Military Intelligence continues to detain activists in Sudan

MEROWE / KHARTOUM NORTH – June 19, 2023

Military Intelligence and the General Intelligence Service (GIS) continue to detain grassroots activists in Sudan, resistance committees reported.

The resistance committees active in the neighbourhoods in Merowe in Northern State reported in a statement yesterday that Military Intelligence detained four more of its members.

The Khartoum North (Bahri) resistance committees also issued a statement regarding the continued detention of three of its members by the GIS for 34 days.

Targeting

Army soldiers in Khartoum have reportedly also been targeting young Misseriya tribesmen as they consider them supporters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have reportedly detained hundreds of activists and volunteers in the country’s capital since the start of the war on April 15.

Especially the RSF are accused of detaining civilians. “Kidnapping is prevalent in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, mainly carried out by the RSF, which is currently holding hundreds of innocent civilians in unknown locations,” Hala Elkarib, founder of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), tweeted from Khartoum in May.

“Volunteers who are providing aid to communities are frequently being kidnapped. While the SAF is detaining members of the resistance committees, the RSF is abducting them.”

Three weeks ago, Radio Dabanga reported that accounts of members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) raiding homes are increasing.