Contact: Osman Hummaida, Executive Director
Phone: +44 7956095738
E-mail: osman@acjps.org

(14 October 2010) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)’s two day visit to El Fashir, North Darfur, included consultations with UNAMID, local authorities, and IDPs in El Fashir’s neighbouring IDP camps of Abu Shouk, Al Salaam, and Abashed. Many of the conversations between IDPs and the UNSC delegation centred around issues of insecurity, deterioration of humanitarian conditions, lack of access to justice, and abuses by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Following the delegation’s visit to the camps, the NISS began searches for IDPs who spoke to the UNSC. On 8 October, NISS agents entered Abu Shouk and Al Salaam IDP camps to arrest 16 IDPs, all of whom were able to evade arrest and interrogation by going into hiding. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) has documented the identities of this group of 16. The group included two IDPs, Alhafize Edress Mohamed and Zahra Abdulrahman Musa, who had been detained for over a year until their release in September.

In recent days, the NISS has managed to locate and arrest other IDPs. On 10 October, Mohamed Abdall Mohamed of Abu Shouk IDP camp was arrested for a speech he made at a demonstration in El Fashir calling for the Security Council to implement outstanding resolutions on Sudan. Abdalla Eshag Abdul Razig of Abashed IDP camp was arrested and interrogated by the NISS for his interaction with the US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice in the market of Abashed camp. As of today, both remain in detention.

Police have also attempted to suppress freedom of expression of prominent members of civil society in El Fashir, though it remains unclear if the incidents are directly related to the UNSC’s visit. On 11 October, police arrested Zahara Mohamed Alnaeam, a women’s rights activist and director of the Dar Al Salaam Organisation. Ms. Alnaeam had just returned from a conference in South Africa. She was interrogated by a police officer named Ashram who questioned her extensively about her relationship with Radio Dabanga. She was released later that day without being charged. Prior to the visit of the UNSC, the NISS arrested Awatif Ishag Ahmed, women’s rights advocate and editor of Alrahil Magazine. She was arrested at 8 AM, and held by authorities in a dark, small room until 4 PM. She was not allowed food, water, or to use a washroom. She was questioned extensively about her alleged relationship with the ICC and told to report to security offices if she was summoned again. The NISS ordered her not to report her arrest to anyone.

The UNSC’s visit to North Darfur took place amidst a deteriorating security environment, with the attack on a Fur village in Tabra, North Darfur, and the Sudanese Armed Forces confirming that air and land strikes had begun again in Jebel Marra in the past months. The UNSC’s visit was also marred by pro-Bashir supporters who attempted to block the delegation from leaving the airport and the kidnapping of two civilian staff members of UNAMID while the delegation was meeting with IDPs.

The ACJPS calls on the government of Sudan to immediately cease harassment of individuals who may have met with the UNSC, and to end the repressive use of emergency laws to target and intimidate members of civil society and IDP leaders. The freedom of expression and association is protected by Article 39(1) of the Interim National Constitution, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Arbitrary arrest and detention are a clear violation of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For its part, UNAMID should carefully monitor the security presence in IDP camps. That restrictions on freedom of expression and association and incidents of arbitrary arrest occurred in conjunction with the UNSC’s visit and in spite of Sudan’s international obligations is troubling, and suggests an effort to undermine the UNSC’s, and by extension, the international community’s work in Sudan.