SUDAN
REPUBLIC OF SUDAN
Head of state and government: Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Capital: Khartoum
Population: 31.8 million
Official language: Arabic
Death penalty: retentionist

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Unarmed civilians continued to be killed in the 18-year conflict between government and allied forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and other armed opposition groups, many as a result of indiscriminate bombing or direct attack by government forces and allied militias. Human rights abuses in war zones were committed with impunity by all parties to the conflict, including summary and arbitrary executions, torture, abductions and sexual violence against women and forcible recruitment of children into fighting forces. Tens of thousands were displaced and faced starvation, with relief supplies disrupted by insecurity. In government-controlled territory, the security forces reportedly tortured detainees and used excessive force against demonstrators which resulted in deaths. Political opponents were arbitrarily detained without charge or trial for long periods, and lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders harassed and intimidated. Restrictions on freedom of association, assembly and expression remained in force. At least three executions were carried out; as many as 26 death sentences were reported to have been passed.

Background

The civil war continued to be driven by competition for control of oil fields in the Upper Nile and Southern Blue Nile regions. The SPLA attacked government-backed oil installations, while government forces increased aerial bombing and pro-government militias attacked civilians, apparently to displace them from areas of oil activities. The government and the SPLA continued to arm and support militias from the Nuer community, increasing interfactional fighting, ethnic tensions and attacks on civilians. In May, there was a split in the main Nuer armed group, the Sudan People's Democratic Front/Defence Force, as some commanders signed a memorandum of understanding with the SPLA.

Sudan gained wider acceptance on the international scene. The European Union continued its dialogue with the authorities and Sudan was voted onto the UN Commission on Human Rights in May. The government condemned the 11 September attacks in the USA and reportedly arrested suspects in Sudan at the request of the US authorities. On 28 September, the UN Security Council lifted sanctions on Sudan. The US government did not veto the lifting of UN sanctions, but extended for a year bilateral sanctions imposed since 1989. It initiated new moves to bring the parties to the internal conflict to peace negotiations.

Indiscriminate bombing of civilians

More than 100 incidents of air force bombings were reported in the regions of the Upper Nile, Southern Blue Nile, Bahr-el-Ghazal, Southern Kordofan and Equatoria, resulting in deaths and injuries of civilians. Soldiers dropped bombs manually from the back of gun ships and high-altitude planes, and there appeared to be no attempt to distinguish between military and civilian targets. Houses and health centres were destroyed, and relief operations were hampered.

• In January and February, areas under SPLA control in Southern Blue Nile were bombed. Four bombs were dropped on Kurmuk on 11 January, killing three civilians, damaging a hospital and resulting in the temporary evacuation of humanitarian staff. On the same day, three civilians were killed and a women's compound damaged in Yabus where 12 bombs were dropped.
• On 26 November government forces reportedly dropped six bombs on Malual Kon, killing two civilians, and three bombs between Malhualbai and Madhol, east of Malakal, killing two more.

Unlawful killings

Both government and armed opposition forces carried out unlawful killings of civilians.

• In January, four villages near Guelguk in Southern Blue Nile were reportedly attacked by pro-government forces to displace the population and allow a new oil concession to be developed. At least 11 civilians in Dhowanyawa and 12 in Tenykak were reportedly killed, including six elders and seven children. The attackers allegedly pursued and shot dead residents who fled.
• Government forces reportedly launched aerial and ground attacks on civilian settlements in a major offensive on SPLA-held areas of the Nuba Mountains in May. Civilians were reported killed in three villages near Heiban, homes and crops burned and property looted. In Karda, soldiers reportedly burned to death two elderly people in their home.
• In November, Judge Mulana Agustinho al Nur Shamila was killed in his house in Kumo, reportedly by the paramilitary Popular Defence Forces (PDF).

Internal displacement

Tens of thousands of people fled direct attacks by government and rebel forces in Upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazal, and government offensives in the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile. Many were inaccessible to relief agencies because of the conflict or because the government obstructed relief flights to disputed territory.

In the contested oil-rich areas of Upper Nile and Southern Blue Nile, tens of thousands of inhabitants fled attacks by government and rebel forces. With their relatives dead or injured, homes and crops destroyed, and cattle stolen or killed, many were unable to support themselves.

• In May and June, SPLA attacks on the government-controlled towns of Raga and Deim Zubeir in Bahr-el-Ghazal displaced up to 50,000 people, according to UN estimates. Many fled to Southern Darfur, a region already affected by drought. Others remained in surrounding areas, at risk of bombings and attacks. In October, in a government counter-offensive, the air force bombed Mangayath, halting international aid deliveries to 20,000 displaced people, forcing them to flee again.

Abuses against women and children

Women and children were reportedly abducted and raped, and boys forcibly recruited to fight, by all forces involved in the conflict.

Soldiers reportedly abducted and gang-raped women and girls travelling by foot along roads in Upper Nile between April and June. A climate of fear and lack of mechanisms for handling rape allegations meant that most rapes were not reported. The PDF and government-allied Muraheleen militias drawn from the Baggara tribes reportedly kept women and children, captured in raids, in slavery-like conditions, using them for domestic and field labour. Thousands of women and children abducted during the 18-year conflict reportedly remained unaccounted for, despite the existence since 1999 of a governmental Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children, mandated to trace and reunite them with their families. SPLA and allied forces allegedly abducted and raped women and girls.

• In November, the abduction of a Kenyan relief worker by PDF troops near Niamlel in Bahr-el-Ghazal highlighted continuing abductions by the PDF and Muraheleen along the railway line from Babanusa to Wau. She was released two weeks later.

Women's rights

In January, the President was reported as saying that Sudan would not sign the UN Women's Convention because it was contrary to Sudanese family values. Also in January the government amended the Labour Law by decree to prohibit women from working in physically demanding jobs. By the end of 2001, the Constitutional Court had not ruled on the constitutionality of a 2000 decree banning women from working in public places in Khartoum which had been challenged in the courts and subsequently suspended.

Women in Khartoum State continued to be harassed and ill-treated by police enforcing the Public Order Law, which restricts women's freedom of movement and regulates their behaviour and dress under threat of summary trial, flogging and imprisonment.

Torture and cruel punishment

The security forces tortured people suspected of opposing the government.

• Following his arrest in July in Rodom, Southern Darfur, Sebit Hassan Ramada was reportedly beaten every day for 16 days while in incommunicado detention in Buram. According to reports, Haggar Sesingere, also arrested in July in Rodom, was beaten and had his fingernails pulled out while in incommunicado detention for six weeks.

The courts handed down harsh punishments after unfair and summary trials.

• Five men had their right hands and left legs amputated on 25 and 27 January in Kober prison, Khartoum, after being convicted of armed robbery. The same sentences of ''cross-amputation'', imposed on another 19 men at the same time, had not been carried out by the end of 2001.
• In April, six women and three children were among a group of 56 Christians given 15 to 20 lashes each after being convicted of public disorder in a summary trial in Khartoum at which they were refused legal representation. They were arrested at a meeting in a church, and police used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the crowd gathered inside.

Death penalty

Three men were executed and as many as 26 death sentences were passed in Darfur in December.

• Abok Alfa Akok, a non-Muslim, was convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by a court in Southern Darfur which tried her under Islamic law. The trial failed to meet international standards. An appeal against the sentence was planned.

Excessive use of force

The police and the security services used live ammunition, tear gas and beatings with sticks during arrests and to break up public meetings and demonstrations, resulting in deaths and injuries.

• No investigation was known to have taken place into the killings by armed police and the security services at Al-Gezira university in Medani in August. Two students, Mutasim Mohamed El Hassan and Yahia El Hussain, were shot dead and 16 others injured in clashes between students and armed police after violent unrest between students of different political affiliations.
• On 24 May, Ali Ahmed al Bashir, a member of the Popular National Congress (PNC) party, was shot dead near his house by security officers. Following a public outcry, the government ordered an investigation into the killing and three officers were suspended from duty, charged with murder and went on trial in September. Three further officers were subsequently also charged with murder.

Political detentions

The authorities detained political opponents, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders under a December 2000 amendment to the 1999 National Security Act. The amendment allowed the security services to detain without charge or trial anyone suspected of ''conspiracy against the state'' for renewable periods of 123 days. The amendment specifically denied detainees judicial recourse. Some political detainees were released and charges against them withdrawn in October.

• Eight detained members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an alliance of opposition parties, were charged with ''conspiracy against the state'' in March. They had been arrested in December 2000 while meeting a US diplomat. They were released in October after the President publicly announced that charges against them were withdrawn. Lawyers Ali Mahmoud Hasanain and Ghazi Suleiman, arrested in December 2000 for protesting against the NDA arrests, were released without charge in February.
• Several PNC leaders and supporters were arrested in February and over the following months. The leaders were accused of ''conspiracy against the state'' but not formally charged. On 1 October the government announced that the accusations against them were dismissed and they were all released except for leading member Hassan al-Turabi. He and at least 13 PNC supporters were rearrested on 2 October at a political meeting, and remained in detention without charge or trial at the end of the year.
• Nageeb Nagmeldin el Toum, Director of the Amal Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Physical and Mental Trauma, was detained for more than two weeks in March and property and medical files seized. Faisal el Bagir, a staff member at the Centre, was detained incommunicado for 12 days. Both were released uncharged. The Centre's files and property were returned in December.
• In October, Communist Party members Youseif Husein and Abbas Mohamed al Tahir were detained and were still held, incommunicado, at the end of 2001.

The security services detained and threatened journalists critical of the war or government policies, and submitted privately owned print media to censorship before publication.

• Albino Okieny, Chief Editor of the privately owned newspaper Khartoum Monitor, and journalists Alfred Taban and Nhyal Bohl were briefly detained for questioning several times. In October and November they were detained for questioning about articles critical of the government before being released on bail to await trial on charges of ''inciting hatred against the state''. The trial had not begun by the end of 2001.

AI country visits/reports

Statements

• Sudan: Church shootings and arrests must be investigated (AI Index: AFR 54/009/2001)
• Sudan: Talisman Energy must do more to protect human rights (AI Index: AFR 54/010/2001)

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