Sudanese police use rubber bullets to break up student protest
May 6, 2007 (LONDON) — Sudanese riot police today used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a peaceful demonstration in the centre of Khartoum, the Leadership Office of Hamdab Dam Affected People (LOHAP) said in a press statement today.
The protest had been organised by Manasir Students Union in Higher Education. The Manasir are one of three tribal groups whose communities will be flooded by the Merowe Dam, now under construction on the River Nile.
An unknown number of students were injured in the police assault. Several students have also been detained, two of whom – Musa Mohamed and Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman – have been named. The whereabouts of those arrested is unknown.
The students were protesting against the continued detention without charge of six Manasir leaders, who were arrested on 29 March 2007. The six leaders are all elected members of the Manasir Executive Committee (MEC), which represents those affected by the Merowe dam.
One of the detained leaders – Haitham Al Dusogi – is Head of the Manasir Students Union. Mr Al Dusogi is reported to have been moved from Khartoum’s Kober prison, where the other leaders are being held, to the notorious Dabak prison. He is reported to have been tortured and abused.
On 27th April, the Mansir Committee sued the Sudanese security services in the constitutional court for unlawfully detaining the six leaders. The committee has asked for compensations of one million Sudanese Pounds for every detainee.
The leaders’ detention and the clamp down on the students come at a time of mounting tension in the Manasir region. An agreement reached in June 2006 between the communities and Nile State, which would have allowed the communities to resettle around the dam’s reservoir, has been consistently broken by the government’s Dam Implementation Unit (DIU).
The DIU is seeking forcibly to relocate the Manasir to a resettlement camp in the desert. The Manasir have stated that they will not move from their land.
The Manasir are asking the international community to demand the immediate release of all those detained and for their agreement with Nile State to be honoured.
(LOHAP)
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