Deadly force used to disperse protest against Sudanese President at Darfur IDP camp

 

(28 September 2017) At least five people were killed and 29 others sustained gunshot wounds when Sudanese forces opened live ammunition on a crowd of protestors at Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nyala, South Darfur on 22 September, shortly before a planned visit by Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

 

At around 9am on 22 September 2017, joint forces of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Armed Forces (SAF), Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the police fired live ammunition at a crowd that had gathered to protest against a planned visit to Kalma IDP camp by President al-Bashir that day. According to eye-witnesses, protestors at the camp gathered for a third day of protests against the presidential visit holding banners and shouting slogans calling for the president to be sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to face the charges of genocide and crimes against humanity issued against him.

 

According to eyewitness accounts, the joint forces fired indiscriminately at the crowd of peaceful protestors. There were no reports of violent behaviour by members of the crowd. Two men and two women were shot and killed. Another man, 65 year-old Ishaq Abaker Adam, sustained gunshot wounds and died later the same day from his injuries at a clinic run by the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in Nyala. At least 29 others, including four boys under the age of 18, sustained gunshot wounds.

 

The joint government forces reportedly surrounded Kalma IDP camp on 20 September and had remained there in preparation for the president’s visit, restricting movement in and out of the camp.

 

Al-Bashir was forced to cancel his visit to the camp on 22 September owing to the protests and instead made a speech at the grounds of a nearby school in Nyala.

 

These killings form part of a larger pattern of the use of violence to suppress freedom of expression, association, and assembly in Darfur and across Sudan.

 

In January 2016, at least seven people, including one child, were killed when security forces opened live ammunition at a crowd of protestors outside the West Darfur state governor’s office. The crowd had gathered to demand protection after the nearby village of Mouli was looted and burned to the ground. The following day, three people were killed and seven others sustained gunshot wounds when security forces again fired live ammunition at the funeral for the deceased.

 

In September 2013, at least 185 people were killed around the country when government forces shot at anti-austerity protestors. Human rights defenders and victims’ rights groups calling for justice and accountability for the 2013 protest killings were subjected to arbitrary arrests and harassment.

 

The protest killings have taken place in a climate of total impunity. Immunities provided in law to government officials, including members of the NISS, SAF and the police have prevented effective investigations into allegations of the excessive use of force and resulted in a lack of prosecutions for the perpetration of these and other human rights violations. This includes the failure, three years on, to hold anyone to account for the killing of 185 people during the protests in 2013. The authorities have offered compensation to a small number of affected families, but only allowed one criminal complaint out of 85 to proceed to trial. The trial ended in an acquittal despite eyewitness testimony.

 

Further information

 

Names of persons who were shot and killed:

 

1. Fatima Adam Salih, (f), 45 years old.
2. Arafa Mohamed Adam, (f), 40 years old.
3. Ishaq Salih Abdulrahman, (m), 41 years old.
4. Ibrahim Adam Idris (m), 42 years old.
5. Ishaq Abakar Adam, (m), 65 years old, died later the same day at the UNAMID clinic in Nyala.

 

Names of inured persons who sustained gunshot wounds:

 

1. Wale Eldien Abakar Ismail Ibrahim, (m), 16 years of old
2. Nasr Eldien Mohamed Omer, (m), 16 years old.
3. Mohamed Adam Mohamed Omer, (m), 17 years old.
4. Amar Adam Abdulmula, (m) 17 years old
5. Haytham Daoud Bilal, (m), 18 years old.
6. Yousef Ibrahim Omer, (m), 19 years old.
7. Hassan Adam Abdulmula, (m), years old.
8. Kalouma Omer Mohamed, (f), 23 years old.
9. Imam Abdel Mahmoud Abduljbar, (m), 22 years old.
10. Musa Ishaq Jumaa, (m), 24 years old.
11. Mohamed Mohamed Badawi, (m), 25 years old.
12. Yasir Yousef Mohamed, (m), 25 years old.
13. Abdalla Musa Mohamed, (m), 27 years old.
14. Hassan Hussein Mustafa, (m), 26 years old.
15. Saudi Omer Idris, (m), 29 years old.
16. Jedo Omer Abdulshafi, (m), 30 years old.
17. Hamid Abdul-Aziz Huises, (m), 31years old.
18. Hassan Ibrahim Abualgasim, (m), 35 years old.
19. Yousef Adam Abdulrahman (m), 36 Years of old.
20. Hawa Adam Abdulmula, (f), 36 years old.
21. Maryam Ahmed Salih, (f), 40 years old.
22. Yagoub Mohamed Abakar, (m), 43 years old.
23. Ibrahim Mohamed Idris, (m), 44 years old.
24. Abdelbagi Haroun Issa (m), 46 years old.
25. Khadija Ishaq Saber, (f), 50 years old.
26. Fatima Adam Abdulrahman, (f), 52 years old.
27. Suliman Adam Eltahir, (m), 55 years old.
28. Ishaq Ishaq Sharif, (m), 62 years old.
29. Abdulmanan Ishaq Mohamed, (m), 67 years old.

 

Contact: Mossaad Mohamed Ali, ACJPS Executive Director: +256 779584542 / Katherine Perks, ACJPS Programme Director: +1 519 551 8084 or info@acjps.org.