Report Accuses Sudanese Government of Executing Hundreds

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Geneva-based human rights organization, Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC), has released a report with fresh accusations that the Sudanese government killed at least 500 people in the days following a rebel attack.  The report provides a comprehensive account of the government’s response to the Justice and Equality Movement’s (JEM) May 10 attack on Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan.

On May 10, hundreds of JEM fighters marched into Omdurman and were met by government security forces.  The fighting continued through May 12 and left dozens dead.  According to the DRDC report, at least 500 civilians or presumed JEM members were summarily executed or extra-judicially killed in the three days following the attack. 

The report also said that more than 4000 people were arbitrarily arrested after the Omdurman attacks.  The DRDC said that most of those arrested were civilians with no ties to the rebel movement.

According to the DRDC report, executions continued to be carried out after the three day reprisal.  The report cited the massacre of eight individuals on May 19.  The eight people were arrested in Abu Siid, a residential area of Omdurman where relatives of the detainees found them.  According to the report, the relatives visited with the detainees and then left, returning several hours later to find them shot to death.  The police said the eight individuals were killed in a traffic accident.

The DRDC also accused the government or responding to the JEM attack with “enforced disappearance, inhumane and degrading treatment, ethnic profiling and racial insults and violence, discrimination, incommunicado detention, trial irregularities and judicial oppression, assault on freedom of movement as well as curtailment of freedom of the press and information.”

The Sudanese government denied the allegations and disputed the numbers. 

Sudanese State Minister of Information, Rabie Abdul Atti, said the arrests were necessary to diffuse the atmosphere of insecurity and terror created by the rebels, IRIN reported.

“The arrests were not against Darfuris,” he said. “The security authorities don't arrest anybody due to color or tribe. If there is any arrest, it will be on the grounds of evidence.”

Atti confirmed that hundreds of people were arrested following the attacks, but insisted that 90 percent were immediately released for lack of evidence against them.  Atti claimed that only 50 of those arrested remain in jail and are awaiting trial.  Sudanese courts sentenced 30 men to death for their roles in the attacks.  The trials were criticized for not meeting international standards. 

“Those are the only executions to speak of,” Atti said, “and even they have yet to go through the appeals process and be approved by the president. Anyone who claims to have been tortured in jail can take his case to court.”

The DRDC report follows a June report from Human Rights Watch, titled “Crackdown in Khartoum” which gave another account of the Sudanese government’s response to the JEM attacks. 

For more information, please see:

IRIN – SUDAN: Mounting Criticism Against Govt for Crackdown After Rebel Attack – 23 September 2008

Sudan Tribune – NGO Report Details New Dimensions of Violence After Khartoum Attack – 14 September 2008

Human Rights Watch – Sudan: Account for Civilians Arrested in Khartoum – 17 June 2008

Human Rights Watch – Crackdown in Khartoum – 17 June 2008