SLM-MM demands safety of hostages in North Darfur

The Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) has demanded the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to immediately ensure the safety of its rebel fighters who were taken hostage during the battle in Kutum locality last Friday, during which Ali Karbino was killed. The spokesman for the SLM-MM, Adam Salih Abakar, said in a statement that the group lost contact with some of the rebels after the battle in El Guba, north of Kutum town, had ended. Amongst them were the elements who later turned out to be hostages of the government’s soldiers and militias. They displayed their pictures, including Major El Sadiq Hamid Wadi’s of the SLM-MM. Abakar appealed to all the organisations working in the area, in particular the Red Cross, to urgently intervene in order to ensure the safety of the movement’s resistance fighters. He stressed that they should be treated as prisoners of war and their rights guaranteed by the international humanitarian laws. Rebel leader Ali Karbino of the Sudan Liberation Movement for Justice (SLMJ) and 12 other leaders were killed in a battle with the paramilitary Border Guards on 27 June. The North Darfur Governor had announced that a number of rebels was captured. File photo: Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement. Related: Rebel leader Ali Karbino killed in North Darfur (29 June 2014)