RSF turned media premises into detention facilities: Sudanese Journalists Union

December 7, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate has denounced the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’s use of the buildings of the Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) as detention centres and the subsequent sale of SBC equipment in Omdurman markets.

In a statement, the syndicate affirmed that witnesses who were detained at the SBC facilities in Omdurman confirmed the RSF’s utilization of these structures as makeshift prisons.

“This reprehensible act did not end there,” the statement underscored, citing documented accounts indicating the RSF’s involvement in the sale of Sudanese radio equipment in Omdurman markets.

The syndicate vehemently condemned this irresponsible behaviour, asserting that it exposes the country’s historical heritage to the potential of destruction, devastation, and eventual extinction.

The syndicate further disclosed that the RSF had vandalized and looted the Sudanese 24 and Al-Balad channels in Khartoum, as well as the BBC office in Khartoum. Equipment belonging to the Blue Nile Channel was also reportedly observed for sale in Omdurman’s Libya Market.

The syndicate urged the RSF to vacate these institutions immediately and called upon regional and international organizations committed to press freedom and media integrity to unequivocally condemn these violations and actively work to rectify the consequences of this aggression.

Amidst allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing, the paramilitary forces in Khartoum have been accused of forcibly occupying civilian homes and plundering their possessions.

(ST)