Amnesty says detained rebels at risk in SLM jails

UA 12/08 Fear for Safety

SUDAN

Ali Haroun (m)
Faisal Abdullah al-Tahir (m)
Mohiedin Sharaf (m)
Tya Kuku Rahal (m)
Ibrahim Suleiman (m)
Abdullah Amir al-Mu’minin (m) legal adviser
and at least eleven others

The first five people named above and eight of the others have been detained for five weeks reportedly in Dirbat by the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdel Wahed (SLA/A-W), an armed opposition group in Darfur. They are apparently being detained on the orders of Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, the leader of the SLA/A-W. Their exact location is not known and Amnesty International fears that they are at risk of being tortured or ill-treated or unlawfully killed.

Some of the men come from Ain Siro, an area 30 kilometres north-west of Kutum in North Darfur, which is under the control of the SLA/A-W. Amnesty International understands that Ali Haroun and the others from Ain Siro supported the unity of the different factions of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), which has splintered into several factions, as well as engaging in political dialogue to end the conflict in Darfur. They were reportedly summoned to the headquarters of the SLA/A-W in Dirbat, where they were disarmed and detained in December. Sources suggest that one of the group, Tya Kuku Rahal, may have been unlawfully killed during his detention.

Abdallah Amir al-Mu’minin, the SLA legal adviser, and three others, are said to have been abducted in Dirbat by SLA/A-W commanders and taken to an unknown place of detention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) took up arms against the Sudanese government in Darfur in 2003 in protest against the perceived marginalisation of Darfur. The Sudanese government armed and supported local militias, known as the Janjawid, as a proxy force against the rebels, forcibly displacing more than two million civilians, mostly of the same ethnicity as the armed opposition groups, as a counter-insurgency strategy. After a Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 failed to gain support of most of the SLA and JEM, these armed groups split into many different factions. There have been numerous attempts to unify these groups, often as a prelude to further peace talks, and some factions have unified, but Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, the founder of the SLA in 2003, has consistently refused to hold talks with other SLA factions. Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur now lives in Paris, but continues to have support on the ground particularly in eastern Jebel Marra and among many displaced living in camps.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Although Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur lives in Paris his address, fax, and email are not known. Therefore we are asking you to send brief text messages giving your name and country and saying: “Release detainees from Ain Siro” or similar;
– We are also giving the satellite phone number of the commander who is holding the 17 people detained.

APPEALS TO:
Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur

President of Sudan Liberation Movement/Abdel Wahed
Mobile phone: + 33 637518544

Nimer (SLA/A-W commander in Jebel Marra)

Satphone: + 88216 55589598

Please also send appeals to the United Nations and African Union joint mediators, in English or your own language:

– asking them to use their influence to ensure that the SLA/Abdel Wahed release immediately all those detained simply for expressing opposition to the policy of refusing unity and peace talks;

asking them to use their influence to ensure that the Sudan Liberation Army/A-W comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law to treat all detainees humanely.

APPEALS TO:

– Jan Eliasson
Joint Mediation Envoy for Darfur ,
United Nations ,
Department of Political Affairs,
New York,
New York 1017 ,
USA
Fax +1 212 906 5000

– Salim Ahmed Salim,
Joint Mediation Envoy for Darfur
African Union ,
PO Box 3243 ,
Addis Ababa ,
Ethiopia ,
Fax +251 1 512622 .

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 27 February 2008.

East Africa Team
Amnesty International
1 Easton Street
London WC1X ODW