Darfuri students to court, Ansar students attacked in Sudan

Seven Darfuri students of the Omdurman El Ahlia University appeared before a judge at the Umbadda Public Order Court in Omdurman on Thursday. Eight student members of the Ansar, the religious arm of the National Umma Party, were injured in an attack by militant fellow students in Sinja, eastern Sudan.

The case of the seven Darfuri students was postponed to 10 June, because the complainant did not appear. Judge Emad Abdallah ordered his arrest, to be brought before the court at the next session.

Jibril Hassabo, member of the defence team, told Radio Dabanga that the seven students were detained on 14 May, on charges of rioting and disturbing the public order. They were released on bail the same day.

He said that the students had been brought to the Umbadda Criminal Court three times, but the judges refused to deal with their case. The case was then transferred to the Umbadda Public Order Court.

The accused students are Fatima Abdallah Mohamed, Sabna Hassan Abakar, Faisal Abdallah Feisal, Saeed Ahmed Mohamed, Adam Ibrahim Ali, and Mohamed Idris Ibrahim. 

‘Hate campaign’

The Darfur Bar Association issued a statement on the case, appealing to human rights activists to support Darfuri students in the country, and confront “the regime’s unfair hate campaign against them”.

Attacks by militant students of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), backed by security agents, on Darfuri students and student members of opposition parties, have been going on since years. Yet, since February this year, the number of assaults grew significantly.

On 4 February, clashes erupted at the Omdurman Ahlia University, after NCP students verbally abused Darfur students, while they were playing football at the campus.

The “racist campaign” against Darfuri students intensified after the death of Mohamed Awad El Karim, a senior member of the NCP student wing at Sharg El Nil College, on 29 April. According to reports, a group of 150 militant NCP students attacked Darfuri students who were having a meeting of the Darfur Student Association at the campus. In the ensuing clashes, Awad El Karim was killed.

In the following weeks, Darfuris studying at universities in Sudan’s capital were assaulted. The security apparatus detained a number of them, as well as their relatives.

According to the Darfur Students Association, about 815 Darfuri students were evicted from dormitories in Khartoum, and Dongola, northern Sudan, in May.

Sinja

Eight Ansar students were injured on Wednesday, three of them seriously, during an attack by NCP students on a discussion corner at the Faculty of Education of the Sennar University in Sinja.

“The NCP students used batons, iron bars, and knives against us,” an Ansar student reported to Radio Dabanga. “The wounded students, among them Dafalla El Mahi, Siddig El Houri and El Sadig Yahya, were taken to a hospital in Sennar for treatment.”

He said that the police intervened, and are currently stationed around the campus to prevent escalation of the violence.