New killings and rapes in Western Sudan (5/7/04)

The Massaleit Community in Exile has received very disturbing news that pro-government militia forces are now operating freely inside the major towns of Western Sudan and killing civilians right under the nose of the Sudanese army. At approximately 2 pm on Tuesday, May 4 (2004), two Massaleit men were gunned down and killed by militiamen in Geneina town, the capital of the Dar Massaleit region in Western Sudan. The murders occurred while the United Nations investigative team was still present in the city, and when they investigated the incident, the government reportedly explained the incident by simply indicating that the two victims were SLA supporters. The Sudanese government apparently believes that extra-judicial killings are legitimate if the victims are not supporters of its bloody regime.

Both victims were internally-displaced persons, seeking refuge in Geneina town from the violence in the countryside. The names of the two victims are:

Tigani Mohamed Abdul-Khiyr Abdallah, a merchant or trader from the village of Habeela-Kanary. The killers robbed him of his money (approximately one and a half million Sudanese pounds) before killing him.

Ahmed Abdul-Karim Ahmed Matta, also a trader, from the village of Orbe.

On the same day as these killings, eight Massaleit girls who were victims of sexual violence arrived in Geneina from the area around the village of Drobta. The United Nations team was able to meet with the girls, who were seeking refuge in Geneina after having been gang-raped by members of the

Janjaweed militias during an attack on their camps near their destroyed villages. Despite the fact that these girls were badly brutalized by sexual violence, doctors in the government hospitals at Geneina and Habeela refused to receive them for treatment, and they were sent back to the Noss camp east of Geneina near the destroyed village of Menmery. The government of Sudan refuses to deliver the food, shelter, and medical supplies provided by the United Nations to the displaced

people unless they return back to their destroyed villages. Because of the lack of security, and the on-going campaign of ethnic cleansing against black African civilians, many refugees find it impossible and highly inadvisable to return to areas where Janjaweed militias remain active and continue to raid refugee camps. The RMCE has received the names of the rape victims:

Aisha Ishag Shriff, 7 years old, from the village of Dewait.

Fatima Mohamed, 11 years old, from the village of Dewait.

Fatima Zakerya,16 years old, from the village of Dewait.

Salwa Zakerya,17 years old, from the village of Dewait.

Zahara Zakerya Abdalla, 35 years old, from the village of Dewait.

Khadiga Adam Hammad, 11 years old, from the village of Gabel.

Fatehia Arbab Mohamed, 17 years old, from the village of Gadeer.

Maryom Yousif, 10 years old, from the village of Tabarik.

Hawaa Adam Arbab, 27 years old, from the village of Tabarik.

The RMCE is also very concerned about the miserable situation in which Western Sudanese displaced persons find themselves at the Nivsha Camp in the Mayo district of Khartoum South. We

have learned that on Monday, May 3 (2004), thousands of displaced persons at this camp were attacked by government forces who came into the camp in 26 trucks and beat the refugees before abducting many of them and putting them in the trucks and then dumping them outside of Khartoum in an unknown location. The situation of these abducted refugees is unknown, but the RMCE believes that many lives are at risk.

In another development, the RMCE has received news confirming that members of the Lord's Resistance Army, the notorious Ugandan rebel group supported by the government of Sudan and

responsible for countless brutalities on civilians in Northern Uganda, are present in Western Sudan. These forces are now active in Western Sudan, cooperating with the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militias in launching attacks on civilians and in training members of the Janjaweed.

The scope of the violence in Western Sudan seems to have no end. The RMCE is appalled and deeply angered by the indiscriminate killings and rapes of civilians sponsored by the government of Sudan. That the government of Sudan has been able to keep its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission is a macabre development that should dumbfound the international community. That the African countries at the United Nations would nominate Sudan for this seat should discredit anything African countries have to say. How can the international community take African countries seriously on any matter when they are so craven as to nominate Sudan, one of the worst abusers of human rights on the planet today and over many decades, to this seat? The people of Africa deserve much better than governments who tacitly support an ongoing process of ethnic cleansing and serial war crimes that may lead to genocide. The RMCE is sickened that human life is accorded such low importance by African governments. This is a deep shame for all African people.