Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Sudan: Musa Hilal faces court martial in Khartoum (Part 1)

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: A few minutes ago (12 noon in England, UK) I completed drafting six blog posts featuring Sheikh Musa Hilal of North Darfur, Sudan.

Radio Dabanga in The Netherlands is doing such a fine job of reporting that I have re-printed, here below, their article on Musa Hilal published today [10 Sep], re-titled it "Part 1" and, as a matter of urgency, I have followed it by jumping to my blog post titled "Part 6" and re-titled it "Part 2" in order to bring it forward for publishing today. The other parts, and more, will follow this week. Yellow highlighting is mine.

In my view, this news is important and urgent. Musa Hilal and his relatives and affiliates must be protected as soon as possible, kept safe and taken good care of, now and in the future, as they could help bring peace to Darfur and Sudan, and South Sudan. God bless the Sudanese people and the peace makers. 

Article from Radio Dabanga.org
Dated 10 September 2019 - KHARTOUM / MISTERIYA
Former Darfur janjaweed leader Hilal faces court martial in Sudan capital
Photo:  A bewildered Musa Hilal arrives in Khartoum after his arrest in Darfur in 2017 (RD)

A military court in Khartoum resumed proceedings on Tuesday [10 Sep 2019] to try former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, who was detained two years ago, along with hundreds of his supporters.

The Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC) which was founded by Hilal, said in a statement on Monday [09 Sep 2019] that the Council was surprised to hear that morning that their leader and his detained followers were summoned to appear before the military court without warning.


The RAC statement questions how it is possible that a court martial will try Hilal and his comrades while they were detained during the regime of ousted President El Bashir.

“Opens the door to ask whether the regime has fallen entirely or not. 

The regime that was overthrown by a popular uprising and brought a new system representing the goals of the revolution, freedom, peace, and justice.” The statement says.

The statement also asks why Hilal and his companions remain in prisons and detention cells until now, after the overthrow of the Al Bashir regime.

The RAC rejected any kind of trials (military or civilian) for political prisoners.

RAC: “Stop this absurdity”
In his statement, the RAC called for their immediate and immediate release, and called on the government of Sudan, represented by the Sovereign Council, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, to intervene immediately to “stop this absurdity to preserve the law and the achievements of our glorious revolution”.

In May 2018, the Darfur Bar Association criticised the military trial of Hilal, “which is being conducted without taking into account the principles of a public trial”. According to the Darfur lawyers at the time (prior to regime change), Hilal’s “trial is a violation of the fair trial standards enshrined in the Sudanese Constitution and the law, which is casting doubts on its fairness and integrity, regardless of the acts attributed to Musa Hilal and his affiliates”.

Hilal should immediately be transferred to a criminal court. “This would constitute the only guarantee for correcting the violated legal procedures,” the statement read.

Families
The families of the detainees, most of them belonging to the Mahameed clan, of which Hilal is the leader, have reiterated their demand for their immediate and unconditional release.

The statement of the families of the detainees refused any trial of these detainees, whether civil or military courts, and demanded in return the Prime Minister Hamdouk’s immediate intervention and the issuance of a decision to release all political detainees.

After the deposal of President Al Bashir and the release of a number of political detainees, mainly fighters of armed movements, relatives and followers of Musa Hilal have publicly called for his and his men’s release more than once.
Supporters of Hilal organised a large demonstration in Misteriya in North Darfur last week, demanding his release.

On August 27, 10 of Hilal’s imprisoned affiliates entered into a hunger strike to protest their continued detention in a military prison in Omdurman. According to the spokesman for Hilal’s Revolutionary Awakening Council, “they have been subjected to systematic ill-treatment by the prison authorities and deprived of their most basic rights such as medical treatment and to meet their relatives through visits”.

In a statement, the organisers of the demonstration demanded from the newly established Sovereign Council and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdouk to intervene, and release all political prisoners in the country “as soon as possible, without any conditions”.

“The failure to release all political detainees is a conspiracy in order to isolate them politically, and exclude them from the ongoing political process,” the statement reads.

The demonstrators appealed to the Forces for Freedom and Change and other political and civil forces to pressure the authorities to release all “political prisoners and prisoners of war”.

The statement also demanded the representatives of the revolution do their part towards their comrades in the struggle who are part of the charter of freedom and change and are still in prison remnants of the former regime.

Janjaweed
Hilal was arrested in a raid on his stronghold in Misteriya, North Darfur, in November 2017. His sons, brothers, and entourage, were detained as well. Hilal, who refused to operate with the government’s disarmament campaign, was transferred to Khartoum. His trial secretly began on April 30.

Hilal is held responsible for the atrocities committed in Darfur against civilians after the conflict erupted in 2003. In that year, he was released from prison by the Sudanese government with the purpose to mobilise Darfuri Arab herders to fight the insurgency in the region.

With full government backing, Hilal's janjaweed targeted villages of African Darfuris. They rarely came near forces of the armed rebel movements.

In 2008, Hilal was appointed as Presidential Assistant for Federal Affairs. In January 2014, he announced his defection from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), and established the RAC.

The Council consists of Hilal’s militiamen and a number of North Darfur native administration leaders. RAC commanders took control of the Jebel Amer gold mining area in El Sareif Beni Hussein locality in July 2015. According to a UN Security Council report in April 2016, Hilal and his entourage were profiting from vast gold sales in Darfur.

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Sudan: Hemeti's RSF fake news is a source of danger

  • Days after Sudanese soldiers massacred pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June, an obscure digital marketing company in Cairo began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert operation to praise Sudan’s military on social media.
  • Since the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April, new employees were told, protesters had sown chaos in Sudan.  Their demands for democracy were premature and dangerous.  Order had to be restored.
  • “We’re at war,” an instructor told the new employees.  “Security is weak.  The army has to rule for now.”
  • “Fake news is a real source of danger for Sudan.  If there is ever a counter-revolution, one of the regime’s main tools will be social media.”  Full story:
From The New York Times via MSN.com
Written by DECLAN WALSH and NADA RASHWAH
Dated Friday 06 September 2019 
‘We’re at War’: A Covert Social Media Campaign Boosts Military Rulers
Photo:  © Reuters Protesters on the streets of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 3, 2019 — the day that soldiers massacred dozens demonstrating in favor of civilian rule.

Days after Sudanese soldiers massacred pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June, an obscure digital marketing company in Cairo began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert operation to praise Sudan’s military on social media.

The Egyptian company, run by a former military officer and self-described expert on “internet warfare,” paid new recruits $180 a month to write pro-military messages using fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram. Instructors provided hashtags and talking points.
Photo:  © Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sudanese soldiers during a mass protest in Khartoum in June.

Since the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April, new employees were told, protesters had sown chaos in Sudan. Their demands for democracy were premature and dangerous. Order had to be restored.

“We’re at war,” an instructor told the new employees. “Security is weak. The army has to rule for now.”

Covert influence campaigns have become a favored tool of leaders in countries like China and Russia, where manipulation of social media complements strongarm tactics on the streets.

In the Middle East, though, those campaigns are being coordinated across borders in an effort to bolster authoritarian rule and douse the kind of popular protests that gave rise to the Arab Spring in 2011.
Image:  © Stephen Lam/Reuters Facebook said the Egyptian and Emirati companies worked together to manage 361 compromised accounts and pages with a reach of 13.7 million people.

The secretive Egyptian effort to support Sudan’s military on social media this summer by the company in Cairo, New Waves, was just one part of a much bigger operation that spanned the Middle East and targeted people in at least nine Middle Eastern and North African countries, according to Facebook.

The campaign was exposed on Aug. 1 when Facebook announced that it had shut down hundreds of accounts run by New Waves and an Emirati company with a near-identical name.

Working in concert, the two companies used money, deception and fake accounts to leverage their audience of almost 14 million Facebook followers, as well as thousands more on Instagram.

In an interview, a Facebook spokesman said the company had not found sufficient evidence to link the operation to the governments of Egypt or the United Arab Emirates. But there were many hints of such a link.

The New Waves owner, Amr Hussein, retired from the Egyptian military in 2001 and described himself on his Facebook page as a “researcher on internet wars.”

He is a vocal supporter of Egypt’s authoritarian leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and has publicly campaigned in support of Mr. el-Sisi’s draconian crackdown on internet freedoms.

His company operates from a military-owned housing project in eastern Cairo where employees are warned not to speak to outsiders about their work.
Photo:  © Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A Saudi-led airstrike in Dhamar, Yemen, on Sunday. Some Facebook messages talked up the Saudi-led war in Yemen and promoted independence for Somaliland.

Its messages are a mirror image of the foreign policy objectives of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — a powerful axis that has wielded immense influence across the Middle East since 2011, bolstering authoritarian allies or intervening in regional wars.

The internal workings of New Waves were described by four people with knowledge of the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter with the Egyptian authorities.

Responding to Facebook’s accusations, Mr. Hussein, the owner of New Waves, called the company “liars” and denied any links to the Emirates.

“I don’t know what you are talk about,” he wrote in a text message, calling Facebook “not fair.” He declined to comment further.

Two former New Waves employees did not respond to requests for comment.

Sudanese activists who noted a surge in pro-military social media activity over the summer said they were unsurprised to learn of the campaign.

“There have been so many fake accounts,” said Mohamed Suliman, a Boston-based engineer allied with Sudan’s protest movement.

“Fake news is a real source of danger for Sudan. If there is ever a counterrevolution, one of the regime’s main tools will be social media.”

Facebook said the Egyptian and Emirati companies worked together to manage 361 compromised accounts and pages with a reach of 13.7 million people. They spent $167,000 on advertising and used false identities to disguise their role in the operation.

Their posts gave a boost to the Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter, who counts Egypt and the United Arab Emirates among his staunchest allies, praised the United Arab Emirates and slammed the wealthy Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a sworn enemy of the Saudis, Egyptians and Emiratis.

Other messages talked up the Saudi-led war in Yemen and promoted independence for Somaliland — a key objective of the Emirates as it jockeys for influence and lucrative contracts in the Horn of Africa.
Photo:  © Ashraf Shazly/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Gen. Mohamed Hamdan and his notorious Rapid Support Forces paramilitary unit posted pictures on Facebook of him cooking and calling for higher wages for teachers, to soften his image.

The website of the Emirati company, Newave, which shut down after Facebook named it on Aug. 1, listed its business address as a government-owned media complex in Abu Dhabi.

A customer service agent at the complex, Twofour54, said Newave had a registered capacity of 10 employees and named its general manager as Mohamed Hamdan al-Zaabi. Emails and phone calls to the company went unanswered.

In Cairo, recruits to the New Waves operation targeting Sudan were told their job was to create “balance” between the military and protesters on social media.

“We’re doing something very big, very important here,” one trainer said. “In the past wars were conducted with weapons. Now it’s through social media.”

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the main supporters of the Sudanese generals who seized power in April.

The Saudis and Emiratis offered $3 billion in aid while Egypt provided diplomatic support.

Sudan’s vibrant social media space, though, has been harder to control.

Since the first protests against Mr. al-Bashir in December, protest leaders have used the internet to mobilize demonstrations, to circumvent official censorship and to attract support from global celebrities like the pop star Rihanna.

[ “With more protests planned for today, June 30, I send my and I pray for the safety of the Sudanese people. They have a right to speak out and demand peace, justice and a transition to civilian rule. Over 100 were killed & hundreds more were wounded during the June 3rd protests” ]

Within hours of the massacre of civilians in Khartoum on June 3, the military’s first act was to shut down the internet in Sudan. Then it turned to social media to try and soften its harsh image.

Accounts run by Lt. Gen Mohamed Hamdan [Hemeti] and his notorious Rapid Support Forces [RSF] paramilitary unit showed him cooking meals and addressing rallies, highlighting his demands for higher teachers’ wages.

Sudanese activists petitioned Facebook to shut down those accounts, accusing the company of giving a free platform to a potential war criminal.

Facebook declined to act because the Rapid Support Forces had become a “state actor,” a Facebook press officer said. General Hamdan is now a leading figure in the power-sharing government, which began taking shape this week with the formation of a new cabinet.

In April, however, Facebook investigators started to scrutinize New Waves as part of the tech giant’s global drive to shut down what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on its platform.

Sudanese democracy advocates had also noticed something awry: a stream of pro-military posts on Twitter written under false names, often using photographs of prominent activists or musicians.

They identified the tweets as fake, they said, through Arabic language tics that suggested they had been written by non-Sudanese.

For example, tweets rendered the word “Sudan” in the feminine, while Sudanese write it in the masculine.

The New Waves operation had echoes of the Egyptian state’s approach to controlling online debate. Under Mr. el-Sisi, Egypt has blocked over 500 websites and introduced laws that criminalize criticism of the government on social media, which Mr. el-Sisi has described as a threat to national security.

Online critics are frequently jailed in Egypt. On July 7, a dual American-Egyptian citizen, Reem Mohamed Desouky, was arrested on arrival at Cairo airport with her 13-year-old son.
Image:  © facebook A screen grab of the facebook page of Rapid Support Forces paramilitary unit in Sudan. A Facebook press officer said the company did not intend to take down the Rapid Support Forces pages because the group had become a “state actor.”

Officials confiscated Ms. Desouky’s phone, scrolled through her Facebook posts and charged her with using social media to undermine Egypt.

She is being held at Qanatir prison outside Cairo; her son has returned to the United States.

Between 2015 and 2017, Mr. Hussein, the owner of New Waves, wrote a column for al-Bawaba, a pro-military newspaper. Last fall he fronted a public awareness campaign warning Egyptians of the dangers of social media.

“From 2011 onward it’s been a war of social media,” Mr. Hussein said in an interview with a pro-state television channel in which he cited the Nazi dictum “the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.”

Executives at New Waves and its Emirati sister company went to considerable lengths to hide their role in the Middle East influence campaign, Facebook said.

They obtained fake accounts to administer Facebook pages that purported to be news sites about nine countries, including Sudan, Somalia, Kuwait and Libya.

The pages often featured genuine posts about real news or light entertainment items like cartoons, interspersed with fake items that followed a common theme.

The Sudan Alyoum (Sudan Today) Facebook page linked to a news website of the same name that published 17 articles between this May and August accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of conspiring to overthrow Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, and 60 other articles supporting General Hamdan’s leadership.

Facebook shared its findings with Twitter, which has taken down the New Waves account. Twitter declined to comment except to say it had removed several accounts related to Sudan.

In an interview in July, Mr. Hussein claimed New Waves had just one client, a state-run theater production called Opera Bent Araby. He is vocal about social media, he said, because Middle Eastern society is “special.”

“I talk about the dangers not only in Egypt — in all our world,” he said.

Last Friday, Mr. Hussein declined to speak further. “I have nothing for you,” he wrote in a text. “Please forget me.”

View original at The New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2ZWuF4t
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Sudan: 22 still missing since June 3 massacre

Article from Radio Dabanga.org
Dated Friday 06 September 2019 - KHARTOUM
New committee planned to trace Sudan missing

Families of the persons who went missing during the uprising that started mid-December last year, demand an independent commission of inquiry, and the formation of an inspection committee to search for the missing in prisons, and detention camps and centres throughout the country. The Sovereign Council supports this initiative, Council members Mohamed El Faki and Mohamed El Taayshi said.

Spokesperson for the Initiative for Missing People Fadia Khalaf said at a press conference on Wednesday evening that 22 people are still missing. Ten of them disappeared during the violent dispersal of the Khartoum sit-in on June 3.

She pointed out that 45 others have been found in morgues, hospitals, and detention centres. Some were found in poor mental health conditions after being tortured.

The Initiative for Missing People was set up by the Sudanese Professionals Association. It reached out to families of the missing persons and searched with them on the ground and on social media. It also prepared publications with pictures of and information about the missing persons and distributed them on markets and in shops.

Commission of inquiry
A group of lawyers submitted a request to the Attorney General to form a commission of inquiry comprising of judges, prosecutors, lawyers and independent experts to investigate the fate of the missing.

Sovereign Council member Mohamed El Taayshi said that most of the missing were subjected to a systematic enforced disappearance “because of their role in the December Revolution”.

He said that the new interim government should play a key role in the investigation into the fate of the missing, the circumstances of their disappearance and what they have been exposed to during their disappearance.

Police
The police commented that they did not receive official reports about the missing at the sit-in. Police spokesperson Brig-Gen Dr Omar Abdelmajid said in a press statement that the numbers of missing protesters and activists need to be thoroughly investigated in proper legal procedures. He accused parties of seeking political gain by exploiting the fate of others.

He also pointed to precautionary measures taken by the police to prevent groups from destabilising security in Sudan by launching rumours about outlaw operations.

Marches
A number of marches, vigils and professional strikes took place in Khartoum and the states on Thursday.

District committees in Khartoum organised a march to the headquarters of the judiciary to demand an independent judiciary and an investigation into the cases of the persons killed and gone missing.

The march moved from El Gorashi Park to the judiciary offices. Slogans were shouted, calling for an independent judiciary, and disclosure of the fate of the missing. The demonstrators raised banners calling for a transparent investigation.

El Kalaka
Residents of El Kalakla in southern Khartoum organised a march and a vigil in protest against the sale of the western part of El Kalakla El Gatiya School for Girls.

El Gedaref
On Thursday, health workers in El Gedaref went on strike and staged a protest against the National Health Insurance Administration in the state. The administration had filed reports against young workers for corruption. The protesters pointed out that the real corruption can be found at the top of the administration of the National Health Insurance.

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Monday, September 09, 2019

Sudan: 19 cases of cholera in Blue Nile state

Article from Radio Dabanga.org
Dated Friday 06 September 2019 - EL ROSEIRES
More cases of cholera in Blue Nile state

The Blue Nile Doctors' Committee reported that the number of cases in El Roseires Hospital suspected to have cholera has risen to 19, including three patients who were transferred from Ed Damazin Hospital.

In a field report published on Wednesday evening, the committee pointed out that the general conditions of patients are stable, and that no deaths have been recorded, except for the two patients that died at the beginning of the outbreak of the disease.

No new cases of cholera have been reported in other hospitals and in rural health centres.

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Sudan: Hilal called for end to tribal fighting in Darfur

Article from and by .Afia Darfur.com
Dated 20 July 2016
Moussa Hilal calls for the activation of tribal reconciliations in the region
The president of the Revolutionary Awakening Council and the leader of the Al-Mahlad tribe, Musa Hilal, called for the activation of reconciliations between the social components to stop the tribal fighting.

"The president of the Revolutionary Awakening Council and the leader of the Al-Mahlad tribe, Musa Hilal Abdullah, called for an end to the violence and all forms of tension between the tribes," Hilal said in an interview with Afia Darfur.

In a related context, Hilal discussed with The Governor of North Darfur Abdul Wahid Yusuf the issues of reconciliation, securing the agricultural season and addressing frictions between pastoralists and farmers."

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Sudan: Hilal's N. Darfur supporters call for his release

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor:  The International Red Cross ought to visit Musa Hilal and other detainees in Omdurman prison in Sudan to check on their welfare and ensure that they are receiving adequate care and that their human rights are respected and adhered to regardless of their crimes. 

Article from and by Radio Dabanga.org
Dated Monday 02 September 2019 - MISTERIYA
North Darfur supporters of Musa Hilal continue to call for his release
Musa Hilal's sons, arrested in North Darfur, arrive in Khartoum, Novermber 17, 2017 (RD)

Supporters of former Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, being held in an Omdurman prison for almost two years, organised a large demonstration in Misteriya in North Darfur on Sunday, demanding his release.

In a statement, the organisers of the demonstration demanded from the newly established Sovereign Council and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdouk to intervene, and release all political prisoners in the country “as soon as possible, without any conditions”.

“The failure to release all political detainees is a conspiracy in order to isolate them politically, and exclude them from the ongoing political process,” the statement reads.

The demonstrators appealed to the Forces for Freedom and Change and other political and civil forces to pressure the authorities to release all “political prisoners and prisoners of war”.

Hilal was detained, along with his sons and hundreds of his militiamen, by members of the Rapid Support Forces, in November 26, 2017, when they refused to hand their weapons during a large disarmament campaign in Darfur.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ said at the time that Hilal and his supporters were “involved in a plot against Sudan which has external dimensions”.

After the deposal of President Al Bashir and the release of a number of political detainees, mainly fighters of armed movements, relatives and followers of Musa Hilal have publicly called for his and his men’s release more than once.

On August 27, ten of Hilal’s imprisoned affiliates entered into a hunger strike to protest their continued detention in a military prison in Omdurman. According to the spokesman for Hilal’s Revolutionary Awakening Council, “they have been subjected to systematic ill-treatment by the prison authorities and deprived of their most basic rights such as medical treatment and to meet their relatives through visits”.

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Sudan: UN train police and trainers in North Darfur

Article by African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
Dated Thursday 05 September 2019 via APO
UN State Liaison Functions provide Human Rights training to Sudan Police in North Darfur
Photo: UN State Liaison Functions (SLFs) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in north Darfur, recently concluded two Human Rights training programmes held in north Darfur state capital, El Fasher.

The latest training course for 30 participants from Sudan Police Force (SPF), including 9 females, was held from 1-3 September with a focus on the application of Human Rights standards in investigations and prosecutions of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV). The course was aimed at raising awareness between Sudan Police Force (SPF) and Prosecutors on each department’s role in the application of Human Rights Standards.

Another Training of Trainers (ToT) course was held from 18 to 29 August for 34 participants, aimed at creating awareness and providing background information on the different theories, practices and knowledge on international human rights standards and directives relevant to police operations.

In her remarks at the closing ceremony for the August event, the Officer-in-Charge of the SLFs in north Darfur, Heidi Van Heerden, highlighted the need to build the capacity and professionalize the SPF for them to be able to discharge their duties and prepare them to take over policing duties from UNAMID as the Mission prepares to exit from the region at the end of June 2020. “UNAMID is encouraging all participants to share its passion of striving to make Darfur a safer, secure and more harmonious place for all by applying the knowledge and skills they have acquired in these training programmes in their daily work routine,” Ms. Van Heerden said.

UNDP representative, Ibrahim Khirdin, noted that these training programmes are geared towards consolidating peace in Darfur. “I believe that the participants from both courses are now fully capacitated to deliver training to their colleagues”, he added.

In his address, Sudan Police Force Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Brigadier Abdulellah Ali Ahmad, urged all participants, certified by UNAMID/SPF, to make these institutions proud by delivering the same training to their colleagues.

UNAMID Police, in partnership with the UN Country Team in Sudan, is conducting these Training of Trainers workshops for Sudan Police Force to ensure the sustainability of knowledge and skills transfer to SPF as part of the Mission’s transition plan implementation and to facilitate a seamless handover of policing responsibilities to local police by the end of June 2020.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
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Sunday, September 08, 2019

Sudan: UNDP UNAMID train 615 police from NDarfur

Article from and by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Dated August 29, 2019
Strengthening police service systems to stabilize Darfur
UNDP and UNAMID jointly delivered a series of Training of Trainers workshops on Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws for 615 Sudanese police officers who were selected from different locations in North Darfur.

UNDP and UNAMID create pool of police trainers to manage public security in line with human rights and humanitarian principles

“I learnt how to respond to public disorder without the use of lethal force. I also learnt new anti-riot platoon formations. I am now in a better position to deliver trainings on public order management to my colleagues”, says Warrant Officer Mubarak Baher Jamal, from the Sudan Police Force in Darfur who was one of the participants of the 10-day Training of Trainers (ToT programme that provided GoS police officers with specialized tools and competencies to effectively use policing measures with respect to freedom of assembly, human rights and humanitarian principles. The training programme taught him something very significant in the current context of Sudan, “the importance of responding to public crowds without resorting to violence”, he said.

Through a series of Training of Trainers (ToT) programmes held between January to June 2019, 615 GoS police officers in Darfur have been trained in eight specialized areas of policing: human rights and humanitarian law, crisis management, public order management, criminal investigation, crime scene management, protection of civilians, family and child protection and community policing.

The TOT programmes have been implemented in response to the aspirations of the people of Darfur for peace by UNDP and UNAMID who joined their efforts under the State Liaison Functions (SLF) project to implement a sustainable environment for protecting civilians and local communities across Darfur. This is mainly ensured through addressing insecurity as well as impunity which are among the root causes of instability in Darfur.

The capacity building programme is an opportunity to create appropriate conditions for the return of IDPs and prevent new conflicts and violence. The pool of 615 GoS Police Officers representing the police champions of Darfur should perform their responsibilities with guarantee of human rights. Supporting this transition towards sustainable development is crucial for Darfur to support stabilization and peace in Sudan.
Thanks to a strong cooperation with Sudan Police Force (SPF), an ambitious capacity building programme for Government of Sudan (GoS) police officers was designed for a period of 6 months (January-June 2019). The programme has strengthened the professional capacity of the police to uphold the rule of law in light of the planned withdrawal of UNAMID in Darfur. This is particularly important in areas with large internally displaced persons (IDPs) or in areas prone to conflict.

Reflecting on the benefits gained from the Family and Child Protection ToT course, Isra’a Mahmoud Adam, a media officer at SPA, appreciated the knowledge she gained from the course in how to handle cases of sexual violence.  “My knowledge on how to investigate Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) matters has been increased. I have learnt how to provide support to victims of SGBV in the execution of my duties. The topic that interested me the most was the one about providing psychological support to victims of SBGV. I hope to share my knowledge and experience gained with not only my colleagues but other members of the community who may need such support”, she said.

Technical training in areas like criminal investigation also yielded benefits to the trainees. Staff Sergeant Yousef Hameda said that the training he received on Crime Scene Investigation taught him “how to collect and preserve evidence in a more professional manner”. Suad Adam – Supervisor of the police participants, and also the Coordination and Liaison Officer at SPF in North Darfur, said that the feedback she received from her subordinates on the program was “very positive”. She emphasized the relevance of the ToT courses saying they “resonate with what is presently happening on the ground”.

According to other police officers who attended the capacity building programme, the benefits they received in terms of bolstering their knowledge of human rights have been tremendous. They also said the programme gave them the ability to impart the knowledge they gained to their peers in the police force. “This course has enhanced my understanding of internationally accepted Human Rights principles. It has also shaped my understanding of how to respond and report Human Rights abuses and violations in IDPs camps,” said Sargant Sa’deah Yousef Abdullah, a female Social Service Provider at SPF. “I hope to share the knowledge I acquired in the training with my colleagues”, she added.
The capacity building programme is an opportunity to create appropriate conditions for the return of IDPs and prevent new conflicts and violence. The pool of 615 GoS Police Officers representing the police champions of Darfur should perform their responsibilities with guarantee of human rights. Supporting this transition towards sustainable development is crucial for Darfur to support stabilization and peace in Sudan.

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