The Human Rights Situation in Sudan

SVTG

March 2000 – March 2001

Introduction

Human rights abuses are committed on a daily basis in Sudan. Sudanese security forces act with total impunity, and, are provided with virtual immunity from prosecution under the 1994 National Security Act. Amended in amended in 1999 and 2000, this acts grants security officers investigative powers that allow arbitrary searches and arrests and incommunicado detentions without judicial review.

Human rights abuses in the war zone areas of Southern Sudan continue unabated and on a massive scale. Oil is increasingly becoming regarded as a major obstacle to reaching a peaceful solution to the conflict and is more and more implicated as a crucial factor fuelling the conflict. The Government scorched-earth policy in the oil-rich south has driven thousands from their homes. According to the United Nations, over 7,000 people have fled fighting around the oilfields in the last 14 months. The Government of Sudan, gaining in military and diplomatic confidence with its success in bringing foreign national oil companies into the south, remains the obdurate party in the peace process.

'Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and displaced by a systematic policy of depopulating the oil-rich areas…Each time an oil concession is developed, it is accompanied by massive human rights violations.”

Mark Curtis, Christian Aid, Head of Policy.

In February 2001, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that millions of Sudanese face acute hunger due to continuing civil war and worsening drought. The agency appealed for US$135 million to feed 2.9 million people in both government and rebel-held areas of the country until the end of the year. A joint WFP and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report confirmed that erratic rains severely affected the crop production in 2000, with serious food and water shortages emerging in a number of districts. The ever-widening drought has hit both the northern and southern parts of the country, particularly in the northern Darfur and Kordofan regions as well as Eastern Equatoria and northern Bahr el Ghazal. In the latter two areas, the drought situation has been made worse by continued fighting.

Since the last session of the Commission on Human Rights, there have been major changes in the Sudan regarding the curtailment of civil and political rights. In December 2000, the government renewed the state of emergency, first declared in December 1999, for another year. The state of emergency removes protection, provided by law, of the basic rights of Sudanese citizens. Furthermore, on 10 December, 2000, the Government amended the National Security Act. The amendment, Article 31, allows the security forces to arrest and detain any person for three months, extendable to 6 months, without judicial review.

President Bashir initially suspended the Parliament in December 1999, on the grounds that it was necessary for the unity of the country. He dismissed the speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Hassan Al Turabi, and disbanded Parliament just a few days before the parliament was due to vote on a bill introduced by Al Turabi to reduce Bashir's presidential powers. The State of Emergency remained in effect throughout 1999 and was extended through 2000. Presidential and parliamentary “elections” were organised in December 2000, but were regarded as having serious and widespread irregularities, including official interference and electoral fraud. All major opposition parties boycotted the election meaning the majority of the candidates from the ruling party the National Congress (NC) faced no competition and were automatically re-elected. Election monitoring organisations also boycotted the election, on the grounds that by democratic standards could not be viewed as an election proper. Bashir was elected to another 5-year term, and the ruling party NC won 340 out of 360 seats in Parliament.

In November 2000, the Umma Party and its leader Sadig Almahdi, returned from exile. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has not registered, nor has the Communist Party been allowed to register. Members of the NDA leadership were arrested on 6 December 2000, and were charged under Articles 50, Undermining the constitution, 52 Dealing with an enemy state, and 53 Espionage against the country of the 1991 penal code. If convicted, they will receive the death penalty. Then in February 2001, the Government Security agents arrested the Leader of the PNC, Dr Hassan Abdullah El Turabi, and banned PNC and its paper. He was charged with four counts under Articles 24, Criminal conspiracy 50, 51 Waging war against the state and 63 Calling for opposition to public authority by use of violence or criminal force of the 1991 penal code.

For more details see Section 8, Detention of Opposition Leaders and Political Activists, page 18.

The new appointed government is dominated by members of the NIF’s security wing, who won their power struggle with the political and ideological wing of the NIF led by Hassan Al Turabi. Bashir appointed 10 senior security men as minister in his new Government, among them are Nafie Ali Nafie the former head of the Security forces 1989 -1996, Qudbi Al Mahadi former head of external security and head of Security 1996 –1999,Alhadi Mohamed, Ibrahim Shemes Aldin, Altayib Ibrahim Mohamed Khayr , Bakri Hassan Salih, Majdhub al-Khalifah, Ali Nimayri, Awad Ahmed Aljaz and Ali Ahmed Karti the new Minister of state for justice. The new government is more than ever controlled by the security forces. Amin Benani Neo, ex-Minister of State for Justice who was sacked on 7 February 2001 by Bashir recently stated that the NC "is dominated by a small governmental group lacking a broad political vision and with a mentality close to a security mentality." He said that the group had worked to remove, the Islamicist Hassan Al-Turabi, from positions of power in the party around a year ago.

Throughout 2000, torture and impunity continued to be government policy. Harassment, intimidation, and persecution, targeted mainly at human rights defenders, students and political opponents, took the form of arbitrary searches and arrests, solitary confinement and incommunicado detention. The new security act allows the security forces to carry out arbitrary detention without judicial review for six months, an increase of three months and, in 2000, detainees were often detained for even longer periods. Security forces also used part-time detention to control human rights defenders and activists by ordering individuals to report to security headquarters early in the morning and remain there all day without any interrogation, until being released at night with orders to return the next day.

1. Torture

SVTG continues to receive reports of torture, confirming that it remains a systematic security policy. Less cases of torture were reported in 2000, than in 1999, due largely to the success of national and international pressure and publicity. From the reports we have received, SVTG can confirm that methods of torture have seen an increase in the use of psychological torture, physical exercise, and the deprivation of medication and/or food.

The vast majority of victims of torture are students, and in 2000 at least 1 student died as a result, and over 15 were subjected to torture. There have been no cases of perpetrators of torture being brought to justice in Sudan in 2000.

A Sudanese woman sentenced to death in March, 2000, Muna Mohamed Ahmed, stated that she had been tortured and beaten during her interrogation in order to extract a confession to murder.

For further details of Ms. Ahmed’s case, see Section 5.3, Punishment of Women, page 15, and Section 7, Death Penalty, page 17.

On 4 February 2000, Mohamed Taha Yousif, a student at Khartoum University and a first year in mechanical engineering was arrested by security taken to security offices in Khartoum North and tortured.

On 12 April 2000, following an open talk was organised by the Student Democratic Front at the University of Sudan. Jamal Abdulsalaam, a student, was arrested and taken to unknown place where he was tortured. He was beaten with hoses and sticks, hit with a gunbut, and his head was shaved. He was released on 14 April 2000. A further two students were also arrested on the grounds that they had also helped organise the talk. Asharaf Abdeen and Mohamed Hadra, both fifth year students in the faculty of Surveying were arrested on Wednesday 12 April 2000, and were released on 15 April 2000. Both students reported they had been beaten with hoses in detention.

On 29 April 2000, security forces in Atbara arrested six students from Wadi El Nil University. The students, named as Abdalla Kamel, Gassim Maisara, Abu Sofyan Ahmed, Abashar Ahmed Alkhalifa, Mohmed Ahmed Omer and Mudathir Hussian were detained during which time they were severely tortured, beaten by sticks, and hoses, and some of them had their heads shaved. They were all released on 30 April.

On 9 May 2000, two students of Ahlia University in Omdurman, Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdel Rahman Abdalla were arrested and tortured for prolonged periods before being released

For further details see Appendix 2, Personal testimony of Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, page 38, and Section 3 Persecution of Students, page 6.

On 29 May 2000, Ghassan Ahmed Alamin died as a result of injures and damage sustained from having been subjected to torture. Mr. Alamin, a 17 year old student, died at the National Service Camp in Jabal Awlia, from methods of torture which included beating, leading to respiratory failure and blood system collapse.

On 28 June 2000, the administration premises of Juba University, Arkaweet were raided by the security and police forces who attacked the students with sticks and tear gas. The raid resulted in the arrest of 129 students, many of whom were tortured.

For further details of all above students see Persecution of Students see Section 3, page 6.

2. Human Rights Defenders

Human rights activities in Sudan entail high risk, but despite this, human rights defenders continued to operate even at great personal cost. Because such work undermines the façade of respectability that the Government of Sudan is trying to promote, both human rights defenders and activists, are targets of government harassment. They are subjected to constant persecution for their work in promoting and defending human rights, in monitoring government actions and in collecting information about human rights violations. The only form of public dissent and protest remains that of independent lawyers; journalists, doctors, trade unionists, teachers and students who continue to organise sporadic meetings, activities and demonstrations.

During 2000, the Government of Sudan continued its policy of targeting human rights defenders and began to change its tactic of repression by arresting human rights defenders and charging them, either under the national security acts or the 1991 criminal code.

During 2000/01, SVTG received the following reports of harassment of human rights defenders.

On 28 May 2000, Mohamed Fatih El A’lim was arrested at his home in Althawra Omdurman, and his house was searched by Security Officers who confiscated his documents and other personal belongings.

Mr. El A’lim is an environmental activist and a member of the Sudanese Environmental Conservation Society. He previously worked for the National Council for Research as a journalist and is now working as a media officer for the British NGO, HelpAge in Khartoum and works as a freelance broadcast journalist specialising in environmental issues.

On 18 June 2000, the security forces killed at least one student and injured dozens of others at a raid on the university in Sinar City. The Independent Student’s Congress had organised a symposium on ‘The Current Political Crisis in Sudan and the Future Prospects’ at the University campus and invited the following speakers from Khartoum:

· Mr. Ghazi Suliman

· Dr. Tobi Madout

· Mr. Sa’ati Ahmed Alhaj (Lawyer)

The speakers arrived at the University where the symposium was planned to commence at 8:00pm. Before they reached the stage upon which they would speak, the power was cut off and a group of uniformed soldiers attacked the gathering and opened fire, targeting the panel where the speakers should have been seated. Mirgani Mahmoud Alnoman, member of Sudan Human Rights Group, a recent graduate from the faculty of agriculture and one of the organisers of the symposium was on the stage and was killed instantly. Other student organisers were critically injured.

On 5 October 2000, the security forces in Niyala arrested lawyer Ahmed Kamal Aldin and other lawyers of People National Congress (PNC) and detained them in Niyala, Darfour. Mr. Kamal Aldin, resident of Khartoum, was in Niyala to represent the members of PNC, among them Salad Allan and Mohair Hamid, who had been arrested and charged by the security forces. Mr. Kamal Aldinwas later transferred from Niyala to Khartoum although the location of his detention was unknown to his family.

On 8 November 2000, Ghazi Suliman, lawyer, human rights defender, and chairperson of the Sudan Human Rights Group was arrested at 4:30am. He had been speaking at a press conference in which Yasir Arman, the spokesman of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) participated via telephone linkup. The conference demanded that the Sudanese government stop the presidential elections and asked international society not to participate in election observation as it would lend legitimacy to the government.

Ghazi Suliman has been subject to continual harassment by the government and in the last year has been arrested six times by the security forces. SVTG considers his arrest to be part of the oppression by the government of human rights defenders for their activities in uncovering human rights abuses criticism of the regime, and intended as a warning to other activists. On 9 December 2000, Mr. Suliman was arrested again, together with Ali Mohmoud Hassanein. At 1am, arrested Mr. Suliman at gunpoint raided his house and threatened his family. Mr. Suliman requested them to show a warrant for arrest or search but the officers denied that this was needed. They searched his house and took his briefcase, which contained various personal, academic and legal documents, before taking him to an unknown destination.

In the afternoon of the same day, at 3:15pm, Mr. Suliman was taken to his office. Six security force officers searched his office confiscating various documents, some relating to his clients and others relating to the SHRO. At the office, Mr. Suliman stated to his colleagues that he had been denied both food and his medicine for diabetes. After the office search, he was taken to an unknown destination.

The reason for his arrest was that he and 19 other lawyers, had sent a petition to the Ministry of Justice concerning the 7 members of the secretariat of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who had been arrested together with an American Diplomat, Glenn Warren in Khartoum on 6 December at 4pm. The NDA members had been attending a meeting of the NDA secretariat with the American diplomat and were arrested by the security forces who burst into the meeting, and confiscated the papers of the meeting. Mr. Warren was released shortly afterwards and was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Sudan within 72 hours.

In the petition, Mr. Suliman asked either for the release of the 7 NDA members or that they be charged. Furthermore, he demanded that their whereabouts be made public, and that be given permission to see their lawyers. He had also made a statement to a daily newspaper, criticising the government for the arrest of the NDA leaders.

Mr. Hassanein, arrested at the same time as Mr. Suliman he is also a lawyer and had been involved in the petition. Like Mr. Suliman, Mr. Hassanein had also given a statement to a newspaper criticising the arrests.

Osman Yousif, a lawyer and human rights defender, was arrested on 13 February 2001, at 1pm from his office in Khartoum. The Security Forces searched his office and confiscated his computer and papers concerning him and his clients. His arrest comes after the Democratic Front for Lawyers issued a memorandum regarding the bar association elections, in which the current laws restricting freedom of expression and association were criticised.

Mr. Yousif is a well-known human rights defender. He provides free counselling for prisoners of conscience and victims of human rights violations and was one of the lawyers campaigning for the release of Ghazi Suliman. At the date of publication, Mr. Yousif is still in detention without charge or trial.

On 11 March 2001, security forces arrested Dr Nageeb Nagmeldin el Toum, Director of The Amal Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Physical and Mental Trauma, provides free medical treatment counselling and rehabilitation for victims of torture and human rights violations. Dr el Toum is also a prominent human rights defender, member of SVTG network in Sudan and the former secretary general of the banned Sudanese Doctors Unions.

According to information received, Dr el Toum was arrested on Sunday 11 March 2001 at 12.30pm from the Amal centre in Khartoum North. The Amal Centre, established in November 2000, provides free medical treatment and counselling services to victims of torture and physical violence. The security forces confiscated the centre's computers, all the files of the patients at the centre and some other documents before taking Dr el Toum to his house, also in Khartoum North, which was also searched and some additional papers and his mobile phone confiscated. Two other members of staff of the Amal Centre, Fatih Mohamed Ahmed, the administrator, and Zienab Omer, the secretary, were also arrested by security forces. Mr. Ahmed and Ms. Omer were released the same evening after a lengthy interrogation.

Dr el Toum was held at the security forces offices in Khartoum, 2 Mohamed Nageeb street, before being transferred to Kober prison. He has been arrested 7 times before since 1989 and has spent over four years in prison. He was first arrested in 1989 and detained in Shalla Prison from September 1989 until June 1991. He was again arrested following the doctors strike in August 1996.During his detention he was subjected to beatings, whippings and spent long periods blindfolded. Dr el Toum was due to meet the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Sudan, Mr. Gerhard Baum, on Tuesday 13 March 2001, but the meeting did not go ahead and the security forces accused Dr Nageeb of preparing lists of victims of torture for the Special Rapporteur.

3. Persecution of Students

The year 2000 saw continued widespread aggressive action against students, with at least 6 killed many injured and scores of others arrested, some of whom were tortured. Security forces beat and otherwise abused youths and student leaders and others whom were deemed to be opponents of the Government and used excessive force, including beatings, tear gas, and firing of live ammunition to disperse unapproved demonstrations, killing and injuring some students. The NGO Sudanese Human Rights Group (SHRG) reported several cases of this, including the detention for several days of a political activist in Atbara in January; the detention and beating of two students on the grounds of political activity in February; the detention of four students from the University of Sudan for four days in April on the grounds of union activities and the detention of five students in Omdurman in June. SVTG also received reports that Islamic student militias operating under the protection of security forces abducted and tortured a number of student activists.

According to the government, Islamic instruction in public school the north is compulsory. In public schools in areas in which Muslims are not a majority, students have a choice of studying Islam or Christianity. However, Christian courses are not offered in the majority of public schools, ostensibly due to a lack of teachers or Christian students, and, in practice this means that many Christian students attend Islamic courses.   

In February, security forces detained and beat two students for political activity. On 4 February 2000, Mohamed Taha Yousif, a student at Khartoum University and a first year in mechanical engineering was arrested by security forces in front of Student Hostel (hasseeb). Mr. Yousif was then taken to security offices in Khartoum North where he was tortured. He was released on 6 February. On the same day, they arrested his friend Khalifa Ahmed, a fourth year student also at Khartoum University who had been to the security offices to ask about his friend.

April saw a wave of arrests against students. On 12 April 2000, Jamal Abd Alsalam, a student in Omdurman Alahlia and Sudan University was arrested and released on 14 April. Also on 12 April 2000, following an open talk was organised by the Student Democratic Front at the University of Sudan, a student was arrested and tortured. The talk had been addressed by Sid Ahmed Alhussein, former Deputy Prime Minister and leader Democratic Union Party (DUP), and Farouq Zakria, of the Sudan Communist Party (SCP). Mr. Abdulsalaam, a third year student in Fine Arts, had helped organise the talk. He was arrested at 5pm and taken to unknown place where he was tortured by being beaten with hoses and sticks, hit with a gunbut, and his head was shaved. He was released 14 April 2000.

A further two students were also arrested due to having helped organise the talk. Asharaf Abdeen and Mohamed Hadra, both fifth year students in the faculty of Surveying were arrested on 12 April and were released on 15 April 2000. Both students reported that they had been beaten with hoses in detention.

In connection with these incidents, the National Islamic Student Militia issued a fatwa, an order to kill without any repercussions, for the following students, whose names were distributed in the different universities and public places:

1. Hashim Altahir

2. Tariq Alsayid

3. Salah Alobeid

4. Abdelmoniem Alfahal

5. Hajir Sidahmed

6. Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim

On 29 April 2000, security forces in Atbara arrested six students from Wadi El Nil University. They were:

1. Abdalla Kamel Agriculture 2^nd year.

2. Gassim Maisara Engineering 2^nd year.

3. Abu Sofyan Ahmed Engineering 5^th year.

4. Abashar Ahmed Alkhalifa Education 4^th year.

5. Mohmed Ahmed Omer Agriculture 2^nd year

6. Mudathir Hussain Agriculture 2^nd year.

During their detention, the students were severely tortured, beaten by sticks, and hoses, and some of them had their heads shaved. They were all released on 30 April.

Those who tortured them have been identified as:

1. Salah Eldin Eldwayhi Manager of the security forces in Atbara town.

2. Annas Awad Security forces officer.

3. Jalal Ahmed Alamin Security forces officer.

4. Abdal Razaq Security forces officer.

In May, security forces raided Al Nasr Technology College twice; they arrested, beat, injured students, and fired bullets in the air to disperse student protest on education issues. On 9 May 2000, members of the Democratic Unionists Students Association (DUSA) of Omdurman college of Science and Technology invited members of DUSA and other educational institutions to attend a meeting designed to publicly declare establishment DUSA and to call upon students elsewhere to defend their political and organisational rights. The DUSA of Ahlia University in Omdurman nominated Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdel Rahman Abdalla to represent them at the meeting. During the meeting, both students were arrested by members of the Holy Koran Society in collaboration with security forces. The Holy Koran Society is a group of vigilantes and fundamentalists at various educational institutions.

The students were taken to the College guard’s office where they were beaten kicked and forced to parade wearing female head covers, before being taken to a ghost house near their local government of Karrari building at Thawra 10 in Omdurman. There they beaten with water hoses, before being dumped into a pit two metres underground. They were interrogated about the student organisers and the objective of launching the activity. In the pits and had the bottoms of their feet whipped and kicked in the groin. Torture became more and more severe and eventually Ibrahim fell unconscious and was left to recover. On 10 May, they were taken to another security forces building where they were tortured again and forced to sign an undertaking to work as an agent with the students Association for the security forces. Two months later, after they had returned to University, the students were contacted and reminded of their duty to co-operate. Eventually they went into hiding.

For further details see Appendix 2, Personal testimony of Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, page 38.

On 29 May 2000, Ghassan Ahmed Al Amin died as a result of the injures and damage sustained from having been subjected to torture. Mr. Al Amin was a 17-year-old student and eldest son Dr Ahmed Al Amin Haroon, a lecturer at the faculty of Engineering, University of Sudan. He had recently passed his Sudanese examination certificate, equivalent to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), and was admitted to the compulsory National Service Camp in Jabal Awlia. National Military service is an essential prerequisite for acceptance into a University in Sudan. The postmortem stated that Mr. Al Amin’s body had sustained massive injuries including severe beating and he had died of a respiratory failure and blood system collapse.

See Ministry of Health Post-mortem Report, Ghassan Ahmed Al Amin, page 38.

On 15-20 June 2000, the Catholic Comboni College secondary school was searched by a group of 12 armed police, who entered the priests' residence of with a warrant to search for illegal immigrants and foreign currency.  The rooms of two priests and a medicine storeroom were searched although no one was arrested. Police took a camera, a file of newspaper cuttings, five boxes of slides, a corrector tape, three floppy disks, and a bottle of whiskey, although they were returned 2 days later.  No charges were filed in the case.  The Catholic Comboni College has a religiously and ethnically mixed student body and generally operates without interference or harassment.

In a separate incident, 100 Christian secondary school students were not allowed to continue compulsory military service because they left their duties to pray; it was unclear if these students were abused because they were Christian. Without successfully completing military service, they will not be allowed to enter the university.

On 18 June 2000, the security forces raided a student rally at the university in Sinar City in the Blue Nile Province, firing automatic weapons, and killing at least one student and injuring dozens of others. The incident took place when the Independent Students Congress organised a symposium,  inside the university building on “The Current Political Crisis in Sudan and the Future Prospects”. Before the symposium began, the power was cut off and  a group of uniformed soldiers attack the gathering and opened fire, focusing at the panel where the speakers should have been seated. Mr. Mirgani Mahmoud Alno’man, a recent graduate from the faculty of agriculture and one of the organiser of the symposium and who was at the panel was killed and others students organiser were critically injured. Eight of these were in a critical condition and were in the hospitalised in Sinar city southeastern Sudan.

For further details see Human Rights Defenders, Section 2, page 2.

On 24 June 2000, security forces in Sinar City, arrested Khidir Osman Khidir, a student, following a demonstration in the town. Khidir had made contact with the NDA radio to inform them of the demonstration and was detained at an unknown destination. On 27 June 2000, security and police forces dispersed another student demonstration at Ahlia University, Omdurman City, using violence, and tear gas. The following students were arrested:

1. Nabiel Kamal Yousif, DUP.

2. Tag Eldeen Ahmed Mohamed Taha, Democratic Front (DF).

3. Omer SidAhmed, DUP.

4. Ali Dafa’alla, Independent Student Congress.

On 28 June 2000, the administration premises of Juba University, Arkaweet were raided by the security and police forces who attacked the students with sticks and tear gas. The raid followed a demonstration and resulted in the arrest of 129 students many of whom were tortured. Students were tried the same day and sentenced to varying punishments. A number of students sustained injuries that required hospitalisation. Also on 28 June 2000, students at Sudan University in Khartoum were attacked by the security forces while they voted for the new Student Unions; 14 were arrested, charged, and sentenced on the same day to one-month imprisonment.

Several times in September police used tear gas, batons, and live ammunition to disperse demonstrators and in some instances, beat or otherwise injured numerous individuals. On 10 September 2000, the security forces shot dead one female student and injured 14 other students at a raid on a demonstration in Fashir City. The demonstration was in protest about the shortage of water and electricity in the town. The riot in Fashir, erupted when police tried to disperse students protesting the failure of schools to reopen and shortages in water and electricity. The radio station and state customs building were also damaged.

On 12 September 2000, the security forces ran into a student with their car while he was he was being arrested for forcible conscription. The incident happened in Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan. The student, named as Haytham Bal Khalil was taken to hospital. Demonstrations subsequently broke out in the city in protest, the vehicle, a military truck was set on fire, several other students were arrested, and many injured after clashes with the security. The Akhbar Al-Yom newspaper quoted the national military service co-ordinator in North Kordofan, Abdel Moneim al-Turabi, as denying the victim was being sought for military service and that it was an "ordinary traffic accident."

On 17 September 2000, one student was killed and four others were seriously injured by the National Military Service authorities. Mohamed Saad Idris, an 18-year-old student in the city of Kosti, was shot dead by the camp authorities, while he was trying to escape from the NMS camp. Immediately after news of the shooting reached outside, a demonstration began in the city of Kosti protesting against the mandatory service. During the protest, four other students were seriously injured.

At a rally at the University of Khartoum, security forces in October, police and security forces arrested and detained four students. Batons and tear gas were used to break up the rally and protest held by the PNC and Islamic students at the university and some students were beaten. Police alleged that students fired shots at the police, pelted them with stones, and used Molotov cocktails.  Six policemen were injured, and the detained students were later were released.

On 16 November 2000, a group of islamic fanatics beat up a student who was known as a democratic activist. The student, Khalid Mohamed, a 26-year-old student at the faculty of medicine was sitting in his college at 4:30pm, when 5 islamicists attacked him and beat him until other students interfered to stop the attack. Mr. Mohamed registered the attack immediately, and is now in the process of filing a lawsuit against his five attackers. Three were named as:

1. Hassan Abd AlRaheem, graduate.

2. Saeed Ragab, 3^rd year medic.

3. Nazar Abd AlAzeez, 5^th year medic.

Mr. Mohamed suffered traumatic muscular pain as a result of the attack and continues to be threatened for belonging to the Democratic Front.

4. Freedom of Expression

Throughout 2000, security forces continued to harass, arrest and detain journalists. Various newspapers were prevented from going to press or publicly distributing the newspapers on account of articles perceived as being against the government. The Press and Publications Council, the body that oversees the media and publishing industry, continues to abuse its authority to suspend newspapers from publishing and to forbid journalists to write. Security forces regularly visit newspaper premises and have frequently withdraw complete editions form circulation or prevent publication if it is felt that any of the articles they contain are against the government, or are reporting news regarding the SPLA, PNC, trade union elections, or human rights activities. Increasingly, many journalists practise self-censorship, while others are demanded to report to security forces offices on a daily basis.

On 22 March 2000, at 7.00pm the Sudanese security forces arrested Kamal Hassan Bakheit, Chief Editor of Al Sahafa Newspaper. At 9.00pm, on the same day, the Sudanese poet and former diplomat Sidahmed Al Hardalou, was also arrested. Both men were taken to the security offices in Khartoum North, near Shandi bus- station. SVTG received reports that the two men were confined to their chairs throughout the night, without being interrogated. On the following day, 23 March 2000, at 2.00pm, the Sudanese security forces arrested four other journalists working at the Al Sahafa Newspaper. They were Deputy Chief Editor Ahmed Omar Rabieh, Head of the Political Section, Abdelgadir Hafiz and journalists Rabieh Hamid and Anwar Altikiana, both from the political section. These journalists have not been interrogated, but it is believed that the reason behind these arrests is the publication by Al Sahafa Newspaper of articles the security forces believed supported the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the opposition umbrella organisation. In addition, Al Sahafa Newspaper had carried an interview with Abdelaziz Khalid, the leader of the Sudanese Alliance Forces (SAF), and published articles by Dr. Mansour Khalid, the advisor of John Garang.

The journalists were arrested under the National Security Act, which provides the security forces with investigative powers that allow arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and long detentions without judicial review and arbitrary searches.

On 28 May 2000, journalist Mohamed Fatih El A’lim was arrested at his home in Althawra Omdurman. His house was searched by Security Officers who confiscated his documents and other personal belongings.

For further details see Section 2, Human Rights Defenders, page 2.

In July 2000, The Press and Publications Council issued an order suspending El Rai El Aam Daily for one day, Tuesday 8 July, 2000, following a complaint by the Public Order Police in which they accused the paper of publishing an article that criticised their practises and which they considered libellous. Complete editions of El-Sahafa El Dawliya, El-Rai El Aam and El-Ayam were fully withdrawn because they had published stories about a teacher’s strike in Nile State, and El Dastour weekly magazine also had one of its editions withdrawn for carrying an interview with a leading member of the Communist Party of Sudan.

Also in July, a well-known journalist, Mr. Mahgoub Irwa, went on a ten-day long strike in protest against the prohibition of publication of his daily column in El-Rai Al-Aam for several consecutive days. Other journalists expressed their protests in different ways for similar reasons. Although the authorities announced on 23 July 2000, the lifting of direct press censorship, they did so by emphasising necessity of self-censorship”

In September 2000, SVTG received a report that Mr. Mohamed Taha M. Ahmed, chief editor of the Daily Alwifag, had escaped an assassination attempt. On 21 September, at 9.10pm Mr. Ahmed was hit by a pickup truck while leaving the premises of the Press and Publication Council, where he had attended a hearing by the council. The car, which had been parked outside the council, hit Mr. Ahmed to the ground and drove off. The car had a plate number 1957 but without the letters that are usually attached to numbers in Sudan car plate system and it is believed to have been a fake.

At the hearing, the Council had questioned him on an article he published in his daily paper criticising Dr. Hassan Al Tourabi and his son Essam, and after the hearing decided to suspend his paper, Daily Wifag, for five days.

On 4 October, 2000, Mr. Kamal Hassan Bakheat, Chief Editor of Al Sahafa Daily, received death threats over the telephone. Kamal was contacted at his office to hear the message: “The same reason that prompted us to kill rebels in the jungle will gives us the same justification to kill you in Khartoum. Is that clear?”

The threat came after Mr. Bakheat had written an article in his daily column, Sabah Elkhair, about John Garang, leader of the SPLA. The article had given a favourable portrait of Garang, whom Mr. Bakheat he had met during the NDA annual conference in Asmara. On the same day Al Sahafa Daily had also indicated that there would be an article entitled “John Garang in Khartoum”, written by Salah Idris in the newspaper the following day.

Al Sahafa has been under constant surveillance and harassment of its staff over the past 12 months. Mr. Bakheat himself was arrested in March with other journalists and has frequently been ordered to report to the Security Forces because of articles he has written. In addition, Nour el Din Madani, Editor in Chief of the newspaper, was arrested last year on 6 October 1999, released the following day.

On 12 October, 2000, Professor Mubarak Eisa, was arrested following publication of an article entitled " Rift Valley Fever and the Prospects of Meat and Livestock Exports", in the Al Sahafa Daily, issue number 2697 dated 11/10/00. In the article Prof. Eisa, confirmed that the Rift Valley Fever exits in the country in spite of the government denial. Mr. Kamal Hassan Bakheat, Chief Editor of Al Sahafa was also issued with a summons to report to the Security Forces headquarter for two consecutive days, 15 and 16 October 2000. Security officers defended both the arrest of Prof. Eisa and the summons of Mr. Bakheat on the grounds that the publication of such material would result in damage to the national economy.

On 4 January 2001, Amal Abbas spent two days in jail for refusing to publish an apology for an article she had published in Al-Rai Al-Akhar, that accused some justice departments of being the "Mafia of the public sector." Al-Rai Al-Akhar, is known to be a fierce critic of the political and economic conditions in Sudan. The paper began publication in 1995 and has been temporarily banned from publishing about 10 times.

On 10 January 2001, security forces interrogated journalist Ms. Afaf Abu Kashawa, a journalist with Al Sahafa newspaper, about an article she had written for the paper and accusing her of supporting left wing anti government groups, in particular The Communist Party. The following day, 11 January, the chief editor of Alayam, Mr. Mahjoub was also interrogated by the security forces. He had been ordered to appear at the security offices and was accused of supporting the NDA rather than the government. He was warned not to allow the newspaper to cross the line and publish any news of trade unions or human rights linked activities.

Amal Abbas, editor of the daily's Al-Rai Al-Akhar, and Ibrahim Hassan, the author of the article criticising the governor of Khartoum, began three-month jail sentences on 3 February 2001, for failing to pay fines of Ls. 15 million ($5,900), despite the fact that neither of them was able to pay the fine. A criminal court also ordered Al-Rai Al-Akhar daily to pay one billion pounds ($390,000), the highest fine ever in Sudan against a newspaper, for publishing an article in August 2000, accusing Majzoub Khalifa, the governor of Khartoum, of corruption and nepotism. The court said the accusations have not been substantiated, and under Sudanese law, unsubstantiated accusations of corruption and other illegal acts by the government are punishable by fines and imprisonment of between two months and life. In the verdict the court acknowledged that the sentences were harsh, but it said they aimed to "serve as a lesson for the press" to seek accuracy and verify stories before publishing them.

On 6 February 2001, security forces arrested Ibrahim Mehaysi, in front of Omdurman prison at 11am. He was working with Al-Rai Al-Akhar They confiscated his personal diary and a list of people who visited Amal Abas, the chief editor of Al-Rai Al-Akhar.

On 10 February 2001, security forces circulated a communique to editors of all papers ordering them not to publish any news about the NDA, trade Union elections and PNC.

5. Position of Women

Women in Sudan continue to suffer a range of violence, including rape, torture, abduction, displacement, disruption caused by the bombing of civilian settlements in addition to violations personal freedom, right to work. Sudanese women and children have continued to bear heavy the brunt of the war with little or no say at all in any initiatives to bring it to an end. More over because reliable statistics covering all aspects of difficulties faced by women do not exist, the full extent of violence is unknown.

Violence and discrimination against women and abuse of children remained serious. There are credible reports that the government-associated forces raped abducted and forced women for domestic servants. Reports indicate that thousands of children and women have been abducted into captivity and forced labour in Sudan, with victims subject to frequent physical and sexual abuse. Despite promises by the government in Khartoum, to combat the practice of abductions in the south, and the establishment of the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children, (CEWAC), it has only secured the safe return of approximately 300 women and children so far, with UNICEF support. Prostitution is a growing problem, and (enforced) Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is widespread.

In May President Bashir ordered that all women in prison for violations of the Public Order Law be released and rescinded the prohibition on the brewing of alcohol; 563 women were released and further women were released in August. Despite the fact it is legal to brew alcohol, police continued to arrest southern women, and reportedly the police demand bribes in exchange for releasing the women. Various government bodies demanded on different occasions that women must dress according to modest Islamic standards.  Enforcement of female dress standards by the Public Order Police continues, but was reduced greatly during the year.  There were no reports of corporal punishment to enforce public order during the year; enforcement generally took the form of verbal admonishment by security forces.

In September a decree was issued by the Khartoum state governor, banning women from working in a host of public places The Governor defended the ban as necessary to protect the dignity of women and to adhere to Shari'a law.  Security forces briefly detained 25 women who participated in a demonstration against the decree and used tear gas to disperse the protesters injuring numerous women.

Other personal freedoms are also limited - women may not travel abroad without permission of their husbands or another male and although the 1999 Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, or religious creed mechanisms for social redress, especially with respect to violence against women and children, are weak.  

5.1 Abductions

In February the Government's PDF forces allegedly attacked several villages in eastern Aweil and Twic counties, northern Bahr El Ghazal, abducted over 300 women and children, killed 16 civilians, stole cattle, and looted and burned villages. In July and August there were reports that SPLA forces and SPDF forces in the Western Upper Nile, had killed at least 50 civilians and abducted more than 20 women and children in intraethnic fighting. In November there were unconfirmed reports that the PDF attacked the village of Guong Nowh, abducted 24 persons, killed several civilians, and stole cattle.

There also were reports of periodic intertribal abductions of women and children in the Eastern Upper Nile.

On 7 October 2000, the government of Sudan's Popular Defence Forces (PDF) raided villages in Aweil West County of Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal. In one village alone, Goc Machar, they abducted at least 21 women and children.

In early January 2001, pro-government militiamen raided villages in southern Sudan this month, killing 11 people, wounding two and seizing 122 women and children in the first such mass abductions reported for about a year, UN officials in Khartoum said on Wednesday. The attacks occurred in the Mariel Bai area in Bahr al-Ghazal state, some 950 km southwest of Khartoum, including the villages of Acuro, Ajok, Wunkir, Nyinameeth and Nyinaccor and were the work of the Popular Defence Forces militia, raised by the Islamic government to help fight the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Seven of those killed were women, and 11 women were among those abducted; the rest were children. The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) also stated that Sudanese government forces had enslaved 72 black African women and children during slave raids, on 5 January 2001.

5.2 Employment

In September, Khartoum State Governor Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, issued a decree banning women from working in a host of public places such as restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, petrol stations and from working in hotel room service unless the guests were women. Many women in Sudan condemned the decree, arguing that it violated their constitutional rights and would render them unemployed at a time when it is difficult to get other work. Mr. Ahmed issued the decree arguing that such work for women is "incompatible with Islamic values and traditions" and had been made after a thorough study and added no woman would fall into unemployment, as employers have agreed to find the women jobs that do not involve serving customers. "We have made sure that no woman will be harmed by the decision," he said. Mr. Ahmed also ordered police and local government officials to enforce the ban in Khartoum, the capital of the Sudanese Islamic state, and news reports said most public places in Khartoum had adhered to the decree and told women in public places to leave their jobs. There were no statistics available on how many women would lose their jobs because of the decree.

On 12 September, 3 women were injured and 26 arrested when police used teargas and batons to break up a demonstration in Khartoum against the decree. Dozens of women, representing women groups and civil societies had been holding a peaceful protest had intended to march to the council of ministers to present against a petition against the decree. However, minutes after the protest had started police attacked the women with tear gas and batons. Ghazi Suliman, human rights lawyer and head of the National Coalition for the Restoration of Democracy, said the 26 women who were arrested were released after his intervention. They spent over two hours at the police station.

Petitions were filed by several other women’s, human rights and workers groups, including the government created unions, highlighting the fact that the decree contravened the Sudanese constitution and the UN charter. The women's union pointed out that the decree was issued as women graduates were finding it increasingly difficult to get jobs and called on the governor to reconsider. The Constitutional Court ordered the suspension of Mr. Ahmed's ban while it considered an objection filed by the General Women's Association.

The court said women employees would be "incurably harmed" if they were removed from their jobs and the court later overturned the measure. In his statement before the court, on 4 September 2000, the Sudanese minister of justice added that the decision of the Mr. Ahmed had embarrassed President Bashir, who was then at the UN to attend the third Millennium summit and that the Mr. Ahmed had not consulted the ministry of justice before making the statement. Nonetheless, the Court went on to impose a news blackout on this decision stating that any commentary on the decision could affect the cause of justice and asserted that any person or newspaper not heeding the warning could face legal action.

Mr. Ahmed had been quoted in some newspapers in Khartoum saying that he would not abide by the constitutional court's decision to suspend his decree. He later said he had not been quoted correctly. On 5 February 2001, he demanded that the editor in chief of Al-Ray al-Akhar, Amal Abbas should apologise for comments she had made about the ban. In a press statement, Mr Ahmed said Sudan was heading towards building a modern state based on justice and responsibility, and described the objection by social institutions to the ban on women in work as something to be expected. Ahmed said Ms. Abbas ought to apologise to the press since she had not set a good example and accused those opposed to the decree as being mentally retarded.

Following the ban in September on women working in public places the government was urged once again to ratify the UN-sponsored Convention of Eradication of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

5.3 Punishments

In March, 2 woman were sentenced to death. Awadia Alsir, was sentenced by the Judge Mubarak Sheikh Taweil, having been found guilty of fraud and Muna Mohamed Ahmed was also sentenced to death having been charged with murder. She denied all charges but, as a displaced person could not afford a lawyer and therefore was not legally represented at her trial nor was she able to appeal against her sentence since she did not have any money to pay for legal representation.

For further details see Section 7, Death Penalty, page 17.

On 11 November 2000, the criminal court in Karima city sentenced 4 female students to imprisonment for two weeks on charges of disturbing public peace. On 23 November, 2000, a judge sentenced 24 female students to 40 lashings, in addition to imposing fines for causing public disturbance and charged under article 144, (intimidation) and 152, (indecent and immoral acts causing disturbances).

Conditions in Omdurman Women's Prison remained shocking: chronic overcrowding, lack of sanitation, diseases, and death from epidemics among children who lived with their mothers. In addition to living in severely inadequate conditions, pregnant mothers are expected to give birth in prison. There are severe food shortages in the prison and the children in particular suffer acute malnourishment. Moreover, and with scare water rations for drinking there is almost nothing for bathing. Almost 99% of the women in the prison are from Southern Sudan, and the rest from Western Sudan. According to SVTG reports, 75% of women at Omdurman are victims of Public Order Courts and the majority convicted of brewing alcohol. Prison sentences vary from one-six months imprisonment and payment of fines ranging from Ls. 150,000 to Ls.300,000. If the prisoner is unable to pay the fine, it is added to the sentence.

During 2000, the government pardoned over 700 women, temporarily easing overcrowding before bringing in the next batch of prisoners. On May 23, the authorities freed 563 female prisoners, the first to be released under a presidential pardon for women, leaving 96 women still confined there. These included more than 500 mostly poverty-stricken, illiterate non Muslim southerners convicted of brewing and selling alcohol which is banned by Sudan’s strict Islamic Shari’a law to help their families survive.

President Bashir announced the nation-wide pardon for women, saying they had carried the burden of economic reform and had suffered the most from displacements caused by Sudan's 18-year-old civil war. The pardon covered women sentenced by unpopular public order courts but did not apply to those serving sentences for financial crimes. More than 75 percent of the prisoners are thought to be from the mainly animist and Christian south, where rebels are fighting for autonomy from the Moslem, Arabised north. On 22 June, further women, also under the public order law were released. According to al-Ayam daily Omdurman prison had identified 757 inmates to be set free.

5.4 Cultural Freedom

In July 2000, SVTG received reports indicating that southern Sudanese women who have been internally displaced and have taken shelter at a place called Timeed on the banks of the Blue Nile river near Um Dome were being harassed by some citizens of the area. Led by someone called Omar Mustafa El Dabi, these local residents routinely raid the homes of those women with the explanation that they want to examine their marriage certificates while in fact their aim is to abuse and humiliate them.

Most marriages in southern Sudan are performed in accordance with the respective tribal customs and rituals and although they are not formally registered, derive their legitimacy from the mutual agreements between the families, which are pronounced in public and witnessed by all. Only marriages of Christians or Muslims among the population are registered as they usually involve those living in urban centres. The overwhelming majority of marriages continue to be conducted in the traditional way.

Some of the women who have been subjected to the said harassment and degrading treatment include:

1. Toma Adut 2. Abuk Boya

3. Anoon Jok Yai Majak 4. Angolina Makou

5. Arun Kon 6. Aret Deng

7. Adut Cyer Ajok 8. Aken Awutiak Yak

9. Ayel Akon 10. Abuk Wun Noon

11. Anyiel Deng Kuol 12. Abuk Atiak

13. Agaar Arok Luak 14. Anyiu Deng

15. Ajak Athian 16. Aton Deng Ajak

17. Adut Ngor Deng

6. Amputation

The Government of Sudan has once again resumed the use of amputations as a punishment. Sudan’s penal code, which is based upon the government’s interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law), includes penalties such as limb amputation, death and death followed by crucifixion. The sentence for armed robbery, according to Article 174 of the 1991 Criminal Act, is cross amputation, i.e. amputation of right hand and left leg.

SVTG received reports on March 23 2000, which stated that

Al Salik Obeid had had his right hand and left foot amputated, in Kober prison, in early March. SVTG's sources received information from Buri Police Hospital that Mr. Obeid was admitted on 3 March, 2000, for 24 hours and he returned a few days later for a follow-up visit. It is believed that Mr. Obeid is still in Kober Prison. He was charged under Articles 167 and 168, "Armed Robbery" (Haraba).  The other person charged alongside Al Salik has been in prison for 7 years.

In addition, SVTG’s sources confirmed that the following individuals have been sentenced to amputation of their left hand, under Article 174 of the Criminal Act, 1991:

1. Ismail Khidir

2. Jad Alla Adam Mohamed

3. Majzoob Mohamed Issa

4. Nadid Is'hag Mudathir

5. Jad Al Rab Kuku

6. Nagar Kafi Goona

7. Alnour Mohamed Idris

8. Abd Algayoom Eisa

9. Husham Ahmed

10. Mohamed Abdalla Adam

11. Mohamed Adam Abd Almajeed

12. Sharief Obied Osman

This punishment is prohibited under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which has been ratified by Sudan and is against the Government of Sudan’s international obligations, including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Article 5 states that No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of which Article 7 states ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation’.

On 23 January 2001, SVTG received confirmed information that 5 men had limbs amputated while 19 others were awaiting the same amputation sentence, which is derived from under Article 174 of the Criminal Act, 1991. The men were being held in Kober prison and according to their lawyers, all chances of appeal or national remedy had been exhausted.

The five men from Darfour, Western Sudan have been named as:

1. Ibrahim Guma’h

2. Omer Salim

3. Salih Omer

4. Abakar Jalab

5. Dafa Alla Mowloudi

They were checked by the doctor prior to the amputation according to the standard procedure in Sudanese prisons. The rights hands and left legs of these men were then amputated on Thursday 25 January and Saturday 27 January. It is believed that most of the men did not receive a fair trial: there was not enough evidence to convict them and the usual judicial procedures were not followed properly. According to their lawyers, an appeal was rejected by the highest court with jurisdiction on this matter, the Constitutional Court.

7. The Death Penalty

Sudan’s penal code, which is based upon the government’s interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law), includes death and death followed by crucifixion. According the 1991 penal code in Sudan, there are 9 crimes for which conviction will receive the death penalty. The Articles are:

Article 50 Offences against the state and undermining the constitutional system

Article 51 Waging war against the state

Article 53 Espionage against the country

Article 126 Apostasy Ridda - any Muslim who

Article 130 Murder

Article 146 Adultery by married person

Article 148g Offence of homosexuality

Article 168 Armed robbery (Haraba)

Article 177 Embezzling funds

On 6 March 2000, a young Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by Judge Mubarak Sheikh Taweil. The woman, Awadia Alsir, 23 years old, resident of Al Halfaya, Khartoum North and an employee at Nilain Bank was found guilty of fraud. She was charged under the Criminal Act, Article 123, Penalty for Forgery of Documents and Article 177, and Embezzling Funds. Awadia was accused of embezzling 390,000,000 Ls, (equivalent to $156,000). Five other men accused of the same crime were acquitted. Awadia’s lawyers have submitted an appeal against the sentencing.

Again, on 20 March another Sudanese woman was sentenced to death. Muna Mohamed Ahmed, is 30 years old is originally from the Al- Damazin and belongs to the Falata tribe. She was living in Khartoum, Ha’y Mayo Square 4 and was charged with under Article 130 which states that Whoever commits murder, shall be punished with death by retribution. Muna has denied killing anyone, but she could not afford a lawyer and therefore was not legally represented at her trial. Muna told an SVTG representative who visited her in Omdurman Prison that she was unable to appeal against her sentence since she did not have any money to pay for her legal representation.

The SVTG report received from Omdurman Prison stated that Muna was in poor health with severely inflated glands around her throat. The report also stated that Muna stated that she had been tortured and beaten during her interrogation in order to extract a confession to murder.

8. Detention of opposition leaders and political activists

During 2000, the security forces continue its polices of repression of opposition leaders and political activist, and in the first three months of 2001, the security police launched a series of arrests against opposition groups in different towns in Sudan. In addition to the arbitrary detention of individuals, the Sudanese government is continuing with its policy of short-term detentions where individuals are ordered to report daily to the Security Headquarters and are often detained for long hours.

On 28 May 2000, Mohamed Mahgoub Mohamed Ali, member of the National Democratic Alliance Secretariat in Sudan and the representative of the Communist Party to the NDA was arrested from his home. Mr. Ali had been ordered to report to the Sudanese Security Offices on a daily basis for the first two weeks of May 2000. He was neither interrogated nor charged.

On 20 September 2000, the security forces arrested Adam Mohamed Ahmed, member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Unionist Party and a delegate to the NDA. He was arrested at Khartoum airport as he arrived back Asmara where he had been attending the NDA general conference which was held mid September in Musawa.

On 18 September 2000, 58 members of People's National Congress PNC party of Hassan al Turabi the leader of National Islamic Front (NIF) and the former secretary general of the current government party, the National Congress were arrested in Alfashir western Sudan, Port Sudan Capital of Red Sea State and Obeid, capital of Kordofan state.

The security forces accused the PNC of inciting the riots in Eastern Sudan on Monday 11 September 2000, in Alfashir, which concerned water and electricity shortages and the failure of schools to reopen. One female student was killed. There were additional protests on Wednesday 13 September 2000. The Government also accused the PNC of being the “hidden hand” behind a student demonstration protesting against the imposition of school fees in Port Sudan. SVTG received the names of 57 detainees. See Table below.

On 4 October 2000, security forces arrested two leaders of the of Ba’ath Party, Mr. Osman Abu Ras, Dr Hassan Bashir, dentist and Mohamed Diyaa Eldin a trade unionist, both in Khartoum. Both were released in November 2000.

On 6 December 2000, the security forces arrested 7 members of the NDA political leadership secretariat, and an American Diplomat, Glen Warren, in Khartoum, from 27 street Al A’mart extension at 4pm.The NDA members were attending a meeting of the secretariat with the American diplomat. Security forces burst into the meeting, and confiscated the minutes of the meeting. Mr. Warren was released later the same day. The government issued a communiqué in which it said that they had been arrested on the grounds that the NDA members were part of a conspiracy, planning to incite a popular uprising, disrupt national security and support the rebel movement with American logistical support. In February 2001, they were charged under Article 50, Undermining the constitutional system, 51, Waging war against the state, and Espionage against the country, of the 1991 Criminal Act,

Those arrested are as follows:

Ali al-Sayyid - DUP spokesman
Tijani Mustafa - Baa’th
Mohamed Mahjoub - SCP
Joseph Ukello – USAP
Mohamed Wida Ala - NDA
Dr Mohamed Suleiman - Trade Union Alliance

Jimmy Stance - USAP

Hashim Babiker Tulob was arrested on Sunday 7 January 2001, in  Khartoum 2. The security forces searched his house before taking him to an unknown destination and his family was not informed of his whereabouts. Mr. Tulob, a member of the Communist Sudanese Party,  had previously  been arrested four times and has spent a total of  over two years in prison during which time he was tortured. He was released on 10 January.

On 13 February 2001, security forces arrested Sidieg Yousif Ibrahim and Abdal Hameed Ali, both are leading members of the Communist Party. Mr. Ibrahim, an engineer, has been arrested four times before and has spent over 4 years in prison in the last ten years, during which time he was tortured. Security forces searched his office and his house, and confiscated both business and private documents. His whereabouts is not known by his family. Mr. Ali has also been arrested before.

On 21 and 22 of February 2001, Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, Islamic leader and Secretary General of the PNC, was arrested, in addition to members of PNC’s Political Bureau and an unidentified number of political activists.

The arrests took place on the evening of Wednesday 21 February, and morning of Thursday 22 February. According to the deputy secretary general of his party, Mohamed al-Amin Khalifa, Turabi was arrested at his home in Khartoum on the 21^st at 7:30pm local time. The policemen told Turabi he had to explain himself about the "memorandum of understanding" signed on 19 February, between his party and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which calls for joint "peaceful resistance" to the Sudanese regime. Security personnel have cornered off Turabi’s house. The party headquarters and the newspaper run by the Rai Al-Shaab daily, have also been surrounded. The paper failed to appear on Thursday.

8.1 Table 1: Detentions of opposition leaders and political activists

Baa’th Arab Baa’th Socialist Party

DUP Democratic Unionist Party

NDA National Democratic Alliance

PNC Popular National Congress

SCP Sudanese Communist Party

USAP Unions of Sudanese African Parties

Name	Political affiliation	Date of Detention	Place of Detention
Taha M. Ahmed A’lim	NDA	24/05/00	Security offices in Atbara
Mohamed Mahjoub Mohamed Ali	Sudanese Communist Party SCP	28/05/00	Security offices in Khartoum
Adam M. Adam Umbadi	SCP	6/04/00	Khartoum Security offices
Adam Mohamed Ahmed	Political Bureau of DUP	20/09/00	Khartoum Security office Headquarters.
Abd Alraouf Omer Hassan	NDA	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Jafaar Abd Alraziq	SCP	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Afifi Ismail	NDA	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Alfatih Hashim	NDA	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Omer Alshiekh	NDA	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Mutasim Ibrahim Bashier	NDA	22/09/00	Alhasahisa City
Osman Abu Rass	Baa’th	4/10/00	Khartoum Security offices
Hassan Bashier	Baa’th	4/10/00	Khartoum Security offices
Mohamed Diya Eldin	Baa’th	4^/10/00	Khartoum Security offices
Ali Ahmed Alsayyid	NDA Secretariat, DUP	7/1200	Kober Prison
Mohmaed Wada Alla	NDA spokesman, Baa’th	7/12/00	Kober Prison
Tigani Mustafa	NDA Secretariat ,Baa’th	7 /12/00	Kober Prison
Joseph Ukello	NDA Secretariat, USAP	7/12/00	Kober Prison
Mohamed Mahjoub	NDA Secretariat, SCP	7/12/00	Kober Prison
Stance Jimmy	USAP	7/12/00	Kober Prison
Dr. Mohmed Suliman	NDA Secretariat Trade Union	7/12/00	Kober Prison
Mustafa Bakhiet Ahmed	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Babiker Margani Agadir	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Isam Fadl Alla	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Murtada A. Zaki	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Awad Alkarim Alemam	NDA	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Abd Alla Habib Alla	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Izeldin Hassan Ibrahim	SCP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Khalid Osman	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Yagoub Ali Abd Albagi	DUP	5/01/01	AlGadarif Security offices
Hashim Babiker Tulop	SCP	7/01/01	State Security Headquarters
Sidieg Yousif	SCP	13/02/01	Kober person
Abdal Hameed Ali	SCP	13/02/01	Kober person
Dr Hassan Abdullah El Turabi	PNC Secretary General	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Musa El Mek Kur	PNC Deputy Secretary General	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Mohamed Elamin Khalifa	PNC Cultural & Information Secretary	23/02/01	Kober Prison
Khalifa El Sheikh Makkawi	PNC Popular Organisations Secretary	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Mohamed El Hassan Elamin	PNC Legal & Constitutional Affairs Secretary	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Omar Abdul Marouf	Ex State Minister for Defence, PNC Leadership Authority	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Siddig Abdul Wahid	PNC Leadership Authority	21/02/01	Kober Prison
El Safi Nur Eldin	PNC	27/02/01	Kober Prison
Farouq Abu El Naja	PNC	21/02/01	Kober Prison
Ali Shammar Abdullah	PNC Deputy Secretary, North Darfur State	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Mohamed Jowhar Suliman	Member, N. Darfur PNC Leadership Authority	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Hamza Al Hadi Zakaria	Member, N. Darfur PNC Leadership Authority	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Osman Ibrahim Ahmed	PNC	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Mohamed Izzerig	PNC	2/02/01	Fashir Prison
Hassan Sharaf	PNC Secretary N. Darfur State	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Suliman Abakar	PNC	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Mohamed Ibrahim Zakaria	PNC	21/02/01	Fashir Prison
Abdul Halim El Turabi	PNC	2/03/01	Kober Prison
Tariq Mahjoub Mohamed	Member, PNC Political Bureau	2/03/01	Kober Prison
Saad Edin Mohamed	PNC	2/03/01	Kober Prison
Abdul Halim Adam Sabi	PNC	2/03/01	State Security Headquarters
Osama Ali Zain Ulabdin	PNC	2/03/01	State Security Headquarters
Mudathir El Tahir	PNC	2/03/01	Kober Prison
Ahmed Bushra Abdul Rahman	PNC	2/03/01	State Security Headquarters
El Shazali Abaker	PNC	2/03/01	State Security Headquarters
Mudathir El Tahir	PNC	2/03/01	Kober Prison
Awad Abdullah	PNC	9/03/01	State Security Headquarters
Adil Hassan Abbass	PNC Secretary, Um Badda Province, Khartoum State	9/03/01	Um Badda
Naji Mansour	PNC	14/03/01	Khartoum
El Tigani Senein	PNC	14/03/01	Khartoum
Kual Daud Kual	PNC	14/03/01	Khartoum

9. Aerial bombardments

During 2000 and into 2001 bombing by the government of civilians and civilian targets has continued and become worse, doubling in 2000, as compared to 1999. Sudanese air force government planes attacked civilian and humanitarian targets in southern and central Sudan 152 times in the year, 2000, as compared to 65 times in 1999, a frequency of nearly three times a week, intensified considerable from June onwards.

Last year's 152 confirmed bombings, documented by UN humanitarian agencies, private international aid organisations, and local church workers, mean that aerial attacks occurred, on average, nearly three times each week During 2000. The attacks intensified during the final months of the year, with 38 known bombings during November and December combined and have continued at an unrelenting pace in 2001 with 36 confirmed bomb attacks against civilian and humanitarian sites in January and February alone. The year 2000 was the first year that comprehensive documentation by humanitarian agencies on the round revealed the full scope of the bombing campaign. But the figure is almost certainly an underestimate. Aerial bombings in remote areas of southern Sudan often remain unreported to the outside world and are therefore difficult to count. Fuller documentation of the Sudanese government's aerial attacks would probably reveal that 200 or more bombings actually occurred last year, according to the US Committee of Refugees.

Sudanese military planes have bombed civilian and humanitarian targets at least 279 times during the past four years, with at least 40 bombings during 1998 and 65 during 1999, according to a USCR review of available field reports by humanitarian agencies. Moreover, the government appears to be using larger, more powerful bombs and has unleashed helicopter gunships in some of its most recent attacks against villages and farming communities. Roger Winter, Director of the US Committee for Refugees on a recent visit to Sudan stated that the bomb craters he investigated “are larger and deeper than those previously seen, suggesting that Sudanese planes might be using larger or more sophisticated bombs. Some bomb craters were more than ten feet deep. This is a new development.” Aid organisations are also reporting increased accuracy in the bombing runs. Survivors also report that government forces are increasingly using helicopter gunships to push local residents from lucrative oil-producing areas.

The Sudanese government has deliberately bombed its own citizens during much of the country's 17-year civil war to force populations to flee. The bombings are carried out by the Sudanese military supposedly against the opposition movement in South Sudan; however, increasingly they seem to target civilians and NGOs damaging local economies and international relief efforts, disrupt humanitarian operations so as to create hunger and starvation as part of the government war strategy, and in August 2000, the raids forced several private and UN relief agencies to suspend operations for a week. The presence of UN or other humanitarian agency relief personnel is absolutely no deterrent. On 22 February 2001, for example, Padit in Upper Nile Province was bombed while the World Food Program (WFP) was preparing an aerial food drop there. Such food drops attract civilians, who are the targets of Khartoum's bombing campaign. In this instance, three bombs reportedly struck the food-drop zone and a fourth fell within 50 meters of a WFP compound

The intensification of bombing in autumn has been explained resulting from intensified oil exploration, in addition to frustration on behalf of the government at its recent failure to be elected to the UN Security Council by a majority of General Assembly members. The oil is definitely fuelling the war. Now that it is being exported, the government has more money to spend on the war. "The Sudanese government's objective seems to be to push people from their homes in preparation for a large new military offensive and to depopulate areas to begin exploitation of expanded oil fields," stated Roger Winter.

Last year, however, was the first year that comprehensive documentation by humanitarian agencies on the ground revealed the full scope of the government's bombing campaign. The bombing has killed innocent civilians, forced families from their land, and disrupted the work of aid agencies. Surveys from aid agencies also point to the extremely low morale in some of the towns. MEDAIR workers said that the village they had been working in had became a ghost town as the inhabitants were too afraid to continue their daily activities and took shelter in the bush, only returning at night. As a result, attendance of the daily clinic declined greatly and "morale was generally very low".

Such bombing is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law as well as various cease-fires. In April Bashir promised bombings would stop, in July a 15-day cease-fire was negotiated between the government and rebels and the October and November bombings violated a 10-day cease-fire agreed to allow the UNICEF to carry out anti-polio immunisation drive - 'days of tranquillity' in Sudan's civil war during a polio vaccination campaign.

In January 2000, 20 bombs were dropped on the villages of Paluer, Padak and Yomiciir on the 8th, destroying the compound of the UN World Food Programme.

On 22 and 23 March 2000, two civilian hospitals in rebel-held areas of southern Sudan were attacked. Up to 14 bombs were aimed at a hospital in Lui, run by an international NGO. Lui is 85 miles northwest of Juba, the largest town in southern Sudan still under government control. Although bombs missed the 120-bed hospital and there were no casualties, this is the fourth time the hospital had been targeted in 2000. Also on the 22 March, Sudan's army claimed to have fought off rebel attacks in the eastern region of the country, inflicting heavy losses and capturing foreigners-reportedly Eritreans-in five days of fighting. The rebels said they have regained two border positions lost to the government in the early days of the fighting, and claimed government planes had bombed a school in the region, killing several teachers and students. In the final week of March eight bombs were also dropped on a camp for displaced people in Kotobi, another eight targeted a hospital in Tali the following day, and an unknown number were dropped in Kaya and Morobo on the Ugandan border. The hospital in Tali, 80 miles north of Juba, is run by ZOA Refugee Care, a Dutch organisation. There were few details of casualties although it was known that one pregnant woman had been killed and the people in Tali had been told to evacuate the town.

A spokesman for the Ugandan army also stated that Sudanese government bombs had also landed on Ugandan territory.

On 19 April 2000, President Bashir announced that his forces would stop halt all their raids against civilians. June saw 6 separate attacks with at least 29 bombs dropped in the south. Again, in July, despite the July 15 cease-fire between government and rebels, aerial bombardment of civilians by the Government of Sudan escalated with at least 250 bombs dropped in more than 33 incidents. At the end of the month, five aircraft/strips? WHICH? chartered by aid agencies were bombed.

In early August 2000, another bombardment of civilians prompted Operation Lifeline Sudan, the SPLA and UN umbrella aid organisation to suspend relief flights in protest against the bombings. President Bashir promised the bombings would stop, and flights resumed. In the final three weeks of August, at least 115 bombs were dropped in total, killing at least 3, and causing widespread structural damage.

The rebel-held town of Narus in southern Sudan close to the Kenyan border, was bombed on 20 September 2000, killing one person and damaging a laboratory and pharmacy at a Roman Catholic church health centre. The lone Antonov aircraft dropped 18 bombs on Narus, 25km (15 miles) northwest of the Kenyan border, killing one person and injuring 12 others. An SPLA commander told reporters in Lokichogio, the main staging point for international humanitarian and relief operations for southern Sudan located 25km (15 miles) inside Kenya, that three people had been killed in the bombing. The 12 wounded were brought to a hospital in Lokichogio operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in the number of people killed in the attack.

From October 2000, bombings have intensified. In October 32 individuals were killed and a total of 120 bombs were dropped in 12 incidents. In November 2000, 178 bombs were dropped in 31 incidents, with at least 31 killed, and an increase in activity by jetfighter bombers and Antonov planes circling fly low over towns and villages, often for prolonged periods of time and during the day and night, and without bombing. This latter activity was even more prevalent in December 2000, during which at least 109 bombs were dropped in 32 incidents, killing four individuals. There are at least 12 recorded incidents of low flying planes, with the towns of Yei, Mardi, Billing, Mardi, Ikotos, Lui and Kotobim, with Yei being targeted on eight occasions.

On 10 October, six bombs were dropped on the town of Ikatos in Equatoria. Humanitarian sources reported that it took place while a food distribution by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was underway and landed close to a school and the CRS compound. Six dwellings were destroyed. Six bombs were dropped at about 10:30am local time and some local houses were damaged. No casualties were reported. The bombings were a clear violation of the 10-day cease-fire declared by the government and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army, (SPLA) to enable UNICEF to carryout its anti-polio vaccination program for 4.5 million children. Between 12 and 25 October, a total of 77 bombs were dropped, generally on churches or NGO compounds, despite this cease-fire.

On 9 November, the government heavily bombed civilians in southern Sudan killing 5 and injuring7. Some were dropped on the Sudan Medical Health Centre, a centre providing services to the local population of the area. Two more relief centres run by international organisations at Tali and Terekeka in the southern region of Eastern Equatoria were targeted on 18 November, killing several people and wounding 32 and on 20 November, at least 18 people were killed in an attack on a market place in the rebel-held town of Yei. Reports said more than 50 others were wounded when air force planes dropped fourteen bombs on the market at 2:45pm local time. Yei, a town of around eight thousand is the site of the SPLA's biggest stronghold. After the attack, President Bashir said his army was not responsible for the bombing, though he did not say who else might have bombed Yei. The rebel held town of Nimule in Eastern Equatoria was also targeted and bombed on 22, 23 and 24 November.

Twic County in southern Sudan's Bahr el-Ghazal region was also bombed over two days in the last week of November, demolishing part of a missionary school. A Sudanese military plane made three bombing passes over Panlit village in Bahr El Ghazal's Twic County at 11:00 am, 14 bombs were dropped in all, one of which fell within missionary School, demolishing two of its classrooms. Another round hit a herd of grazing cattle, killing 73 cows instantly. Although no human losses have been reported, most of the 700 children at the school fled to the bush or their villages and the school was unable to account for most of the missing children. Shortly after midday, another bomber hit the village of Anyiel, two kilometres away. Before dropping four bombs on the village, many Sudanese military jet fighters flew for a long time over Western Upper Nile region and over Aweng and Ajak Payam, east of Twic County, frighten the local population, before the bomber struck. It was the first time in the 18-year war that Twic County has been bombed for two days in a row, the locals noted.

On 11 November, 4 dropped on Kurmik leaving 3 dead. The bombs were dropped in the hospital and military compounds after which NGO staffs were evacuated for 10 days. Also on 11^th 12 were dropped on Yabus leaving 3 dead, destroying the fence and latrine of the women’s compounds. NGO staff were present. 12 bombs were dropped on Tindilu, no casualties but 3 houses were destroyed.

On 27 November, 17 bombs were dropped on Ikotos, 280 kilometres east of Juba killing four people and leaving 32 others seriously injured. The town is 150 kilometres west of Lokichogio, a northwestern Kenyan border town used as a rear base by most aid agencies operating in rebel-controlled areas. Among the dead was a senior statistician with the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association, the SPLA's relief wing, who headed a team from Kenya to compile data on food shortages. Polit Abur and Mayen Abun in Bahr el Ghazal were also bombed killing four. Large numbers of people collect relief food at both locations

Between the 3 and 4 December, 6 bombs were dropped on Tali, no known casualties. On the 4 December, between 5 and 6 were dropped on Nyang, 2 were killed and 3 injured. Also on the 4^th, 4 bombs were dropped on Kediba and 4 on Kasika the number of casualties not known, and an unknown number of bombs were dropped on Lakamadi targeting a relief truck.

The bombing has continued unabated in 2001, at least 82 bombs were dropped in January 2001, with at least 9 killed, and substantial destruction of property. Between 8-9 bombs were dropped on Paluer, at 10:30am, killing one woman and destroying a health centre, which was one of 20 small centres in the region serving 100,000 people. NGO staff had returned the previous day and were present during the bombing. On 6 January 2001, bombs were dropped on Padak leaving one wounded and causing substantial destruction to the compound of the UN World Food Program. The attack came soon after the WFP had declared that than 3 million people in Sudan - overwhelmingly in the south - are at risk from famine and drought. Again, NGO staff were present. Oxfam workers were forced to abandon their compound and camp in a nearby cattle field as a result of this attack. Then on Sudan 12 January 2001, the base of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Chelkou was attacked. An unknown number of bombs were dropped, and all buildings were destroyed and villagers were killed, and according to reports soldiers were also released into the area.

Reports state that there were increased attacks against civilians in the oil field regions south of Bentiu during February 2001. Between 1 and 7 February, Keili, Fazulgli and Keren-Keren were bombed daily. The following is a partial list of villages destroyed by the Government of Sudan, south of Bentiu, in service of Lundin Oil's concession security: Kuac, Wicluak, Thoar, Daw, Gawjal, Waw, Dhorbor, Kach, Gier, Gieni, Chottiel, Bangna, Kuoynyang, Norchieng Yar, Parjiek, Tiak, Raal, Dhorchieng Chuol, Kuorong, Dhoreng, Kuerchieng, Pah, and Lejak. After the attacks, Government of Sudan regular troops come to the villages in troops and by helicopter gunships. The villages were torched and villagers who had remained were killed. The village chiefs interviewed all reported that elderly people and very young children were burned alive.

On 8 and 9 March 2001, Sudanese government planes bombed Kauda, in the Nuba Mountains. This is the same locale where a school was bombed last year, killing 14 children and injuring 18 others. On 14 March, the Sudanese government bombed Mankien with yet unknown casualties.

For complete details see Section 9.1, Table 2: Aerial Bombardments, pages 27 – 36.

9.1 Table 2: Aerial Bombardments

March 2000 – March 2001

Data on bombings in southern and central Sudan comes from Vigil Soudan, collected from the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan, a consortium of more than 30 international aid organisations, international relief groups that operate in areas of Sudan inaccessible to OLS, and local Sudanese church groups.

* Exact number of bombs not confirmed

BEG Bahr el-Ghazal 

E Equatoria

SBN Southern Blue Nile  

SK Southern Kordofan  

UN  Upper Nile

March 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
01	Lui	E	12	2-3 killed, 3-12 injured
01	6 locations around Lui	E
Early March	Parajok	E
04/03/00	Yirol	BEG	3	2 killed, 11 injured.
07/03/00	Lui	E
12/03/00	3 locations between GuMuriak and Tajiel
14/03/00	Nimule	E	12	1 killed, 7-11 injured.
14/03/00	VOM hospital			1 killed, 1 injured.
15/03/00	Parajok	E	19
17/03/00	Mankien	UN
17/03/00	Nhialdiu	BEG
18/03/00	Bow
Week 19-25	Morobo
21/03/00	Kaya; BXP in Uganda	E	12
21/03/00	Yomciir
22-23/03/00	Lui	E	14	Hospital targeted, between 0-6 injured.
23/03/00	Yari		5
23/03/00	Kotobi	E	4
23/03/00	Mundri	E	2
24/03/00	Kotobi	E	8
24/03/00	Yirol		8	0 killed, 0 injured
25/03/00	Tali	E		1 killed
27/03/00	Tali	E	12
28/03/00	Nimule		5-18	1-7 injured
29/03/00	Tali	E	10
31/03/00	Nomakon
31/03/00	Mabokol

June 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
17/06/00	Rualbet		5
18/06/00	Machar		5
20/06/00	North of Kuey
24/06/00	Walbet
25/06/00	KajoKeji		7-8
30/06/00	Yei	E	12	1 injured, 1 house burnt

July 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
01/07/00	Cueibet		5
01/07/00	Buot		5
01/07/00	Agangrial
02/07/00	Cueibet		6	2 houses damaged
02/07/00	Liethnom		10	1 injured
02/07/00	Lunyaker		20
02/07/00	Rumbek		2-3	2-6 dead, 3-23 injured, bombs hit market
07/07/00	Thiet		24	airstrip damaged
08/07/00	Rumbek		6
12/07/00	Akon		19	2 bombs hit airstrip, 2 fell 250 m from UNICEF compound
14/07/00	Akon (twice)		3 + 17	disused feeding centre and 5 houses hit
14/07/00	Adet		12	airstrip hit and effectively shortened
15/07/00	Gok Macar
15/07/00	Nyamlel		4
15/07/00	Chelkou		14	1 injured, NGO clinic and aircraft damaged, houses destroyed, NGO staff temporarily withdrawn
16/07/00	Chelkou		12
16/07/00	Gok Macar		4
17/07/00	Nyamlel		8
17/07/00	Akon
19/07/00	Near Wanding
20/07/00	Liethnom		12	1 injured
20/07/00	Buokagok		6
20/07/00	Ajiep		8
22/07/00	Nyamlel		24	NGO compound hit
25/07/00	Wanjok		3	cows killed
27/07/00	Billing		12-15	3 injured, aircraft on ground during bombing
28/07/00	Malualkon			bomb landed 75 m from aircraft taking off
28/07/00	Akuem		6	aircraft on ground, pilot injured taking shelter, NGO suspends activities
28/07/00	Riangaketh			aircraft on ground during bombing
29/07/00	Marial Baai
30/07/00	Adior
30/07/00	Yei	E	6-18	2 injured

August 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
07/08/00	Tonj (twice)		12 + 4	5-7 dead, 100 injured; bombs fell in market, near school
07/08/00	Mapel		18	Aircraft on ground during bombing
07/08/00	Near Mapel
08/08/00	Lunyaker		6
08/08/00	Mankien	UN
08/08/00	Wicok
08/08/00	Buoth
09/08/00	Tonj		3	church compound hit
09/08/00	Mapel		9	airstrip hit, OLS staff evacuated
14/08/00	Palotaka		6
14/08/00	Ikotos	E
15/08/00	Labone
19/08/00	Near Narus	E	6	2 dead, 1 injured
20/08/00	Maiwut		14	1 bomb landed 200m from NGO compound
22/08/00	Ikotos	E	14-15	7-year old child died; cattle killed; 5 houses destroyed, 11 damaged; bombs fell near 2 churches, market, teacher training centre, NGO compound and borehole
22/08/00	Paluer	UN	3 +
27/08/00	Paluer	UN	2	bombs fell 150 m from NGO compound; 7 NGO personnel present
27/08/00	Padak	UN	2-3	bombs fell 150 m from NGO compound; 8 NGO personnel present
27/08/00	Kolnyang		3

September 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
14/09/00	Ikotos	E	17	2 seriously injured; livestock killed; 24-25 homes destroyed, 56 damaged; 12 NGO staff present during bombing
18/09/00	Narus	E	12-15	1 dead; 11 injured, including women and children; church clinic damaged and nurse injured; bombs also fell around bishop's residence; 12-18 homes destroyed
19/09/00	Narus	E	6	bombs fell to west of town; no injuries nor damage
20/09/00	Narus			1 killed, 12 injured, laboratory and pharmacy of health centre damaged

October 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
10/10/00	Ikotos	E	6	no casualties but 2 pregnant women treated for shock; 1 bomb landed in school area, 1 near NGO compound; 3 houses destroyed; bombs fell during OLS food distribution
11/10/00	Parajok	E	3
12/10/00	Ikotos	E	9	7 injured (4 serious, 3 slight); bombs fell during OLS food distribution
12/10/00	Parajok	E	10	bombs landed close to church and NGO compounds
17/10/00	Tindallo		16	bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations
18/10/00	Tali	E	18	bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations
18/10/00	Terakeka			no independent confirmation
22/10/00	Adjumani (Uganda)		0	GoS Antonov overflew Adjumani in Ugandan airspace before bombing Nimule (see below)
22/10/00	Nimule (twice)		12 + 12	bombs fell near church (on Sunday morning), nursery, OLS NGO compound and church NGO house, which was slightly damaged; classroom and 4 houses destroyed; bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations
22/10/00	Parajok	E	14	2 casualties (1 serious); bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations
25/10/00	Ngaluma displaced camp (near Ikotos)	E	8	2 bombs fell in food distribution centre; bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations
26/10/00	Ngaluma	E	12	bombing occurred during cease-fire for polio vaccinations

November 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
03/11/00	Ikotos	E	9	2 bombs fell close to NGO compound; 5 houses destroyed
03/11/00	Ngaluma	E	*	displaced camp
03/11/00	3 locations near Ikotos	E	*
05/11/00	Jambo	E	8	1 bomb fell 20 m from church on Sunday morning; 300 civilians were in church; no injuries
05/11/00	Tapiri	E	*
06/11/00	Tali	E	5	3 bombs landed in town, 2 landed 500 m NW of town
06/11/00	Yei	E	6
09/11/00	Narus	E	15	6 civilians killed (2 men, 4 women), 8 injured, including 1 seriously; at least 6 cattle killed; 6 bombs fell near medical NGO compound
12/11/00	Apach	UN	*	location NE of Malakal and SW of Khor Adar oilfield; apparent target was civilians fleeing from GoS ground forces
13/11/00	Apach	UN	*	as above
16/11/00	Ikotos	E	6-8*	bombs landed near airstrip; night-time raid
16/11/00	Ngaluma	E	6	night-time raid on displaced camp
19/11/00	Tali	E	8	4 dead, including 1 local NGO worker; 6 wounded, including 2 women and 8-month old baby; health centre subsequently closed and moved under the cover oftrees well away from Tali
20/11/00	Yei	E	14-16*	18-19 civilians killed; 53 wounded (11 critical); 6 bombs hit market at busiest time of day; many victims were women; buildings destroyed
20/11/00	Lainya	E	*	unconfirmed
24/1100	Parajok	E	*
24/11/00	Aswa	E	8	humanitarian de-mining team on ground during bombing
24/11/00	Moli	E	*
24/11/00	Panlit	BEG	14	primary school hit; 73 cows killed
25/11/00	Anyiel Abiel	BEG	12	2 dead, 4 injured
25/11/11	W UN	UN	0	intense activity by jet fighter-bombers
25/11/00	Aweng, Ajak	BEG	0	intense activity by jet fighter-bombers
25/11/00	Lainya	E	12
27/11/00	Ikotos	E	16	1 dead, 3 injured; primary school hit; 14 houses destroyed
27/11/00	Pandit	BEG	4	3 cows killed; bombs narrowly missed primary school
27/11/00	Mon	BEG	6
28/11/00	Ikotos	E	0	Antonov overflew without bombing
28/11/00	Keili	SBN	9
28/11/00	Keren-Keren	SBN	9
28/11/00	Middle	SBN	9
28/11/00	Amora	SBN	*
29/11/00	Agaru	SBN	*

December 2000

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
01/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
02/12/00	Maridi	E	0	Antonov circled shortly after midnight without bombing
02/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled three times around 0100 without bombing
03/12/00	Tali	E	4
04/12/00	Nyang	BEG	5-6*	2 dead, 3 injured; NE of Yirol
04/12/00	Lekaduku	BEG	3	NE of Yirol
04/12/00	Tali	E	2
04/12/00	Lakamadi	E	*	relief truck targeted
04/12/00	Kediba	E	4
04/12/00	Kasika	E	4
05/12/00	Billing	BEG	0	Antonov circled without bombing
06/12/00	Keili	SBN	8	1 woman injured
06/12/00	Maridi, Yei, Ikotos	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
06/12/00	Tali	E	9	1 bomb failed to explode, 3 fell 10m from NGO compound
07/12/00	Middle	SBN	24
07/12/00	Parajok	E	3
08/12/00	Yomciir	UN	16	2 dead, including 1 aid worker; 4 wounded; 3 houses destroyed; machine-gun fire heard; some reports that Antonov 12 strafed village
21/12/00	Kauda That	SK	*
24/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
23/12/00	Kauda Taht	SK	*
25/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing on Christmas day
25/12/00	Jambo/Mideh	E	3-8*	2 injured on Christmas day
26/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
26/12/00	Lui	E	6-7*	bombs fell close to OLS NGO compound
27/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
27/12/00	Between Kotobi and Maridi	E	10	cattle killed
28/12/00	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
28/12/00	Lui, Kotobi	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
28/12/00	Amadi	E	9	2 bombs fell in town, 7 outside
29/12/00	Lui	E	8-10*	2 dead; cathedral destroyed
29/12/00	Lanyi	E	6	2 houses destroyed; convoy hit by shrapnel; 3 bombs fell inside village, 3 outside
30/12/00	Lui	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing

January 2001

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
06/01/00	Paluer	UN	8-9*	elderly woman killed; 2 bombs destroyed health centre; NGO staff had only returned previous day and were present during bombing
06/01/00	Padak	UN	6	1 wounded; 3 bombs fell in WFP compound, causing fire and destroying 4 buildings, latrine and fence; 2 OLS NGO compounds damaged; NGO staff present during bombing had only returned recently
06/01/00	Yomciir	UN	6	2 dead, 4 wounded, all from same family
06/01/00	Kotobi	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
07/01/00	Mundri	E	12
07/01/00	Kotobi	E	6
07/01/00	Lui	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
07/01/00	Lanyi	E	8	no casualties; 2 houses destroyed
09/01/01	Mading	UN	8	no casualties nor damage; bombs fell outside village
11/01/01	Kurmuk	SBN	4	3 dead; bombs landed in hospital compound as well as military compound; health NGO evacuated staff for 10 days
11/01/01	Yabus	SBN	12	3 dead; fence and latrine of women's compound destroyed; NGO staff present during bombing
11/01/01	Keili	SBN	*
11/01/01	Geissan	SBN	*
11/01/01	Tindilu	E	12	no casualties; 3 houses destroyed
12/01/01	Chelkou		*	Target was the ICRC medical base. All buildings were destroyed and villagers killed.
24/01/01	Yei	E	0	Antonov circled without bombing
30/01/01	Keili, Fazuqli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" reported from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 in these three payams
31/01/01	Keili, Fazuqli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" reported from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 in these three payams

February 2001

Date	Location	Region	No. bombs	Notes
01/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
02/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
03/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
03/02/01	South of Buony (Mabaan)	UN	*	not confirmed whether this was bombing of civilians or military targets
04/02/01	Padak	UN	0	Antonov overflew without bombing
04/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
05/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
06/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
07/02/01	Keili, Fazugli and Keren-Keren	SBN	*	"daily bombing" from 30/01/01 to 07/02/01 reported in these three payams
08/02/01	Mankien	UN	8
08/02/01	Near Buoth	UN	*
10/02/01	Chauri	SK	3
15/02/01	Tali	E	4	1 bomb fell in NGO compound; house and fence of health centre destroyed; no casualties as clinic had been moved out of village under a tree due to earlier bombings
16/02/01	Adjumani	Uganda	*	GoS Antonov bombed Olua refugee camp; 1 injured; some reports say this occurred 14/02/01
17/02/01	Arua	Uganda	0	GoS Antonov overflew Arua, coming from Congolese airspace towards Yei
18/02/00	Arua	Uganda	0	as above
20/02/01	Keren-Keren	SBN	*
20/02/01	Agaru	SBN	*
20/02/01	Demsaid	SBN	*
22/02/01	Padit	UN	4	bombs fell during WFP food air-drop; 1 bomb fell within 50 m of WFP compound, 3 near food drop zone; food dropping was suspended

APPENDIX 2

Ministry of Health

Khartoum Educational Hospital - Forensic Medicine Department

Date: June 10 2000

Body Examination Report

Name: Ghassan Ahmed Al Amin Haroon

Age: 17

Reference to form No. (8) criminal issued by Mahaliat Alshohada, and reference to the examination order issued by Al Khartoum Aljadida Attorney General’s Office, I examined and anatomised the above mentioned body:

The Medical Report:

A body of a student aged 17. He wears trousers and cotton underwear. Clothes are torn from the front and the back. He wears single Bata shoe on his left foot. Traces of abundant quantity of urine are on the underwear. Body height is 180 cm. Weight is 80 KGs approximately. Hair is recently cut. Remaining hair is soft. Brown skin. There are various wounds on both left and right hands, not deep and about 8 cm in length. Also, there are various bruises on the right hand, the chest, and under the arm. There are small scratches on the chest. There is a wound on the left hand of 6x4cm length. The are scattered wounds and bruises over the back. The skin is damaged on wide areas of the back due to the after death changes. The are traces of a light foamy frosty bloody liquid in the mouth and stuck to the teeth. Hands are closed. There is a deep wound in the right foot with traces of sand and stone granules. Also, there is a wound on the toe with sand and stone granules traces. There are traces of bleeding in the left eye covering a wide area of the left side. The mouth is slightly twisted indicating paralysis, i.e., predeath nervous signals.

Skull: There are blood colonies outside the membrane lining the skull skin. There are traces of various bruises over the skull membrane. Skull bones are not damaged both inside and outside. The membrane lining the brain is severely sticking with the skull upper bone and infected. There are blood clottings under the skull lower bone.

Throat: Full with foamy frosty clottings.

Lungs: Extremely congested.

Heart: There are blood pigment spots on wide areas of the membrane. There are blood spots all over the heart area. There are blood pigment spots all over the area of the peritonic membrane as well as in the large intestine, stomach, and the small intestine.

Death Reasons: Complete respiratory failure and blood system collapse.

Dr.Ogail Alnur Swar Aldahab

Morgue Manager Literal translation

APPENDIX 1

Sudanese Students Survivors of Torture

Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim

I was born 1980 at Wad Medani, on the Blue Nile. I joined Omdurman Ahlia University in 1999 to study Business Administration

Members of the Democratic Unionist Students Association (DUSA) of Omdurman College of Science & Technology (OCST) invited members of DUSA of other education institutions to a meeting on 9 May 2000. The meeting was planned to publicly declare establishment of the Association and to call upon students elsewhere to defend their political and organisational rights.

The DUSA of Ahlia University nominated Abdel Rahman Abdalla and I to represent them at the meeting called for by the DUSA of OCST. During the meeting, we were both arrested by members of the Holy Koran Society in collaboration with the Security. The Holy Koran Society is a group of vigilantes and fundamentalists at various education institutions.

We were taken to the College Guard’s office where we were beaten and kicked. Members of the Holy Koran Society announced to students their determination to us in what they described “the most shameful spectacle”, and they forced us to wear Islamic female head covers and paraded us to the students. This was extremely humiliating and in a culture that is dominated by male-superiority, is a degrading thing to be made to do. I thought of jumping to the ground from the second floor.

We were then taken to a “ghost house” near the local government of Karrari building at Thawra # 10 in Omdurman. There we were beaten with water hoses before being dumped into pits two meters deep. Inside the pits, we were interrogated student organisers and their objectives of launching the activity, the soles of our feet were lashed, and we were both kicked several times in the groin. At sunset we were blindfolded, our arms and legs were tied with ropes and taken on a pick-up to a Khartoum “ghost house” on the Nile front in the neighbourhood of Sayed Ali Mirghani Garden. There we were flogged while being questioned, this time with an electricity cable. This continued for an hour at which point I fell unconscious. I was left to recover without any medical attention and was in any case weak since we had been given no food.

In the morning of 10 May 2000, we were taken on a truck from Khartoum to the General Security building in Khartoum North, near Shendi terminal. At the building, we were beaten and I was forced to eat my socks. A security officer accused us both of terrorism, destructive activities, membership of an armed and anti-regime organisation. He threatened to send us to a court that could sentence them to ten years imprisonment.

During the day of 10 May 2000, security men forced us to stretch out their arms, on which they hanged motorcycle tires. We were made to remain in that posture and to perform exercises. Later, a man called Ghazi forced me to sign an undertaking to work as an agent, within the students’ Association, for the Security. Eventually I was released. I went home in Omdurman in a terrible condition with a very swollen face, bruised-red right eye, and pain in his left ear. I was again summoned by security forces to the offices on 11 May 2000, where I went but was not questioned.

I then spent two weeks away at Wad Medani and Kosti to rest. On returning to the University, I resumed his life normally. After two months a security person called Amir visited me and asked me to meet him at the University. I communicated this demand to fellow students of the Association. At the meeting Amir reminded me of my undertaking to inform them of student activities and encouraged me to co-operate with the security forces. I was so vocal in my resistance that our argument was over-heard by a group of DUSA students who had known of the meeting. The students came in support. The Vice Chancellor of Ahlia University heard the dispute from his office. He sent me, Amir, and the other students to the University Guard office for investigation. Amir produced his ID to the Chief Guard and claimed he was carrying out his duty. The Chief Guard sent us all away. Outside the office of the Guard, Amir threatened me again with detention and torture if I did not report, in one day, names of the students who supported me at that encounter.

On August 15 2000, I began to feel very unsafe and decided to protect myself by lodging, at the District Attorney of Omdurman Central, a “criminal petition against the General Security Apparatus”. The District Attorney amended the petition to read “against Amir and others”. I began to hide in places I judged to be safe, especially because there was security presence on the road where I lived. I remained in hiding until I managed to travel to Cairo on 10 October 2000.

Mohamed Elzubeir Adam Abu Alama

My name is Mohamed Elzubier Adam Abu Alama. I was born in1974 in Khartoum. In 1995 I registered for a B. Eng. (Electrical Engineering) at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, University of Khartoum.

One day in August 1998, at 03.00am, forces from the security, police and some student members of NIF went into rooms of hostels of the University of Khartoum carrying firearms. They huddled students onto hostel lawns. They identified four students of law: Mohamed Abdel Salam, Jouda Bushra Ali, Abdalla El Dawi, and Mohamed Ahmed Ali; and led them away. A few hours later Abdel Salam was reported dead.

The second day I was arrested, with seven other students at 10.00am at the main gate of the University. We had distributed written statements on the circumstances that had surrounded the death of Abdel Salam. We were led to the University Mosque under the allegation of encouraging unrest among students, including protests against excessive hostel fees.

Inside the Mosque we were beaten and abused by security elements who were aided by some students who were members of the Islamic movement. Among them were El Naji Abdalla (a student of medicine), Mosaab, and Nazar (a student of economics) who were known members of the Students Security apparatus. The Security were determined not to allow the students’ protests to overflow onto the streets of Khartoum. I noticed in room annexes of the University Mosque several steel rods and firearms.

At 6.00pm security men came to the Mosque on pick-ups and ordered us to climb on the back of the trucks. They were ordered to sit down and keep their heads between their knees. If we dared to raise our heads to look out, we would be hit hard on the head. We were taken to an unknown destination in Khartoum North where they were subjected to ill treatment, though not as severe as that at the Mosque. We were released the following day without having been charged.

On 26 November 1999, I was again arrested this time at the entrance of Abu Digana Hostel of the University of Khartoum. I was blindfolded and moved to an anonymous place where I could hear the landing and take-off of aircrafts. I was tortured throughout the night by four men. They beat me and tried to rape me. I resisted as much as I could but I could not withstand the force of four men. I fell to the ground at which the four began to kick me hard on my bottom. I fell unconscious. I believe they gave me an electric shock after which I regained consciousness. At one stage one of them introduced the barrel of his gun into my rectum which was already wounded. Eventually they tied me up on a rope and began burning me with hot rods and cigarettes.

I was released the same night. At about midnight, two security men took me on a pick-up to an empty site in Amarat, where I was left on his own. I had extreme difficulty moving and coping with the dark streets. Not far from where I had been dropped, I felt the need to rest and I stretched my body on the ground near a building in Amarat. The building was in fact the Embassy of Switzerland, though I was so disorientated and in so much pain I had not noted the building.

A Sudanese guard of the Embassy came to me and enquired why I was lying down there. I managed with difficulty to tell the guard that I had just been released from detention and torture. I found it very difficult to express myself clearly. The guard stopped a Reksha to take Mohamed to Khartoum Hospital, where I was sedated. A telephone-numbers index in Mohamed’s pocket helped the Hospital staff to ring up a relative of his, who hurried to the Hospital. The Reksha was interrogated by police at the hospital but was released.

Friends and colleagues of mine reported what had happened to Ghazi Suliman, a known lawyer and Head of the Sudanese Human Rights Group (SHRG) in Khartoum. Ghazi accused the Chief of the General Security, and some of his men, of committing torture. On 5 December 1999 Ghazi filed a case against them at the Attorney of Crimes Against the State. On 6 December 1999 the Sudanese Human Rights Group issued a press release condemning the arrest of two students Mohamed Abu Alama and Mohamed El Haj Ahmed Osman.

However, things did not get better. In 1999, I was suspended from third year Electrical Engineering for two years, on the charges of not sitting for the examinations. I reported to the University administration that I had been arrested and presented a medical report of his injuries but the appeal was turned down and I have been unable to complete my studies.

On 13 December 1999, I underwent surgery for the damage done to my rectum, which has not yet healed to date.

Mr. Abu Alama arrived at Cairo 3 January 2001, and documented this testimony at the SVTG office in Cairo. It took him about one year from his arrival in Cairo to report to the SVTG (Cairo) to seek treatment. The office referred Abu Alama to El Nadim Center for Rehabilitation & Management of Victims of Violence. He now lives a Sudanese friend (Yassir) at Um Baba under conditions which clearly call for Direct Assistance to support his living and to uphold his morale and psychological state.