(Johannesburg) – Serious abuses have increased in Darfur in the past six months while the world’s attention has focused on Southern Sudan’s upcoming independence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United Nations Security Council, which will be briefed on Darfur on June 8, 2011, and the African Union should do much more to ensure that those responsible for continued war crimes in Darfur are held accountable and press the Sudanese government to end attacks on civilians in Darfur, cease arbitrary detention of rights activists, and reform the state security apparatus, Human Rights Watch said.

The 28-page report, “Darfur in the Shadows: The Sudanese Government’s Ongoing Attacks on Civilians and Human Rights,” documents the intensification of the eight-year conflict over the past six months. Since December 2010, a surge in government-led attacks on populated areas and a campaign of aerial bombing have killed and injured scores of civilians, destroyed property, and displaced more than 70,000 people, largely from ethnic Zaghawa and Fur communities linked to rebel groups, Human Rights Watch said.

“Darfur once commanded the headlines, but now risks being forgotten,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “With only a month before Sudan splits in two, international pressure to end ongoing government abuses and impunity for war crimes in Darfur is more urgent than ever.”

The UN Security Council briefing by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on June 8 about international crimes in Darfur will give governments an important opportunity to insist on Sudan’s cooperation with the ICC and enhance their pressure on Khartoum, Human Rights Watch said. The Sudanese government continues to obstruct the ICC’s work on Sudan and those subject to arrest warrants by the ICC for crimes in Darfur, including President Omar al-Bashir, remain fugitives from justice.

Human Rights Watch’s report is based on research carried out between January and May 2011 in North and South Darfur and Khartoum. Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed over 50 Darfuri witnesses and victims of attacks and human rights abuses, government officials, lawyers, and members of civil society in towns, villages, and displaced persons camps.

The renewed fighting in Darfur began on December 10 with government attacks on Khor Abeche, South Darfur, and Shangil Tobayi, North Darfur following the deterioration in relations between the government and Minni Minawi, the only major Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel leader to have signed the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement.

Government forces continue to violate the laws of war in their military operations against rebel forces with utter impunity. There have been clashes and attacks on civilians in North and South Darfur, as well as eastern Jebel Mara, where fighting since early 2010 had already displaced tens of thousands of civilians further into the mountains. In mid-May alone, government airstrikes in North and South Darfur reportedly killed more than 20 civilians.

“Clear patterns of abuses, often based on ethnicity, have accompanied the renewed fighting,” Bekele said. “The government’s longstanding failure to hold perpetrators accountable appears to be fueling continued violations.”

In just one case documented by Human Rights Watch, during the government attack at Shangil Tobayi on December 21, about 20 soldiers surrounded and ransacked the home of a sheikh, or local leader. They demanded to know his tribe and threatened to “kill all of them [Zaghawas] and rape all their women.” The soldiers stole the sheikh’s farming equipment and abducted his 22-year-old cousin, whom they accused of being a member of the SLA rebel group.

Government human rights violations against civil society activists have also intensified, Human Rights Watch found. On May 6, national security officials arrested HawaAbdallah, a community activist in the Abu Shouk displaced persons camp in El Fasher and an employee of the African Union/United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). On May 8, the state news service published an article accusing her of “Christianizing” children in displaced persons camps and of links to a rebel group – a crime punishable by death under Sudanese law. An accompanying photo of Abdallah holding a Bible shows visible signs of fatigue and what appear to be bruises on her face.

Dozens of other Darfuri activists and displaced people are detained in Darfur and in Khartoum, many without charges and for periods far exceeding the maximum allowed by Sudanese law, Human Rights Watch said.The National Intelligence and Security Service has, since April 24, detained without charge another Sudanese employee of the peacekeeping mission who is a known activist. Two men from Abu Shouk camp who were arrested in the wake of the UN Security Council’s visit in October are also in detention in El Fasher. Four leaders of a group of displaced people have been held under emergency laws for almost two years.

Human Rights Watch documented instances in which government security forces assaulted residents of camps for displaced people, suppressed peaceful student demonstrations, and engaged in sexual violence. The full extent of human suffering and scale of human rights abuses is still not known, however, as the government continues to restrict access to much of Darfur by both the  peacekeepers and humanitarian aid organizations.

Sudan also appears to be pursuing a controversial “domestic political process” inside Darfur that would engage members of Darfuri society in dialogues on solutions to the Darfur conflict. The impact of these dialogues on peace talks with Darfur rebel groups and on new constitutional arrangements in northern Sudan following Southern Sudan’s split is not clear, Human Rights Watch said. The government has also announced creation of two new states in West and South Darfur and plans to hold a referendum on Darfur’s administrative status in July, which rebels and observers contend complicates peace talks.

Southern Sudan will formally secede from the Khartoum government on July 9 under a January referendum for southern independence, called for under the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan’s 22-year long war.

The African Union and UN have both announced support for the new domestic political process in Darfur on condition that Sudan creates an “enabling environment” guaranteeing rights and freedoms of participants. A list of these indicators of a changed situation in Darfur, and how they will be measured, has yet to be made clear.

“The African Union and United Nations, which play a critical role in Darfur, need to ensure their joint peacekeeping mission can properly monitor the human rights situation,” Bekele said. “Any support they provide to Sudan needs to promote and protect rights, not undermine them.”

In March, the Sudanese government said it would end a state of emergency, which empowers the government to detain people without judicial review, in an apparent concession to calls for reform ahead of any political process in Darfur. It has yet to do so, though.

Human rights organizations have long urged Sudan to reform the National Intelligence and Security Service, which is empowered to detain people for long periods without judicial review and is widely known for its ill-treatment and torture of detainees.

The UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005. The court has since issued arrest warrants on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for three suspects for crimes committed in Darfur. In addition to President al-Bashir, they are Ahmed Haroun, governor of Southern Kordofan state, and Ali Kosheib, a “Janjaweed” militia leader. In 2010, the ICC issued a formal finding of non-cooperation by the Sudanese government in the cases of Haroun and Kosheib.

Sudan has also failed to implement any of the key justice recommendations put forth by the African Union’s Panel on Darfur report, issued in October 2009, which highlighted the importance of prosecutions for the worst crimes committed in Darfur.

“The UN Security Council brought the situation in Darfur to the ICC,” Bekele said. “Now it needs to firmly stand by its pledge to the thousands of victims and press for Sudan’s cooperation with the court.”

From Human Rights Watch

Women cast their ballots at Abu Shouk’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Al Fasher, Northern Darfur on April 11, 2010.

© 2010 Reuters

Related Materials:

Democracy on Hold

Sudan: End Post-Election Repression

The national elections were an important milestone of the 2005 peace agreement, which was meant to pave the way forward for Sudan. But pushing the elections-related abuses under the rug would not bode well for the referendum coming up in January.

Rona Peligal, Africa director

(Nairobi) – Both national and southern Sudanese authorities should investigate human rights abuses connected to its April 2010 elections and bring to justice those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Addressing the abuses is especially important as the country prepares for a referendum on self-determination in Southern Sudan, Human Rights Watch said.

The 32-page report, “Democracy on Hold: Rights Violations in the April 2010 Elections,” documents numerous rights violations across Sudan by both northern and southern authorities in the period leading up to, during, and following the April elections. These abuses include restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, particularly in northern Sudan, and widespread intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and physical violence against monitors and opponents of the incumbent parties by Sudanese security forces across the country. The report is based on research carried out between November 2009 and April 2010 in Khartoum and Southern Sudan.

“The national elections were an important milestone of the 2005 peace agreement, which was meant to pave the way forward for Sudan,” said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But pushing the elections-related abuses under the rug would not bode well for the referendum coming up in January.”

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended 22 years of civil war between northern and southern forces, called for Sudan to hold national elections and a referendum on southern self-determination. Southern Sudanese, including more than 1.5 million southerners living in Khartoum and northern states, will decide in the January 2011 vote whether to secede from the north.

Human Rights Watch called on the national unity government to enact genuine reforms called for in the peace agreement, including improvements to the national security apparatus. The national security law currently grants broad powers of search, seizure, and arrest, and allows for detention without judicial review for up to four and a half months, in violation of international law.

Human Rights Watch found that in the months leading up to the April elections the ruling National Congress Party suppressed peaceful assembly by opposition party members in the north and prevented free association and speech. During election week, there were fewer cases of such restrictions, but several cases of harassment, intimidation, and arrest of opposition members and elections observers.

In Southern Sudan, Human Rights Watch documented widespread intimidation, arbitrary arrest, detention, and mistreatment of opponents of the southern ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), as well as of election observers and voters, throughout the elections process in several southern states.

In addition to these rights violations, serious irregularities in the conduct of the election – such as multiple voting, ballot-stuffing, and other acts of fraud – undermined their legitimacy.

On April 26, the elections commission declared both ruling parties the winners in their regions following the vote-counting. Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur, was re-elected president of the national unity government.

In the weeks following the April elections, Human Rights Watch documented a worsening human rights situation across Sudan, with renewed repression in the north, incidents of elections-related violence in the south, and ongoing conflict in Darfur.

Human Rights Watch also called on Sudan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, as required under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593.

“The elections were supposed to help expand democracy in Sudan, but they have had the opposite effect,” Peligal said. “The electoral victory has essentially emboldened the ruling parties, particularly in the north, to crack down on opponents, activists, and journalists.”

The post-election crackdown in Khartoum included the May 15 arrest and detention of the opposition figure Hassan al-Turabi and of journalists, the arrest of Darfuri students, and the resumption of pre-print censorship leading to the suspension of three newspapers.

In early June, security forces violently repressed a peaceful demonstration by Sudanese doctors striking for better wages and working conditions, and detained six doctors without charge until June 24, when the doctors called off the strike. Two of them were subjected to physical mistreatment by national security officials.

In Southern Sudan, simmering disputes over election results between the ruling party and independent candidates have led to clashes between armed forces. In Jonglei state, for example, forces loyal to General George Athor, who unsuccessfully ran for state governor, have clashed with the southern army on multiple occasions since the results were announced. Vote-rigging and intimidation during the elections have led to anger and frustration in the south.

In Darfur, where many communities boycotted the elections process, the Sudanese government continues to carry out armed attacks on rebel factions and civilians, using both aerial bombs and ground forces. In May, this violence caused the highest death tolls in two years.

“Democracy on Hold” also examines the reaction of the international community to the widespread abuses during the elections. The report highlights how political considerations related to efforts to carry out the 2005 agreement, in particular the referendum, have made many international actors reluctant to criticize Sudan’s human rights record.

“Sudan’s international partners have a critical role to play in urging Sudanese authorities to end impunity for abuses,” Peligal said. “Timid silence on their part will both jeopardize the prospects for a peaceful and meaningful referendum and derail the democratic transformation envisioned by the peace agreement.”

Four years after Sudan’s ruling party and the southern rebels signed the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending 21 years of civil war, Sudanese civilians in Darfur, northern states, and the South are still enduring human rights violations and insecurity. The Government of National Unity (GNU) has been unwilling to implement national democratic reforms as envisioned in the CPA. The failure of both Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to implement other provisions of the CPA has contributed to insecurity and led to outright violence in some settings.

Accountability for human rights abuses remains practically nonexistent. On March 4, 2009, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir-the first for a sitting head of state by the ICC-for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.

Darfur

The conflict in Darfur continues to involve government-backed militia forces and rebel and ex-rebel movements that have caused civilian deaths, injuries, and displacement. The government has kept its war machinery in place, with heavy military deployments throughout Darfur, including auxiliary forces such as Border Guards that have absorbed Janjaweed militia into the army. Despite international mediation and diplomatic support, the government and rebel factions have not reached a political solution to the conflict.

In early 2009 fighting between government forces and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels in Muhajeria, South Darfur, displaced more than 40,000 civilians. The government used indiscriminate force through aerial bombing, often in combination with ground forces, to attack civilian populations linked to rebel movements. In May, during government-JEM clashes in North Darfur, witnesses reported heavy aerial bombing on civilian areas with scores killed and many more injured. After a lull during the rainy season, fighting resumed in September when government forces clashed with rebel movements in North Darfur, killing more than a dozen civilians and destroying several villages.

The situation for 2.7 million displaced people and other conflict-affected people living in unprotected villages has not improved. The government’s expulsion of 13 international humanitarian organizations following the ICC arrest warrant for al-Bashir has seriously undermined provision of humanitarian aid to Darfur. Stop-gap measures and one-off distributions averted an immediate catastrophe, but are not sustainable and do not cover protection and human rights programs that were closed down with the expulsions. In addition, criminal banditry and attacks on international aid workers and United Nations staff also hampered humanitarian operations. More than a dozen UN peacekeepers have died from hostilities since the mission’s deployment in January 2008.

Displaced women and girls in towns, camps, and villages throughout Darfur continue to experience sexual violence by government forces, allied militia, rebels, and criminal actors. Between April and June 2009, UN human rights monitors documented 21 cases involving 54 victims, 13 of whom were under 18 and most of whom described attackers as wearing military uniforms. Human Rights Watch research on sexual violence against Darfuri women and girls suggests this number represents a small fraction of actual cases.

Beyond Darfur itself, the government continued to target suspected Darfuri rebels and human rights activists for arrest and detention, particularly after the ICC warrant. The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) documented 16 cases of arrest and detention by government security forces of people alleged to support the ICC or to have provided information to international interlocutors. In April-May 2009 security officials arrested some 20 members of a student group affiliated with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (a Darfur rebel movement), which openly supported the ICC indictment by organizing events at various universities.

More suspected rebels were sentenced to death, bringing the total to 102. The trials, by special courts formed under a 2001 anti-terrorism law to try individuals accused of participating in the May 2008 JEM attack on Omdurman, fell below international standards: defendants had no access to lawyers before trial, were held incommunicado for months, and claimed their confessions were made under duress. The whereabouts of some 200 people who “disappeared” in the post-Omdurman attack crackdown remain unknown.

Civil Society Activism and Media Freedom

The closure of three Sudanese human rights organizations after the ICC’s al-Bashir arrest warrant contributed to an atmosphere of oppression in Darfur and throughout the northern states that prompted more than a dozen lawyers and activists to leave the country.

Between January and June 2009, authorities prevented publication of newspapers on at least 10 occasions through heavy censorship, harassed or arrested journalists and the author of a book on Darfur, and closed an organization that was supporting journalists. In September al-Bashir announced the end of the pre-print censorship policy, but warned journalists to abide by established “red lines,” implying they should not publish articles that are seen as critical of the government.

Insecurity in Southern Sudan

The Government of National Unity’s failure to implement agreements under the CPA on border demarcation and troop deployments threatens to expose civilians to further abuse and insecurity, particularly around the several disputed areas along the North-South border.

During February clashes in Malakal between the NCP-led Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers, former militias whom the SAF had failed to integrate instigated violence and human rights violations. The GNU Presidency has not taken sufficient action to remove SAF ex-militias from the area and reduce the threat of further violence. Both armies have failed to downsize and fully integrate ex-militias in various locations as required by the security arrangements in the CPA.

Abyei, the oil-rich area that straddles the North-South border and is one of three transitional areas governed by separate protocol to the CPA, also remains a flashpoint. In May 2008 clashes between SAF and SPLA soldiers caused near-total destruction of the town and displaced some 60,000 civilians. The parties agreed to restore peace to the area and submitted the question of Abyei’s boundaries to international arbitration. On July 22, 2009, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration awarded much of the area (excluding Meiram and Heglig) to the Dinka Ngok community. Leaders of the Dinka Ngok and the Misseriya (another community claiming land rights over Abyei) publicly accepted the decision, but some Misseriya leaders have made dissenting statements rejecting the demarcation. The parties to the CPA have yet to implement the terms of the Abyei Protocol and the arbitration award.

Elsewhere in the South, severe inter-ethnic fighting, usually linked to competition over resources and exacerbated by the widespread availability of weapons, is the primary and escalating threat to civilians. Intercommunal fighting occurs in many states, but has been most acute in Jonglei: in 2009 alone, attacks and counterattacks between armed members of the Murle and Lou Nuer ethnic communities killed well over 1,200 civilians. Clashes between other armed communities killed hundreds more. Southern Sudanese authorities have been unable to address the underlying causes of these conflicts or protect civilians from the inter-ethnic violence. The Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS) and SPLA are insufficient in number or resources to repel armed attacks, and are not trained to effectively intervene to protect civilians.

Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), and inside Southern Sudan attacked civilian populations, resulting in an influx of refugees to Western and Central Equatoria. An estimated 18,000 refugees from the CAR and DRC are living in camps in Southern Sudan, while 68,000 southern Sudanese are displaced by LRA violence.

Child Soldiers

Children continue to be recruited and used by armed groups in Darfur and eastern Chad, and by groups operating elsewhere in Sudan including Southern Sudan. More than 200 children were abducted by armed groups in the context of inter-ethnic fighting, and scores more were abducted by LRA rebels in attacks on civilians in Southern Sudan.

Key International Actors

International diplomatic attention shifted away from Darfur and focused more on implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and insecurity in Southern Sudan. Despite numerous high-level meetings on Sudan, key governments have not adopted a coherent common strategy. The United States strategy, released in October, broadly outlined an approach to ending conflict and human rights abuses in Darfur and promoting accountability while implementing the CPA and averting conflict. The policy did not, however, articulate clear indicators for progress, and it remains to be seen to what extent human rights and civilian protection priorities will drive US engagement.

The African Union at its July summit called on member states not to cooperate with the ICC in al-Bashir’s arrest and surrender because the UN Security Council had not responded to an AU request that the council defer the case against al-Bashir. Subsequent to the AU’s call for non-cooperation-which is contrary to the obligations of African states parties to the ICC-al-Bashir made moves to attend meetings in Uganda, Nigeria, and Turkey. This generated public outcries and he ultimately did not travel to any.

On October 29 the AU released the report of the High-Level Panel on Darfur offering recommendations to address accountability, impunity, peace, and reconciliation. The Sudanese government has yet to formally respond.

The two international peacekeeping missions in Sudan faced obstacles. UNAMID, now in its second year of operation, is still not fully deployed, and continues to face obstruction in its deployment and movement by the Sudanese government. This undermined its overall effectiveness, including its ability to protect civilians and monitor the humanitarian and human rights situation in Darfur. The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), mandated to monitor the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, also faced access restrictions that undermine its ability to monitor both the ceasefire and the human rights situation, particularly in northern states. The mission has yet to adopt a clear strategy for delivering its mandate to protect civilians in the South.

(New York) – United Nations Security Council members should use the upcoming International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s briefing on Darfur to send a strong message to Sudan to cooperate with the court or face council action, Human Rights Watch said today.

The ICC prosecutor will report on his Darfur investigation to the Security Council on June 11, 2010. On May 25, after three years of inaction by the Sudanese government on ICC arrest warrants, the court took an unprecedented decision to send a formal finding of non-cooperation to the council. Security Council Resolution 1593, which refers the situation in Darfur to the ICC, requires the government of Sudan to cooperate fully.

“Sudan has thumbed its nose at the Security Council’s authority for too long,” said Elise Keppler, international justice senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Council members should make it clear that Sudan cannot ignore its obligation to cooperate with the court.”

In its Darfur investigation, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for three individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In April 2007, the court issued warrants for Ahmed Haroun, then the country’s minister for humanitarian affairs and now governor of Southern Kordofan state, and Ali Kosheib, whose real name is Ali Mohammed Ali, a “Janjaweed” militia leader. In March 2009, the court issued a warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir.Sudan refuses to hand over any of the suspects and on April 19, the prosecutor asked the ICC judges to issue a finding of non-cooperation in the execution of warrants for Haroun and Kosheib under article 87 of the ICC statute. On May 25, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I decided to send the finding of non-cooperation on the warrants to the Security Council.

“The Security Council made the court’s investigation of atrocities in Darfur possible,” Keppler said. “Now it needs to work to ensure that suspects are brought to the dock to face trial.”

The court’s May 25 decision indicates that the finding will be forwarded “in order for the Security Council to take any action it may deem appropriate.” This is the first time a finding of non-cooperation has been sent to the council, so next steps are not fully clear, although the council has a range of options, such as resolutions and sanctions.

Some council members appear to be resisting council response to the finding of non-cooperation over concerns that it could undermine implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the country’s north-south conflict. However, experience has shown that the feared consequences of promoting justice often do not materialize, Human Rights Watch said. Impunity for serious crimes moreover carries the risk of engendering further abuses, which has been underscored by the Sudanese government’s use of the same scorched earth tactics in Darfur that it used in the south.

Human Rights Watch said Sudan’s failure to cooperate should be discussed at a high-level meeting on Sudan that will take place at the Security Council on June 14. The meeting will include briefings by Haile Menkerios, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for the UN mission in Sudan; Ibrahim Gambari, the joint special representative for the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur; Djibril Bassolé, the AU-UN joint chief mediator for Darfur; and Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, who heads the AU High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan.

“Without its own police force, the ICC relies on cooperation to execute warrants,” Keppler said. “It is imperative for both the court’s work and the Security Council’s own credibility that the council acts strongly on the finding of non-cooperation.”

Background
The prosecutor’s briefing, his 11th, is part of bi-annual reporting to the Security Council on his work on Darfur under Resolution 1593, which referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC.

Article 87 of the ICC’s Rome Statute permits the court to issue a finding of non-cooperation. Because Darfur is before the ICC as a result of a Security Council referral, such a finding is sent to the council for follow-up.

In addition to the warrants issued for Haroun, Kosheib, and al-Bashir, the prosecutor is pursuing cases against three Darfuri rebel leaders for attacks on an AU base in Haskanita in Darfur. One of the suspects is Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. The others have not been named publicly. The ICC judges declined to confirm charges against Abu Garda over lack of evidence in February, but the prosecutor has indicated his intention to submit further evidence.

(New York) – The new Sudanese government, led by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), should immediately end its post-election repression of journalists, the media, opposition leaders, and activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also urgently enact reforms promised in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Human Rights Watch said.

The government should either lawfully charge or promptly free several journalists and student members of the opposition United Popular Front (UPF) who have been detained without charge, some in undisclosed locations, Human Rights Watch said. Over the past two weeks, national security officials have arrested two leading opposition figures and four journalists and resumed harsh pre-print censorship.

“The National Congress Party is trying to silence political opponents, the media, and activists to stifle criticism and dissent and consolidate control,” said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This repression sends a clear message that, instead of strengthening democracy, the April multi-party elections merely emboldened the party in its abuse.”

In the national elections in April 2010, President Omar al-Bashir, subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, was re-elected. Human Rights Watch researchers on the ground prior to and during the election found the process marred by widespread repression and human rights abuses compounded by logistical and technical failures.

On May 15, National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers arrested the opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, of the People’s Congress Party (PCP), at his home in Khartoum and detained him at Kober prison, where he remains without charge. Al-Turabi is a vocal critic of the ruling party and has accused it of rigging the elections.

That evening, national security officers arrested and detained at least four journalists in a raid on the PCP-affiliated newspaper, Rai al-Shaab, and shut it down. One of the journalists, Abuzar al-Amin, told his family he was badly mistreated by national security and subjected to electrical shocks before being moved to police custody. Photographs received by Human Rights Watch show marks of torture on his body. The whereabouts of the other three journalists is unknown.

On May 19, security officials entered the offices of another opposition newspaper, Ajras Alhurria, which had been acting as host to journalists from Rai al-Shaab and running its logo in an act of solidarity. Security officials ordered editors to remove 6 of 12 pages, forcing the paper to cancel the edition. The banned articles reported the arrests of al-Turabi and the journalists, and the escalating violence in Darfur. Security officials also went to the offices of two other newspapers, Alsahafa and Alsudani, to remove articles.

National security censors have continued to censor newspapers prior to publication through site visits and phone calls to editors, which Sudanese journalists refer to as “remote control censorship.”

On May 20, security officials arrested Farouk Abu Eissa, a prominent lawyer and head of a coalition of opposition parties, and questioned him for three hours about the opposition’s support for al-Turabi and the ICC. A delegation of opposition parties plan to attend an ICC review conference in Kampala next month.

Separately, national security forces continue to target student members of the United Popular Front (UPF), a student group that the government alleges has links to the Darfur rebel group led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur. On May 11, security officials in Khartoum arrested three more members of this group, one of whom was released and reported to family and friends that officers took the three to an unknown location, tortured them, and interrogated them about the group’s activities. The other two remain in detention in unknown locations.

Human Rights Watch research has found that dozens of the group’s members have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture by national security officials over the past year.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly flouted promises to end pre-print censorship, last made by al-Bashir in September 2009, and other promises to enact democratic reforms as required under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. These include reforming the repressive national security apparatus and bringing flawed criminal and media laws in line with the Interim National Constitution.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended a brutal 20-year civil war and set out a six-year period for democratic transformation that included elections and a referendum on southern self-determination in January 2011. Human Rights Watch said that ongoing abuses by the NCP-dominated government do not bode well for a fair, just, and non-violent referendum process, in which southern Sudanese, including the more than 1.5 million southerners living in Khartoum and northern states, will decide whether Southern Sudan should secede from the northern states.

“The best way to ensure a peaceful referendum is to ensure respect for basic rights across the country,” Peligal said. “The new government should immediately release the critics it has arbitrarily detained, and make the changes envisioned by the peace agreement and the Sudanese constitution rather than harass critics and punish peaceful dissent.”

The new Sudanese government is also required to cooperate with the ICC. Al-Bashir should respond in The Hague to the charges against him, Human Rights Watch said.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir waves to supporters at the NCP Headquarters in Khartoum on April 26, 2010.

(New York) – Governments that are committed to justice for atrocities committed in Darfur should not attend the inauguration of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan on May 27, 2010, Human Rights Watch said in a letter released today.  This includes the 111 states that are parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as the United States and other members of the United Nations Security Council, which referred Darfur to the ICC in 2005.

President al-Bashir is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the ICC in March 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur. Sudan has consistently obstructed cooperation with the ICC’s investigations and prosecutions for crimes in Darfur.

“Al-Bashir is a fugitive from justice who should be arrested, not feted.” said Elise Keppler, International Justice Program senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Attendance at al-Bashir’s inauguration would send a terrible message to victims in Darfur, and globally.”

ICC states parties are obligated to cooperate with the court under the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, and they should demonstrate support for its work, Human Rights Watch said. UN guidelines, which limit contact by UN representatives with persons wanted by international criminal courts to essential contacts, state that attendance at “any ceremonial or similar occasion” should be avoided.

Attendance at the inauguration would be particularly unfortunate in the lead-up to the first review conference of the ICC’s Rome Statute, which will take place in Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11. The review conference will be a moment of significant attention to the court’s work and an important time to showcase state party dedication to the cause of international justice, Human Rights Watch said.

“Diplomats attending al-Bashir’s inaugural would be making a mockery of their governments’ support for international justice,” Keppler said.

EU member states face particular questions over their possible attendance at the inauguration, Human Rights Watch said.  The EU has a common position in support of the ICC, and the EU has regularly denounced Sudan’s failure to cooperate with the ICC’s investigations and to execute pending arrest warrants. In June 2008, the EU foreign affairs ministers and the EU heads of government and state publicly pledged that they would consider “additional measures” against those responsible for non-cooperation with the ICC on this issue. In addition, the EU Council is expected to adopt conclusions the day before the inauguration reiterating its unwavering support for the ICC.

“The EU can’t have it both ways,” Keppler said. “It should be consistent in its efforts to bring justice for crimes committed in Darfur.”