Joint statement of the African Union and the United Nations on the situation in South Sudan (12.01.2018)

Sudan: Critical needs in Darfur, southern Sudan, where the International Committee of the Red Cross will increase assistance (11.01.2018)

The ICRC will also for the first time carry out new assistance activities in South Kordofan.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, January 11, 2018 – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will increase its field assistance activities in Sudan’s Darfur region in 2018, returning to an area where years of conflict have adversely affected the health and welfare of residents.

The ICRC will also for the first time carry out new assistance activities in South Kordofan. Recent visits to South Kordofan and Central Darfur by the ICRC found people in need of food, safe drinking water and access to health care.

“Families living in Sudan’s conflict-affected areas have been suffering much too long from the effects of prolonged violence,” ICRC President Peter Maurer said during a three-day visit to Sudan that concluded Thursday. “It’s notable that the Government of Sudan recognizes these needs and is allowing the ICRC to carry out a broader range of activities in these critical areas.”

The ICRC assistance activities will gradually increase in partnership with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society and relevant authorities. The ICRC hopes in the future to cross lines of control and directly assist all civilians suffering from conflict and violence, including in armed opposition held areas.

“We want to address short-term needs but we know we must also help strengthen the resilience of the people in the long-term,” Mr. Maurer said. “The ICRC has a long history of working in Sudan, but no history of working in South Kordofan state. We look forward to being able to assist those in need there.”

In South Kordofan, Mr. Maurer witnessed the opening of an ICRC-repaired water point where smiling children scooped up handfuls of clean drinking water from shiny taps. The ICRC plans to open a new office in Kadugli, a development welcomed by local authorities.

ICRC assistance in Sudan planned for 2018 includes the distribution of seeds, tools and pesticides to help internally displaced communities and host communities to grow their own food, aid that will help 108,000 people. Food or cash will be distributed to help those families until the harvest. ICRC teams will also repair water pumps and vaccinate livestock.

The ICRC resumed its field assistance work after suspending field operations in Darfur in 2015 because of limited access. The ICRC has continued to support orthopedic patients at the National Authority for Prosthetics and Orthotics, to reconnect families separated by conflict, and to act as a neutral intermediary during prisoner releases.

 

Somalia: Puntland renounce the attacks on Tukaraq (08.01.2018)

Burundi: CNARED-GIRITEKA – “Declaration Relative AU Referendum Sur La Constitution” (07.01.2018)

Sudan – Immediate safety concern for a Darfurian student detained incommunicado in unknown location for two weeks (08.01.2018)

Mahmoud Hussain was severely beaten by the members of National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) during his arrest.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, January 8, 2018 – The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) is seriously concerned for the safety of a Darfurian student who has been detained incommunicado and without charge for two weeks by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Khartoum. No reasons were given for his arrest in December and he has been denied access to his family and/ or lawyer. The authorities must immediately take measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the Darfurian student and order his immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges that are consistent with international standards.

On 24 December 2017 at 1 pm, Mr. Mahmoud Hussain Omer, a law student at the Al-Nilien University in Khartoum from Kabkabia, North Darfur state, was arrested by members of NISS at the gate of the University. Mahmoud Hussain was severely beaten by the members of NISS during his arrest.

ACJPS is deeply concerned for the safety of Mahmoud Hussain who has now been detained incommunicado without charge and without access to his family or lawyer for two weeks and whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The lack of access to lawyers and family members of the detainees, together with the well-documented use by the NISS of torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees, particularly whilst held in unknown locations, gives rise to serious concerns for their safety. Incommunicado detention significantly enhances vulnerability to being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

In another incident, ACJPS was informed that on 22 August 2017, members of NISS arrested Mr. Nasreldin Mukhtar Mohamed, the former chairperson of the Darfur Students Association of the Holy Koran University in Omdurman. He was arrested at the gate of the university and then taken to the security detention centre in Khartoum North where he was held incommunicado for about a month. The authorities have only allowed two visits from his family since his arrest on 22 August 2017. The first visit was in October 2017.

During the last family visit on Friday 8 December 2017, his family noticed that Nasreldin Mukhtar had lost sight in his left eye and sustained severe injuries on his legs as a result of beatings by members of NISS.

Neither Mahmoud Hussain nor Nasreldin Mukhtar has been charged with a crime.

The National Security Act of 2010 (NSA 2010) grants the NISS wide powers of arrest and allows detention for up to four and a half months without judicial review, well in excess of international standards. The NSA 2010 also permits incommunicado detention without prompt and unequivocal access to a lawyer of one’s choice or the right to medical care. Sudan’s laws fail to provide adequate safeguards, permit arbitrary detention, and create an enabling environment for the perpetration of torture.

The authorities must guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the detainees and order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges that are consistent with international law and standards or, if such charges exist, to bring them before an impartial, independent, and competent tribunal and guarantee their procedural rights at all times. The authorities must also guarantee both detainees access to medical assistance required to ensure their physical and psychological well-being.

Background

Although the formal charges are not known, the detentions are thought to have been made in connection with their involvement in the Darfur Students Association. Over the years, Darfuri students in universities across Sudan have encountered hostility from the Sudanese authorities. ACJPS has documented several cases of excessive use of force by security forces, arbitrary arrests and detention as well as torture and ill-treatment. The Government of Sudan has traditionally been hostile to Darfuri student associations organising at universities. They have been prevented, on occasion violently, for speaking out about issues related to fee waivers, expulsion of fellow students, among others.

On 18 May 2017, the NISS and a pro-government student militia raided a public forum at Wad Nobawe hostel which was organised to discuss the expulsion of seven Darfuri students from Al Azahri University after they participated in demonstrations on 15 May 2017 calling for the administration to adhere to the fee exemption provided for under the 2006 Doha Peace Agreement. The forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd and the students were beaten with sticks. At least ten students sustained injuries and were transferred to the hospital for treatment. Seven students were arrested and are detained incommunicado in an unknown location.

This incident occurred only four days after ACJPS document a similar incident in which twenty students were arrested after the NISS and pro-government student militia forcibly dispersed a public forum held on the campus on 15 May 2017.

Scattered protests erupt in Sudan over economic woes (08.01.2017)

Police on Friday used tear gas and batons cautiously to disperse protesters in the neighbourhoods of Al-Mazad, Shendi Foug, Al-Hilla Al-Jadida and Al-Dibaga in Wad Medani, capital of the Gezira State.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, January 8, 2018 – Sporadic protests have erupted on Friday in Khartoum and the Gazira State in central Sudan against the recent government decision to increase the bread price.

On Friday, bakeries raised the price of a loaf of bread from 50 cents to 1 Sudanese pound following a government decision to increase the price of flour sack from 167 pounds to 450 pounds.

The government decision was part of tough economic measures contained in the 2018 budget which also saw the lifting of electricity subsidies as well as increasing the U.S. dollar exchange rate to 18.00 pounds from the official rate of 6.7 pounds.

Several neighbourhoods in the Sudanese capital including Al-Sahafa, Al-Kalakla, Al-Giraif and Burri on Friday witnessed limited demonstrations where the protesters burned car tires to block some streets.

Also, police on Friday used tear gas and batons cautiously to disperse protesters in the neighbourhoods of Al-Mazad, Shendi Foug, Al-Hilla Al-Jadida and Al-Dibaga in Wad Medani, capital of the Gezira State.

There were reports that several protesters have been injured and unknown numbers were captured by the security forces.

To quell anti-austerity protests in Khartoum, Sudanese security forces in September 2013 carried out a brutal crackdown on the peaceful demonstration, killing nearly two hundred protesters say human rights groups or 86 people according to government figures.

On Thursday, the opposition called on the Sudanese people to take to streets to protests against the unprecedented rise in the cost of living and commodity price.

Opposition forces attribute the deteriorating living condition and economic meltdown to corruption, lack of production policies, and lack of economic reform vision following the secession of South Sudan.

Sudan lost 75% of its oil reserves after the southern part of the country became an independent nation in July 2011, denying the north billions of dollars in revenues.

South Sudan: SPLA GHQS – Bilpam – “Press Release on Shootings Outside of Juba” (05.01.2018)

South Sudan: CTSAMM Press Release (05.01.2018)

Somalia: Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia deeply concerned about large-scale destruction of IDP settlements on the outskirts Mogadishu (01.01.2018) 

South Sudan: SPLM-IO Memo – “Kidnapping of SPLM/A-IO Kapoeta State Governor, Marko Lochapio Lokidor, by the Kenyan Authorities” (30.12.2017)