Sudan fuel crisis: El Gedaref activists detained monitoring distribution

On Wednesday, members of Sudan’s Military Intelligence reportedly assaulted and detained two activists in El Gedaref while they were monitoring the distribution of fuel in the town.

Motaz Tenu from El Gedaref Rescue Initiative and Ahmed Mousa, member of the Resistance Committees active in the neighbourhoods in El Gedaref, were monitoring the sale of fuel at the El Basheri petrol station, when a group of 10 Military Intelligence agents detained them, and took them to the army command in the town.

Jaafar Khidir told Radio Dabanga that the activists were insulted and beaten. They had to be treated at a hospital before being transferred to the El Gedaref central police station.

The MI agents filed a complaint at the police station, accusing them of plotting against the state. Tenu and Mousa have lodged a complaint against the intelligence officers.

On Sunday, the National Network for Social Justice criticised the “outrageous behaviour“ of a unit of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police (Abu Tira) in Port Sudan, capital of Red Sea state, that raided a house in the city on Saturday, and arbitrarily detained several young activists. The Sudanese NGO called on the Red Sea state police to better control their units and act according to the law.

Fuel shortage

Chronic shortages of fuel across Sudan lead to long queues in front of the petrol stations, which lead to incidents of fraud and violence.

At the end of October, a university student was assaulted by paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces at a petrol station in Khartoum. After he objected to a vehicle bypassing the queue in front of a fuel station, he was severely beaten on his back, tied with ropes, and his hair was shaved, a practice often done by the militiamen to humiliate victims.

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