Sudo-UK: 80 human rights incidents in Sudan in November

The network of human rights monitors of the Sudan Social Development Organisation (Sudo-UK) recorded and verified 80 incidents of human rights abuse across the country during November.

The Sudanese NGO, based in the UK after it was banned from Darfur by the Sudanese government in 2009, stated in its November report released last week that militiamen “known collectively as janjaweed” committed almost half of the recorded human rights abuses, whilst Sudanese government forces were responsible for 35 violations.

Other perpetrators include ethnic militias, armed rebel groups, and unknown parties. Some of these incidents involved several of the aforementioned groups working in cohort, notably government and pro-government forces, the report reads.

The 80 incidents include the murder of 56 civilians in addition to 26 rebel fighters; the rape of 51 women, among them five minors; the serious injury of 60 people; attacks on 25 villages; six incidents of displacement; 19 incidents of plundering; the detention of 23 people; and four incidents of aerial bombardment in which barrel bombs were used.

Sudo-UK further reports the government’s mobilisation of forces in Darfur’s East Jebel Marra and the mobilisation of Rizeigat by tribal leaders in East Darfur during the first days of November.

Farmlands

The NGO says that the number of incidents in which militiamen “forcibly and aggressively” graze their livestock on farmland increased this year. “Farmers rely on their land for sustenance in terms of both income and food, and many such farmers have long been displaced to camps which they only leave in order to tend to their farms.

“Within the camps, the displaced are receiving less and less food assistance, whilst outside of the camps their means of livelihood is under direct and systematic attack from Janjaweed militias in addition to paramilitary groups such as the Rapid Support Forces and the Border Guards.

“Consequently, with the supply of food diminishing both within and outside the camps, civilians in Darfur are facing tightening food insecurity,” Sudo states.

29 attacks on farmers were recorded in November. 11 farmers were killed, 23 women farmers were raped, and 15 men were seriously injured.

Blue Nile ‘container detainees’

Since August, Sudo-UK in its monthly reports highlighted the detention of over 100 civilians in containers at the Sudanese Armed Forces Fourth Infantry Division Headquarters in Ed Damazin, capital of Blue Nile state. In its October report, Sudo noted that Tarig Ali, a 40 year-old farmer from Geisan locality, died whilst in detention in one of the containers.

In November, monitors reported the hospitalisation of container detainee Alitaa Younes, held in July following the suspicion that he sold milk to rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). He is “now undergoing treatment at Ed Damazin Royal Hospital”.

The monitors established that the detainees are unable to leave the containers except in the morning and the evening for a short time to go the toilet. Contact with family, lawyers, or access to health care is not permitted. They are not allowed even “to take their own prescribed medicines”.

Younes shared a container with 30 other people, “all of whom are suffering from serious illnesses relating to a lack of food, sleep, hygiene facilities, and medicines”.

Clampdown on Darfur students

Sudo-Uk also pointed to the detention of Darfuri students in Omdurman. In October, six Darfuri students from the University of the Holy Koran were detained during an attack by a large force from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on “a peaceful sit-in” at the campus organised by Darfuri students to demand exemption from the payment of tuition fees as stipulated in the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

In November, another seven Darfuri students were detained, among them three representatives of the Darfur Students Association. NISS agents furthermore aided an attack on Darfuri students at the Sudan University for Science and Technology by the student wing of the ruling National Congress Party ion 17 December. Eight Darfur students were injured.

In response to the clampdown, members of the National Consensus Forces organised a sit-in in solidarity with the Darfuri students. This resulted in the brief detention of four major opposition figures including Siddig Yousef of the Communist Party of Sudan.