Authorities detain three members of eastern Sudan Beja Congress

April 5, 2006 (LONDON) — Sudanese authorities arrested three members of an eastern rebel group earlier last month a press statement issued by the London based Amnesty International said.

Three members of the Beja Congress, a political party which also has a small armed wing, have been arrested by the National Security Forces on 7 March at their homes in the eastern city of Kassala.

The arrested are Ali Hussain Mohamed Omer, Mohamed Omer and Haroun Mohamed Ali, Amnesty said.

They are held incommunicado, without charge, in unknown locations in the area.

They have apparently been on hunger strike since 2 April in protest at their continued detention.

The National Security Forces have the power to detain people incommunicado for up to nine months, under the National Security Act 1999.

They are at grave risk of torture, the rights group has received many reports of people held in this way being tortured.

In January 2005, scores of people were arrested and more than 20 were killed when the security forces dispersed Beja-dominated demonstrations demanding a share in power and equal opportunities for the people of the region.

The Beja Congress is one half of an armed opposition group operating in eastern Sudan, the Eastern Front. It has some armed members but is predominantly a political organisation, which campaigns for the rights of the Beja ethnic group.

The Eastern Front was founded by eastern Sudan’s two main rebel groups, the Beja Congress and the Free Lions, early last year and claimed to have launched its first offensive against government positions in the Red Sea state last June.

(ST)