JEM fighters buried in mass graveyard in North Sudan – rebel spokesperson
November 30, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) accused the Sudanese security of executing prisoners of war detained after an attack carried out by the rebel group on the Sudanese capital in May 2008.
Recently, Sudanese gold miners discovered a mass graveyard in Northern state where were deposited 25 corpses, according to Radio Dabanga. A gold rush has swept across the Northern state luring hundreds of men yearning to be among the lucky ones.
Commenting the issue, Ahmed Hussein Adam, JEM official spokesperson told Sudan Tribune Sudanese authorities executed most of the fighters of his group and buried their bodies in different area. He said the security service killed the major part of those arrested during the first and second days of the raid.
Further, JEM official for POWs affairs Idris Mahmoud said among those summarily executed there were rebels detained in three security stations in Khartoum state and their bodies were transported to bury far from Khartoum in different locations to hide the war crime.
He also said that 72 prisoners were moved from Khartoum to Al-Dabbak prison in the Northern state on 22 May 2008 and were executed there but “we do not know where they were buried”.
The rebel group called for an international investigation to probe the crimes committed by the Sudanese government against the prisoners of war in Darfur.
“This should be added to the register of war crimes committed by the Sudanese government against Darfur people,” said Ahmed Hussein Adam referring to the war crimes investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The rebel official said Khartoum government used to kill POWs during its war against the former rebel Sudan people’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in southern Sudan.
In the wake of the signing of the goodwill agreement with the Sudanese government in Doha on 17 February 2009, the Sudanese government denied knowing the names of the POWs deported by the government to Northern state, he added.
(ST)