MEMORANDUM ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION, MARCH 2001

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UMMA PARTY MEMORANDUM

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

MARCH 2001

Theoretically, the Human Rights situation has changed for the better in the Sudan. The Regime accepts political plurality, it accepts Religious freedom, it accepts the need to respect Human Rights and Basic Freedoms.

Secondly, the regime has effectively withdrawn its Ideological Islamicist Agenda and now speaks a different ideological language, namely, that citizenship shall be the basis for Constitutional Rights, that the country’s unity will be based upon a voluntary basis, that Government shall be based upon peaceful succession through free and fair elections, that Regional relations shall be based upon good neighborliness, and that International Relations shall be based upon International Peace and cooperation.

Such developments should be recognized and encouraged.

However, in practice there are several setbacks for two basic reasons:

First Reason: The new policy has not yet spread to the whole system, so that there are parts of the system, which find themselves more at home with the Totalitarian practice.

Second Reason: The fact that there is a continuous war, that some political elements consort with armed groups, and that the break- away NPC (Dr. Turabi’s Party) continues to challenge the ruling party to a show down, such considerations have provided the security institutions with justifications for their measures.

We outline here the main setback aspects:

1.      The prolongation of the State of Emergency for another year. This measure, concerning the areas where there are no military operations, is unjustifiable.

2.      The General Elections of December 2000 are non- elections. They have no democratic value. They simply mean that the Regime has re-elected itself. Their only justification is that the Regime needed to complete its constitutional institutions, and to prevent the emergence of a Constitutional Vacuum. For this justification to be acceptable, the Regime should declare its intention to hold a New General Election as soon as a Comprehensive Political Agreement is in place. Further they may use the Assembly to enact the equired democratic reforms.

3.      Press Freedom:

Press Freedom has been abused in several ways, namely:

o       Confiscation of papers from the press if they contain material, which does not please security officers. The legal body responsible for overseeing the Press is the Press Council and not the security officers.

o       The instruction in the last minute to delete certain items, for example, ALKHARTOUM of 11/3/2000.

o       Summoning editors to be interrogated by security, for example, ALFRED TABAN, ALBINU OKINI, MAHJOUB MOHAMMAD SALIH.

o       Daily visits to the different papers by way of scrutiny.

o       Intimidation and threats of arrests, and actual arrets.

o       The instructions by Security that certain subjects are not for publication, namely,

§         News about the NPC.

§         Trade union elections.

§         The UN envoy on Human Rights.

o       The Journal RAY Al SHAAB has been shut down without any legal procedure.

4.      Several Students from a number of Universities have been dismissed for no good reason. The number now is about 500. Students have many justifiable grievances because Higher Education in Sudan has been increased a 1000% in two years without accompanying resources. Campus Student Unions have been suppressed.

5.      There have been several political arrests:

o       Some, for example, the two lawyers Ghazi Suleiman, and Ali Mahmoud, were arrests without trial.

o       Some have been arrests pending trial, namely, the NDA Secretariat, and the leader and cadres of the NPC.

6.      The Governor of Khartoum issued in September 2000 a regulation, which prohibited women to work in certain activities, viz, pump stations, Hotels, Restaurants, and coffee shops. This regulation is discriminatory in terms of Human Rights, and unconstitutional.

7.      There has been bombing of civilian targets in the course of the current civil war.

8.      At some point in the past, there were policies, which through JIHAD, and militia activity led to captivation of fighters and inhuman treatment. However, the much-publicized accusation of slavery is based on disinformation, especially after the initiation of the new policies since 1998. Intertribal abuse of Human Rights does exist. Some Missionary activists have used the fall out from the old policies, and the tribal abuses, to build a case for legalized slavery in Sudan to justify pressure against Sudan Government, and to capture more resources for their activity.

9.      Several restrictive laws are still in place, and could be activated, if necessary.

In spite of these setbacks, there is greater recognition of political plurality in Sudan than in many “South World” countries. There is also a higher level of transparency, for example, access given to the International media, and the approval for a permanent UN Commission of Human Rights in Sudan.

General Observations

1-     Several Human Rights activists note the abuses of Human Rights without sufficient attention to certain realities. Unless the civil war stops, there will always be abuse of Human Rights by all parties to the conflict. The recent Declaration of the COMBONI Missionaries (19 January 2001) is a case in point.

2-     Basic Freedoms in non-combatant areas could only be protected if all concerned renounce violence.

3-     The International Community’s concern for:

·        Human Rights.

·        Humanitarian relief.

Will be no more than isolated, ineffective do gooding, unless accompanied by a serious concern for, and pressure towards, cease-fire, renunciation of violence, respect for Human Rights, and Basic Freedoms, and serious negotiations to achieve a Comprehensive Political Agreement. These measures should be conceived as a package, and an efficient mechanism for their realization should be sought. It is time that concern for Human Rights move from the micro- level to the macro- level.

The Umma Party is seeking a National, Regional and International coalition to resolve Sudan’s crisis through the two key processes: Peace, and Democratic Transformation. Without them all efforts would be doomed to fail.

UMMA PARTY

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