Sudan must stop acts of racism against Darfuris in Khartoum – Rights watchdog
Urgent Press Release
Sudanese authorities must immediately end acts of racism against Darfuris in the National Capital
May 12, 2008 — The Sudan Human Rights Organization Cairo received reliable information that the security, police, and army forces imposed 24-hour curfew in Omdurman, in addition to military stringent measures in Khartoum and Khartoum North, to exercise a large-scale racist campaign against all Darfuri citizens residents in the National Capital, as part of a retaliation campaign following the JEM attack on army and police establishments in these two past days.
Besides egregious violations by security forces against Darfuri families in the Fitayhab, Um Beda, and Libya market civilian areas in Omdurman, the racist campaign of the government troops embraced indiscriminate harassment, humiliation, and tortures of Darfuris in the public and private transportation, especially at check points largely instated in the entry to the National Capital from all possible directions.
In these lawlessness climates that the governors of Sudan enforced against the Darfuris of the National Capital in gross violation of the Interim Constitution, there is real fear amongst people in the National Capital that hundreds of Darfuri citizens might have been extra-judicially executed, in addition to many others arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and detained in unknown “ghost houses.”
SHRO-Cairo condemns in the strongest terms possible this ugly, unlawful, aggressive violation of Sudan Laws by the Government of Sudan, including reckless attitudes towards the Interim Constitution and the international human rights norms to which the Government of Sudan is fully obligated by international law.
The Organization calls for the immediate ending of all racist and ethnic cleansing campaigns against Darfuri citizens in the National Capital;
The authorities must release all citizens arbitrarily arrested, including opposition political leaders, in general, and Darfuri citizens, in particular;
The Sudanese authorities must ensure full protection of public freedoms for all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, or any other distinct criteria;
The South Sudan Government and the democratic representatives of the National Democratic Alliance in the National Council must live up to their political duties towards the protection of human rights to the People of Sudan against all abuses of authority;
The International Community is strongly urged to put the strongest pressures possible on the Government of Sudan to comply with international law, end all acts of racism or ethnic cleansing, and respect the right of people to enjoy full human rights and public freedoms in every part of the country, indiscriminately.