Justice Needed for Sudan Protester Killing – East African Film Network

By Irene Gaitirira
Published November 20, 2019

Fatal attack on protesters in Sudan in June 2019 were planned and could amount to crimes against humanity.

In a report released on November 18, 2019, a rights watchdog called Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls on Sudan’s transitional authorities to hold those responsible for the lethal attack on protesters to account after decades of violent repression and atrocities against civilians.

Jehanne Henry, associate Africa director at HRW, says the authorities “should start by pursuing justice for the brutal attacks on protesters since last December [2018], ensuring that all investigations are independent and transparent, and conform with international standards.”

The 59-page report, titled They Were Shouting ‘Kill Them’: Sudan’s Violent Crackdown on Protesters in Khartoum, is said to be documenting Sudanese security forces’ attacks on the protesters’ sit-in camp in Khartoum on June 3, 2019, and in days following in other neighborhoods of the capital and neighboring Bahri and Omdurman, all the way to the subsequent attack on protesters on June 30 in Omdurman.

Just before dawn on June 3, HRW says,large numbers of security forces led by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) deployed near the sit-in area and opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing many instantly. The forces raped, stabbed, and beat protesters, and humiliated many, cutting their hair, forcing them to crawl in sewer water, urinating on them, and insulting them. The forces also burned and looted tents and other property in the area. Human Rights Watch has documented brutal attacks on civilians by the RSF in Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile since 2013.

Credible sources, HRW says in its report, estimate that at least 120 people were killed on June 3 and in following days. Hundreds were injured and dozens more are missing. Witnesses said they saw security forces throwing bodies into the Nile. At least two were retrieved from the river with bricks tied to their bodies and gunshot wounds to their heads and torsos.

Countrywide protests started outside Khartoum in mid-December 2018. Triggered by price increases, these quickly evolved into protests against Sudan’s president of 30 years, Omar al-Bashir, and his administration. The protests culminated in a sit-in near the army headquarters in April that resulted in al-Bashir’s ouster on April 11. A transitional military council took power, led by General Abel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, General Mohamed “Hemedti” Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the RSF.

Both are members of the current transitional government’s ‘sovereign council’, sworn in in August following a power sharing deal between military and civilian groups.