refugees from neighbouring Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Eastern Sudanese, like southern and western Sudanese, complain of underdevelopment and marginalisation by the central government. With the signature on 9 January 2005 of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of southern Sudan, the Eastern Sudanese, excluded from the peace negotiations, are demanding a share in power and resources.
Unlawful killings of demonstrators
On 26 January 2005, peaceful Beja demonstrators in Port Sudan presented a list of demands to the Red Sea State Governor, asking him to respond to their memorandum within 72 hours.
On 29 January, a second demonstration took place. Government security forces reportedly used live ammunition against demonstrators allegedly armed with sticks and stones. The security forces also attacked houses outside the area of the demonstration, and reportedly threw grenades inside houses which wounded residents, including children. At least 20 people were killed in the clashes. A similar protest was reported in Kassala town, leading to arrests and the reported beating of two students by the security forces.
Amnesty International condemned the killings and the excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the security forces in Port Sudan. These contravene international human rights standards which state that police and security forces may only resort to intentional lethal use of firearms when strictly necessary to protect life.
Amnesty International also called on the Sudanese government to immediately set up an independent and impartial commission of inquiry into the killings in Port Sudan and to bring to justice those that used or ordered the use of excessive lethal force.
On 17 February 2005, the Sudanese Minister of Interior, Major-General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, set up a commission of inquiry headed by a judge to investigate the Port-Sudan clashes. Prior to that, the Governor of the Red Sea state, Khatem al-Sirr al-Wasila, ordered a committee to investigate the situation. Three months later, the findings of these commissions have not been published.
Prolonged detentions without charge of political opponents
Scores of Beja were subsequently arrested between 29 January and 13 February by members of the National Security and Intelligence Agency in Port Sudan and Kassala. While the exact number of arrests is unknown, the semi official Sudanese Media Centre stated on 3 March that 199 of those arrested had been released and that four would be sent to court.
However, 16 members of the Beja Congress party have remained for more than three months now in detention without charge
– 1. Abdallah Musa Abdallah (m), Beja Congress Secretary General Secretary in Red Sea State
– 2. Hashim Ali Dura (m) (Port Sudan)
– 3. Abdel Rahim Ali Bur’i (m) (Port Sudan)
– 4. Aderob Bakkash (m), aged 22, student (Kassala)
– 5. Khalifa Omar Ohajj (m), aged 23, student (Kassala)
– 6. Ali Hussein Ali (m), aged 40, self-employed (Kassala)
– 7. Mohamed Samra (m), aged 40, self employed (Kassala)
– 8. Hussein Adam (m), aged 35 (Kassala)
– 9. Dr Onour Seedy, arrested in Port Sudan on 30 January
– 10. Mohamed Al-Amin Mohamed Tahir, arrested on 13 February in Port Sudan
– 11. Mohamed Habib Mohamed Tahir (m), arrested on 13 February in Port Sudan,
– 12. Dirar Mohamed Dirar (m), known as Shiba, arrested in Port Sudan
– 13. Hashim Odis (m)
– 14. Omer Bamkar (m)
– 15. Taj Al-Sirr Badri (m)
– 16. Mohamed Musa Issa (m)
They are detained in Dabak prison, North of Khartoum, notorious for poor conditions of detention, and only four have received visits from their families or a Beja Congress official. Dr Mahmoud Osman Ibrahim, the Secretary General of the Beja Congress in Kassala, arrested with the other 16, was released in April 2005 after more than two months in detention without charge.
Rising tensions in Eastern Sudan
Since the 1990s, there has been sporadic armed conflict in Eastern Sudan between the government army and the armed wing of the opposition, composed of the largest southern armed group SPLM, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA, an umbrella of northern opposition parties hosted by Eritrea including the eastern-based Sudan Alliance Forces and one segment of the Beja Congress which supports armed opposition). Some areas, in particular round Hameshkoreb and near the Eritrean border, are under the armed opposition.