Arman says Sudanese security detained him in refrigerated cell
June 24, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – In a thankful message released on Monday, the SPLM-N Agar deputy leader Yasir Arman said he had been detained in a refrigerated cell before to deport him to Juba.
“Shortly after the massacre, I was mistreated and arrested by the Rapid Support Forces. During the first few days of my detention, I was held in solitary confinement in a refrigerated cell,” he said in a first statement about his 5-day detention in Khartoum.
The rebel leader said he, SLM-N Agar Secretary General Ismail Jalab and the Movement’s Spokesperson Mubarak Ardol who had been detained two days later were forcibly deported from Sudan against their will in a military helicopter to South Sudan on 10 June.
“I would like to express my particular thanks to President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Government of Egypt for intervening with the Military Council to press for my release. I am also very grateful to the European Union, to the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and to the US Congress and the British Parliament for the actions they took on our behalf,” said.
He also said they appreciated the enormous support and solidarity received from the Sudanese people both inside and outside the country, from the media and social media and from our friends and allies in the Forces for Freedom and Change, the Sudan Revolutionary Front and the Sudan Call.
Arman, Jalab and Ardol were in Khartoum to express the SPLM-N support to the revolution and to promote putting a comprehensive peace process at the top agenda of the transitional period. The group is part of the Sudan Call alliance and the Forces for Freedom and Change that toppled al-Bashir regime last April.
In his statement, Arman called to withdraw the Rapid Support Forces from Khartoum residential areas, saying they represent a threat to the safety of the eight million people living in the capital and its suburbs.
Further, he said there is a risk that the Sudanese security sector might collapse given the recurrent attacks on civilians and other regular forces by the militiamen echoing reports that the group is currently recruiting forces from Mali, Niger and Chad as well as from within Sudan
“If this danger goes unchecked, the Rapid Support Forces militia could pose a threat to the security of the whole region and could even lead to the collapse of the Sudanese state, resulting in the exodus of millions of Sudanese migrants to Europe as well as an escalation of terrorism in the region,” he said.
(ST)