Arrests and confiscation of property: army violations against civilians continue in the war in Sudan
Local and international human rights groups continue to document the abuses faced by the population, committed directly by armed forces affiliated with the Port Sudan authority or by extremist Islamist militias allied with it.
On Wednesday, January 14, the Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights issued a statement condemning the ongoing campaign of arbitrary arrests carried out by the army, police, and agencies linked to the Port Sudan authority against civilians.
The observatory said in its statement: “The campaign of arbitrary arrests carried out by Sudanese army officials and security apparatus against civilians continues,” adding that “one of the young men was arbitrarily arrested, beaten, bound hand and foot, humiliated, and forcibly photographed, then transferred to one of the detention centers, where he faces an unknown fate.”
The observatory also published other images showing “the confiscation of private property from citizens without legal or legitimate military cause in the capital, Khartoum, in a clear violation of international humanitarian law by Sudanese police forces.”
Observers noted that “the confiscation of citizens' property during the war without compelling military necessity constitutes a clear war crime punishable by imprisonment and could be brought before the International Criminal Court.”
It was also reported that Sudanese Army warplanes carried out airstrikes against residential areas in Abu Zaid and Bara, in West Kordofan state, on Sunday, November 11, in a clear continuation of the indiscriminate and systematic bombing that has caused human casualties and damage to infrastructure since the start of the war.
On January 4 of this month, the Sudanese army launched attacks on the areas of Al-Zurug and Gharir in North Darfur state, hitting a hospital and a popular market, leaving hundreds dead and wounded, according to reports from the Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights, as well as local newspapers and political parties and forces that documented the attacks that occurred on the morning of Saturday, January 3.
Sudan's Umma Al-Qawi Party condemned the military leadership in Port Sudan and held it responsible for “the full moral, political, and legal responsibility for the serious violations that occurred in the attacks,” describing what happened as a complete crime.
The party stated in its communiqué: “We condemn the attack on civilians by army drones in the areas of Al-Zurug and Gharir in North Darfur, which led to the attack and total destruction of the Al-Zurug hospital, as well as the central market in the Gharir area, resulting in the deaths of dozens of civilians.”
The Sudanese Founding Alliance (“Ta'sis”) rejected the continued attacks by the army and the Muslim Brotherhood, the attack on a hospital and a market, and the killing of civilians. The alliance, which brings together numerous civilian, political, popular, and military forces, issued a statement condemning the attacks.
The Ta'sis statement noted that “the army attacked the only hospital in the area, which burned down completely, killing more than 64 civilians, mostly women and children, as well as medical staff, and injuring dozens of civilians.” It also announced “its total condemnation of all violations and crimes committed by the army or the Muslim Brotherhood organization that controls it against civilians, in flagrant defiance of international and humanitarian law.”
The Sudanese Observatory accused the Port Sudan Army forces and the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization of ignoring their moral and legal responsibility by failing to take the necessary measures during the war and deliberately attacking civilian sites on more than one occasion, as documented in the report of the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, presented to the Security Council last year.
The observatory confirmed that what happened “constitutes a international and humanitarian law and a crime that cannot be justified under any pretext, especially after the attack on the Al-Zurug hospital, its total destruction, and the death of everyone inside,” and considered that what is happening “is a clear disregard for the lives of civilians and a violation of the principles of protection of the civilian population enshrined in international and humanitarian law.”
A series of violations and sanctions
International sanctions have been imposed on the Sudanese army, the Port Sudan authority, and militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization on several occasions during the war, which broke out in mid-April 2023. Among the most notable are the US sanctions last May, following “confirmation of the army's use of internationally banned chemical weapons.”
The US State Department had announced the imposition of sanctions on the Port Sudan authority and the army for the use of chemical weapons on at least two occasions in 2024, and issued a statement confirming “the restriction of US exports to Sudan and the imposition of limits on financial borrowing as of last June,” according to statements by State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
Last September, Washington announced new sanctions against the Port Sudan authority, specifically against Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim and the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade, the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been fighting alongside the army since the beginning of the war.
In an official statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said that “the sanctions target Sudanese Islamist actors, namely Minister Ibrahim and the extremist brigade,” for their role in undermining peace and stability in Sudan.