Agency pins Sudan on rights abuses

Abuse of rights. The human rights body says the Sudanese government’s involvement in the armed conflict over Abyei region last year, crackdown on the media, protesters and political activists deteriorated human rights records.

On the event of publishing its 2012 world report, Human Rights Watch, has stated that Sudan’s human rights record deteriorated in 2011.

The report, which said that although South Sudan’s secession from Sudan was peaceful, stated that “Sudan saw increasing popular unrest and widening armed opposition in the months that followed.”

The report added that “in May, Sudan conducted a military offensive to take over Abyei in which government forces and allied militia burnt and looted homes and other property, causing more than 100,000 civilians to flee.”

Spread of conflict
In addition to Abyei, Sudan’s conflicts have spread to its other border states with South Sudan.

In June 2011, a conflict erupted in South Kordofan state and another destructive conflict has raged in Blue Nile state since September 2011 and the human rights situation in the embattled Darfur region did not dramatically improve and the eight-year old conflict was not resolved.

The report also spoke about the crackdown on protestors, the media and political activists since the beginning of the year.
Many were arrested and subjected to torture following protests that emulated the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia and Egypt in Khartoum early 2011.

Many alleged supporters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- North Faction were arrested in the early days of the conflicts in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

The report ends by reflecting on the international responses to the alarming human rights abuses in Sudan.

“World leaders congratulated Sudan for allowing the South’s secession, but were largely mute in response to the human rights and laws of war violations in Kordofan and Blue Nile. “ read the report which added that the UN and the AU did not condemn these serious violations.

Rights abuses.
Some human rights organisations have documented a variety of abuses and atrocities carried out by the Sudanese government over the past several years.

The 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted serious concerns over human rights violations by the government and militia groups.

The civil war involving north-south tensions, the Darfur conflict involving Arab-tribespeople tensions in the Darfur region in the west—have resulted in rape, torture, killings, and massive population displacements (estimated at over 2 million in 2007.