Human Rights Alert: Deaths of Protestors in Port Sudan
SOAT
Sudan Organisation Against Torture
Human Rights Alert: 1 February 2005
Deaths of Protestors in Port Sudan
On 29 January 2005, police forces in Port Sudan, eastern region of Sudan opened live ammunition on a demonstrating crowd, killing 19 people including two children and a woman and wounding 10s of people.
The two children were from Daim Arab in Port Sudan and aged 12 and 14yrs. The woman who was pregnant was injured and later died in hospital. The majority of the persons killed were young people aged between 18 and 28 years old. Some are universities graduates and students who have completed high secondary school.
The details of those killed are as follows:
1. Tahir Husain Hassan , 12 yrs
2. Ibrahim Abu-fatma Bashir , 14 yrs
3. Omer Hammad Omer
4. Eisa Hassan Ali
5. Hussain Arka Mohamed
6. Makki Idris Makki
7. Oshaik Alamin
8. Ali Mohamed Mohamed Ali
9. Tahir Mohamed Tahir
10. Fagiri Ahmed Hamid
11. Ohag Ali Hamad
12. Mohamed Mohamed Tahir
13. Ahmed Abu-fatma Hamza Makawi
14. Omer Abdalah Mohamed
15. Rashid Hassan Osman (Originally from West of Sudan)
16. Ali Hussain Raihain
17. Tahir Hussain
18. Female
19. Unidentified
Abdallah Mussa Abdallah, the General- Secretary of the Beja Congress in Red Sea State, has informed SOAT of the arrest and detention of reportedly 150 demonstrators. The demonstrators are being detained at Security offices in Port Sudan, Sinkat (20 detainees), Kassala (10 detainees), and Aroma (unknown number).
The demonstration took place following a peaceful presentation of a memorandum by members of eastern tribes, mostly Beja to the Red Sea state governor, Major General Hatim al-Wasilah al-Sammani outlining demands including wealth and power sharing for the people of eastern Sudan on 26 January 2005. The memorandum also gave a deadline of 72 hours for their demands to be met.
Background
Eastern Sudan in a similar vein as Darfur accuses the government of Sudan of consistent socio-economic and political marginalisation. The recent Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Khartoum and the SPLA whereby the South is set to receive a fair share of power and resources and the crisis in Darfur has created an environment of mistrust and resentment among the local eastern tribes particularly the Beja tribe.
SOAT strongly condemns the ferocity of the government security forces response to legitimate demands of its citizens in Port Sudan resulting in the death of two children and notes with concern that the GoS could adopt the same military strategy as that of Darfur and in the South, specifically the arming of local tribes to counter a perceived new rebel threat in the east. SOAT urges the GoS to acknowledge the major causes of this demonstration and to respond accordingly through the inclusion of eastern tribes in the recent peace agreements signed between Khartoum and southern rebels.
The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association are guaranteed by international human rights law. Article 20 of the Universal Declaration states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.” Article 21 of the Civil and Political Covenant secures the right to peaceful assembly and Article 22 protects freedom of association.
International standards for the use of force by law enforcement officials as set forth in the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979 provides under Article 2 that, “in the performance of their duty, law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons.” Commentary (b) to Article 3 proclaims, “In no case should this provision be interpreted to authorize the use of force which is disproportionate to the legitimate objective to be achieved.”
SOAT urges the Government of Sudan to:
i. Immediately establish an independent, impartial commission of inquiry into the killings and to bring those who used and ordered excessive force against civilians to justice
ii. Order the immediately release all the detainees in the absence of valid legal charges, or if legitimate charges exist, bring them before an impartial tribunal and guarantee procedural rights at all times
ii. Take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all the detainees.
iii. Allow proper research, discussion and dissemination of information on issues related to press freedom
iii. Guarantee respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.