Sudan opposition condemns ‘ethnically-based attacks’ in southern Khartoum

A joint security force has reportedly been terrorising displaced people living in the southern outskirts of the Sudanese capital in the past weeks.

In a press statement on Saturday, the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) strongly criticised the recent ”ethnically-based attacks” by a joint force against residents of Angola neighbourhood in Mayo in southern Khartoum “under the pretext of combating crime” – “in a repetition of the despicable scenarios followed by the former regime before its fall”.

The people living in the ‘southern belt’ of the capital are mostly displaced from areas of conflict and war in the west of the country, South Kordofan and Blue Nile state.

The SCP referred to a video report of the 3Ayin Media Network last week in which various residents of Angola testify about a security force consisting of army soldiers, paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces, policemen, and “individuals believed to be affiliated with the notorious security apparatus” holding them on the street or raiding their homes and accusing them of petty crimes*.

Families were terrorised last month “in a horrific and humiliating manner, without the forces presenting legal documents to back their actions,” Noureldin Babikr, the official spokesperson for the Sudanese opposition party, stated. The people were robbed of their money, mobile telephones, but also televisions and other devices.

The SCP says it categorically rejects any discrimination between Sudanese women and men on an ethnic, regional or religious basis. “We believe that this disgraceful behaviour has nothing to do with fighting crime, and only reveals the obvious flaws in the approaches of the regular forces,” the statement concludes.

* The people interviewed said they were accused of petty crimes and of being part of el tisaa el taweela (the long nine), a new term in the Sudanese colloquial which refers to the long loop thieves on a motorcycle make before robbing people on the street of their handbags and smartphones.