Massaleit Leader Assassinated in Western Sudan (4/1/2003)

On 18 March 2003, Sudanese government-sponsored Arab militias opened fire on Shiek Saleh Dakoro and four companions while they were on the route from Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, to Kokota village. The Shiek was immediately taken to a hospital in Geneina and later transferred to Khartoum, where he died from his wounds on 27 March 2003. The assailants fled into Geneina, and up to date no one has been apprehended in connection to this act.

Shiek Saleh Dakoro, about 69 years old, was a respected leader of all Massaleit Shieks. His death is not an isolated criminal act, as the government and its supporters are likely to suggest, but the continuation of a policy of eliminating leaders of groups and communities accused or suspected of opposing the government.

In the past few months, the Sudanese government security forces and Arab militias have dramatically increased attacks against leaders of Massaleit, Fur, Zaghawa, Tama and other non-Arab groups in Western Sudan. These attacks are in response to the formation of a new armed movement in Western Sudan: the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) which has recently captured a number of areas previously held by the government. The authorities have retaliated with targeted attacks against civilian community leaders who are unconnected to SLM/A, as well as random acts of violence against the civilian population in Western Sudan.

We are concerned that the Sudanese government is exploiting international focus on the current conflict in Iraq to escalate human rights abuses in Western Sudan, an area not covered by the ceasefire between the government and the Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). We are additionally concerned at the possibility that Sudan's human rights status will be "upgraded" from an item 9 to an item 19, which requires removal of the UN Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan. This would be extremely inappropriate given the escalation of human rights violations in a signification portion of the country.