‘Human trafficking on the increase in eastern Sudan’: MP

Human trafficking in eastern Sudan has increased lately, as well-organised networks are now operating in the region. In a press statement on Monday, Mohamed El Taher Ousham, Member of Parliament for Hameshkoreib constituency in Kassala state near the Eritrean border, welcomed the regional conference on human trafficking convened in Khartoum last week. “Finally a stone was thrown into the still pond.” Ousham said that human trafficking has increased lately, as well-organised networks are now operating in the three states of eastern Sudan. In addition, he accused “certain government officers” of “being more than lenient in dealing with vehicles used for smuggling operations”. “After confiscation, they often return the vehicles to their owners for a low price.” The MP also demanded an investigation into the escape of a number of convicted human smugglers from eastern Sudanese prisons. Last week, Khartoum hosted a conference on human trafficking in the Horn of Africa, organised by the AU, the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Sudanese government. Fifteen countries and EU representatives attended the meeting, during which a joint strategy and action plan to combat human trafficking was adopted. In February this year Human Rights Watch accused Sudanese and Egyptian security officials of involvement in human trafficking in its report “I wanted to lie down and die’: Trafficking and torture of Eritreans in Sudan and Egypt.” Victims said that Sudanese and Egyptian security officers facilitated trafficker abuses rather than arresting them and rescuing their victims. “Egypt and Sudan are giving allegedly corrupt security officials a free pass to work with traffickers,” HRW commented. In “The Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond”, a report issued in December 2013, European researchers stated that “It appears that there is a close collaboration between Eritrean traffickers and Sudanese security, military and police officials. Members of the Rashaida and Hidarib tribes in East Sudan are also involved in the abductions in Sudan and in Eritrea.” File photo: Eritrean refugees in an eastern Sudan refugee camp (cfr.org) Related:Sudan calls for support with combating human trafficking (17 October 2014)Sudan acknowledges ‘significant increase in human trafficking’ (30 September 2014) Sudan police hand Eritrean refugees to traffickers to torture: report (11 February 2014) Sudan’s top officials cooperate in human trafficking’: report (5 December 2013)