Continuing Violations of Human Rights in South Kordofan and Blue Nile States: 24 August – 8 September 2011

(October 2011) The success of South Sudan’s January 2011 referendum and the peaceful separation of the North and South contrasts sharply with renewed violence in two of Sudan’s contested “three areas,” Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. Recent patterns of violations in South Kordofan indicate that aerial assaults and arbitrary arrests and detentions continue despite the unilateral ceasefire announced by President Omar el Bashir in late August. Since fighting broke out in Blue Nile state on 1 September, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) monitors have documented numerous cases of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, persecution of SPLM-N members and their families and what looks to be evidence of arming potential militias.

ACJPS condemns these violations of fundamental rights and freedoms perpetrated against residents of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states and makes the following recommendations to the Government of Sudan, National Congress Party (NCP), Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement North (SPLMN-N), and the members of the international community in the interests of peace and stability in Sudan:

• The Government of Sudan and the SPLM-N should declare an immediate ceasefire and an end to hostilities.

• The Government of Sudan and the SPLM-N must also urgently allow humanitarian actors full access to provide services to the many victims of the conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

• The Government of Sudan should immediately cease all aerial assaults.

• The persecution of the Nuba community in South Kordofan and persons suspected of affiliation with the SPLM-N must stop immediately. All persons detained in South Kordofan and Blue Nile should be charged with crimes or released. If they continue to be held in detention, they should be held in official prisons and should receive medical treatment, if necessary, and family visits.

• The Government of Sudan should respect the framework agreement on political partnership between the NCP and SPLM-N and political and security arrangements in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, signed in Addis Ababa on 28 June. Any resolution to these conflicts should include strategies for addressing outstanding political and security issues such as the governance arrangements of the two states, the status of the SPLM-N as a political party and the status of the SPLM-N soldiers in both states.

• Noting the 13th Periodic Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, ACJPS calls on members of the international community to mandate an international inquiry into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in South Kordofan.

• Agents of the ruling National Congress Party have perpetrated the large majority of the violations of human rights committed in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Members of the international community, particularly the African Union, UN Human Rights Council and UN Security Council should condemn these violations and send the message to perpetrators that they will be held accountable for crimes committed.

In order to achieve sustainable peace and stability in Sudan, the parties should work towards full implementation of all components of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) including the determination of the future status of Abyei, demarcation of the border, the conduct of popular consultations in South Kordofan, and completion of the popular consultations in Blue Nile and the CPA mandated legal reform process in North Sudan.

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