Sudan State of Emergency ‘nothing new in Kordofan’

The military authorities in Keilik in West Kordofan confiscated more than 50 head of cattle belonging to traders on charges of buying them from markets located in areas controlled by the SPLM-N.

Witnesses from the area told Radio Dabanga that yesterday a force belonging to the military garrison of Keilik confiscated cattle from the cattle market accusing the traders of buying cows from markets in the SPLM-N control areas. Authorities also confiscated a rickshaw carrying goods after its driver fled on Monday.

Emergency Laws

Residents of South and West Kordofan say that they have been affected by Emergency Laws in both states since 2011.

They told Radio Dabanga that they had lost a large number of youths who were victims of the application of the emergency law.

They explained that the orders issued to the members of the army and the security forces in the two states is to shoot any person found in the roads leading to the areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

Any person suspected of dealing with or going to the common markets with the SPLM-North is imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of  SDG 50,000 ($1,000*) with the confiscation of the crops in their possession, which affected their security, economic and social lives.

* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary widely in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the Market Makers Mechanism-determined daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).