Rebel chief says alarmed by oppression of Darfuris in Khartoum
May 14, 2008 (PARIS) — Darfur rebel chief said today that his movement continues to receive alarming reports about the daily human rights violations committed by the Sudanese security service against the ordinary Sudanese people from the western part of the country.
Following disturbing reports on the unjustified beating and extra judiciary detention of Darfuris in Khartoum after JEM aborted coup, rights groups and civil society organizations issued statements urging Sudanese government to stop harassment and repression against Darfur people in the capital.
Abdel-Wahid al-Nur who dismissed allegations saying he supported JEM attack on the capital, said security service in Khartoum practice racist and ethnic oppression against Darfuris who fled the war in Darfur or came to Khartoum for work to support their families in IDPs camps.
He also said that the government arrests people based on their facial features and clothing and “makes them feeling of being strangers in their country.”
“This kind of behavior can push people to ask for self-determination” al-Nur warned.
The rebel leader further reiterated his demand to release people arbitrarily detained and to stop the daily harassment against Darfuris in Khartoum.
Aegis Trust reported eyewitness accounts of a Zahawa woman shot by security men because she protested against their attempt to arrest her brother who was walking down the street with her, in Omdurman suburb of Ombada.
Civil society Sudanese activists issued today a statement urging the government to stop the use of facial features to arrest people in the capital. They further said such practices violate the constitution and the human dignity.
Al-Nur also said that public statements by Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir to eradicate the rebellion in Darfur will not resolve the conflict. He said Khartoum should implement necessary means to engage peaceful settlement for the five year crisis.
He reminded that the government has to stop indiscriminate attacks against civilians and accord the necessary facilities to the hybrid peacekeeping force as well as disarming its militias in the region.
“Khartoum has to be serious enough to stop this general surge of violence in the whole country by implementing practical steps towards peace and instauration of a democratic state in Sudan where all the citizens enjoy the same rights and be subjected to the same duties, without distinction as to color, ethnic group, religion or ideology.”
(ST)