Press Release

Strong condemnation of state violence in the North
Necessary measures to protect the natives protesting the government.

23\4\06

The Sudan Human Rights organization Cairo Office is gravely concerned for the murderous attacks on the citizens of the Merwoe Dam area by government security forces and militia groups on the 22nd of April, 2006.

As relayed by several witnesses, as well as families of the injured citizens, the attack was planned and executed by the assaulting troop in collaboration with the security headquarters of the dam administration, which had been threatening with “severe reactions” the natives opposing the dam’s location and the resettlement plans for the natives far away from their ancestral land at the Nile banks.

These security/administrative threats were repeatedly followed in the past two years by arbitrary arrests of members of the committees established by the natives to negotiate with the Khartoum administration. Yesterday, three citizens were immediately killed and tens other participants were injured by an armed group in a public meeting discussing the situation of the dam at a local institute of education.

Months ago, the dam areas witnessed violent reactions by the natives against restrictions preventing the access of Bedouin animals to the Nile drinking water at the construction area. The Khartoum and the dam administrations failed to appreciate the native concerns. Instead of resuming peaceful talks with the local committees, the government curtailed the right of people to hold peaceful assemblies to pursue their unattended community concerns.

The Organization has repeatedly alerted the authorities to avert the danger of imposing one-sided state plans on the local communities that ultimately violate the constitutional rights of citizens as well as the internationally-recognized norms.

The Merow, the Hamadab, and the other constructions planned by the Central Government for the establishment of electric power, irrigation schemes, or any other developmental programs in the Nile and/or the Northern states shall sustain public benefits only when they recognize the well-being of the local communities, above and before the aggregate state/foreign enterprise.

SHRO-Cairo condemns in the strongest terms possible the unlawful use of force against the inhabitants of the Merowe Dam areas.
The Organization asks the competent authorities to conduct an immediate judicial investigation on the murderous attacks, the security personnel that planned them, and members of the government and/or militia groups that executed them.

All accused persons of the murderous attack should be promptly put to a public trial

The injured party and their families must be compensated by law.

SHRO-Cairo calls on the Committee on the Judiciary at the Transitional National Council, and the concerned Members of Parliament to take the necessary measures to complete the un-accomplished tasks of the fact finding committees previously created by state law to investigate the murderous attacks by the government and/or militia groups against the natives opposing the Government, as occurred in the Port Sudan massacres, as well as the unabated crimes against humanity in the cities and local communities of Sudan, with due respect to the international resolutions of the UN Security Council on the suspects of genocide and other crimes committed against humanity in Darfur.