Human Rights Alert

Sudan Organisation Against Torture

SOAT

Human Rights Alert: 1 February 2005

Deaths of Protestors in Port Sudan

On 29 January 2005, police forces in Port Sudan, eastern region of Sudan opened live ammunition on a demonstrating crowd, killing 19 people including two children and a woman and wounding 10s of people.

The two children were from Daim Arab in Port Sudan and aged 12 and 14yrs. The woman who was pregnant was injured and later died in hospital. The majority of the persons killed were young people aged between 18 and 28 years old. Some are universities graduates and students who have completed high secondary school.

The details of those killed are as follows:

Tahir Husain Hassan , 12 yrs
Ibrahim Abu-fatma Bashir , 14 yrs
Omer Hammad Omer
Eisa Hassan Ali
Hussain Arka Mohamed
Makki Idris Makki
Oshaik Alamin
Ali Mohamed Mohamed Ali
Tahir Mohamed Tahir
Fagiri Ahmed Hamid
Ohag Ali Hamad
Mohamed Mohamed Tahir
Ahmed Abu-fatma Hamza Makawi
Omer Abdalah Mohamed
Rashid Hassan Osman (Originally from West of Sudan)
Ali Hussain Raihain
Tahir Hussain
Female
Unidentified
Abdallah Mussa Abdallah, the General- Secretary of the Beja Congress in Red Sea State, has informed SOAT of the arrest and detention of reportedly 150 demonstrators. The demonstrators are being detained at Security offices in Port Sudan, Sinkat (20 detainees), Kassala (10 detainees), and Aroma (unknown number).

The demonstration took place following a peaceful presentation of a memorandum by members of eastern tribes, mostly Beja to the Red Sea state governor, Major General Hatim al-Wasilah al-Sammani outlining demands including wealth and power sharing for the people of eastern Sudan on 26 January 2005. The memorandum also gave a deadline of 72 hours for their demands to be met.

Background

Eastern Sudan in a similar vein as Darfur accuses the government of Sudan of consistent socio-economic and political marginalisation. The recent Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Khartoum and the SPLA whereby the South is set to receive a fair share of power and resources and the crisis in Darfur has created an environment of mistrust and resentment among the local eastern tribes particularly the Beja tribe.

SOAT strongly condemns the ferocity of the government security forces response to legitimate demands of its citizens in Port Sudan resulting in the death of two children and notes with concern that the GoS could adopt the same military strategy as that of Darfur and in the South, specifically the arming of local tribes to counter a perceived new rebel threat in the east. SOAT urges the GoS to acknowledge the major causes of this demonstration and to respond accordingly through the inclusion of eastern tribes in the recent peace agreements signed between Khartoum and southern rebels.

The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association are guaranteed by international human rights law. Article 20 of the Universal Declaration states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.” Article 21 of the Civil and Political Covenant secures the right to peaceful assembly and Article 22 protects freedom of association.

International standards for the use of force by law enforcement officials as set forth in the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979 provides under Article 2 that, “in the performance of their duty, law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons.” Commentary (b) to Article 3 proclaims, “In no case should this provision be interpreted to authorize the use of force which is disproportionate to the legitimate objective to be achieved.”

SOAT urges the Government of Sudan to:

Immediately establish an independent, impartial commission of inquiry into the killings and to bring those who used and ordered excessive force against civilians to justice
Order the immediately release all the detainees in the absence of valid legal charges, or if legitimate charges exist, bring them before an impartial tribunal and guarantee procedural rights at all times

Take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all the detainees.
Allow proper research, discussion and dissemination of information on issues related to press freedom

Guarantee respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
The above recommendations should be sent in appeals to the following addresses:

His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-Bashir
President of the Republic of Sudan
President' s Palace
PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: + 249 183 783223

Mr. Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin
Minister of Justice and Attorney General
Ministry of Justice
Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: + 249 183 788941

Mr. Mustafa Osman Ismail
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: + 249 183 779383

Dr. Abdelmuneim Osman Mohamed Taha
Advisory Council for Human Rights
PO Box 302
Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: + 249 183 770883

His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim,
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva,
PO Box 335,
1211 Geneva,
Switzerland,
Fax: +4122 731 26 56,
E-mail: [email protected].

SOAT is international human rights organisation established in the UK in 1993. If you have any questions about this or any other SOAT information, please contact us:

SOAT
Argo House
Kilburn Park Road
London NW6 5LF, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7625 8055
Fax: +44 (0)20 7372 2656
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.soatsudan.org

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