Tuesday, September 10, 2019

ICC: Hilal knows truth about Hemeti & Darfur war (Part 2)

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor:  The following article by Radio Dabanga dated 27 Nov 2017 features the Nov 2017 arrest of Sheikh Musa Hilal in North Darfur by Hemeti’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Coloured highlighting is mine.

See the second photo: a captive’s shoulder appears to be newly bruised, his shirt is being roughly pulled, he looks dazed and exhausted, the arm of a lowlife RSF thug seems to be raised in a violent manner.  

The eyes of the captives look strange, like they have been through hell. Surely they feel shocked, devastated, humiliated and ruthlessly betrayed by Messrs Bashir and Hemeti. 

 Hemeti inveigled himself into Bashir's life who treated Hemeti like the son he never had. Bashir felt protected by Hemeti. Together, Bashir and Hemeti protected themselves. 

 The arrest took place during the Bashir era. Hemeti ordered the RSF to bring Musa Hilal to Khartoum "dead or alive". Musa Hilal sought peace for Darfur, had the skills and gold to do so, posing a threat to Bashir's regime and Hemeti's lust for power in Darfur and its gold.

Musa Hilal is a warrior, for 16 years he has known the truth about his former underling Hemeti, the RSF and Janjaweed, what went on in Darfur and Khartoum, and the policing of vast areas far away from Khartoum. 

Musa Hilal’s daughter is married to Chad’s president Idriss Deby. Hemeti hires men from Chad for his RSF. 
Musa Hilal and his relatives and affiliates have been locked up in Omdurman prison for almost two years.  Have they been given a fair trial? Who is checking that they are being properly treated and cared for?

Could the UN/International Criminal Court (ICC) arrange to transport Musa Hilal and his relatives and affiliates to the safety of the ICC in The Hague where the truth could be told to help bring peace to Sudan?

 Musa Hilal and his relatives and affiliates must be kept safe, treated respectfully and taken good care of now and in the future as they could help bring peace to Darfur and Sudan - and, in turn, South Sudan.

Article from and by Radio Dabanga.org
Dated 27 November 2017 - MISTERIYA / KHARTOUM
Musa Hilal, Revolutionary Awakening Council leadership arrested in Darfur
Musa Hilal, chairman of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, arrives as captive in Khartoum on Monday (RD)

Musa Hilal, former janjaweed leader and chairman of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, as well as his sons, brothers, entourage, and senior members of the Council’s leadership, were arrested on Sunday and arrived today in Khartoum.
The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reports that the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemeti), has affirmed that Hilal was arrested on Sunday at Misteriya area, North Darfur. Gen. Hemeti, says that Musa Hilal was “involved in a plot against Sudan which has external dimensions”.

Hemeti said that in addition to Hilal, a number of his aides and three of his sons have also been detained. He also referred to detention of “a person who holds a foreign nationality among the forces of Musa Hilal”, indicating that this man had advanced communication equipment, “a matter which confirms the involvement of foreign parties in the acts for undermining the security and stability in Darfur”.

Hemeti affirmed stability of the security situation at Mustariha area, reiterating determination of his forces to continue implementing their duties.

Sons and brothers
Sources from the area also confirm the Hilal’s sons Habib, Fathi, and Abdel Basset were also held, along with his brothers Omar Hilal, Adam Ramadan, and Mohamed Barma Yusuf.
Brothers, sons and affiliates of Hilal were also captured (RD)

The arrests seem to verify claims made by Hilal’s Council last month of a plan for the RSF to capture him and send him “alive or dead” to Khartoum. In a statement, the Council accused “influential parties” within the government of “seeking to punish Hilal”, who has refused to cooperate with the government’s current campaign of arms collection.

Witnesses have told Radio Dabanga that at least 11 members of the Border Guards militia were killed in Sunday’s clashes. Callers said that civilians, including at least three women, were also killed during Sunday’s clashes, but exact numbers have not yet been ascertained. The area is reportedly under siege – all roads in and out are controlled by the RSF. Large military reinforcements have arrived with “tanks, armoured vehicles, and 500 armed vehicles”.

Arms collection
A spokesman for the RSF, Colonel Abdelrahman El Jaali, confirmed the death of the RSF director of general supplies, Brigadier Abdelrahim Gumma, in Hilal’s heartland of Misteriya during the confrontations that led to the arrest. Col. El Jaali told SUNA that Gumma was killed when he went to investigate an ambush on two vehicles transporting Hilal-led militia elements arrested within the framework of the forcible arms collection campaign.

He stressed that the state will go ahead in its project for collecting weapons and confronting those who tend to undermine the national security.

Also on Sunday, a spokesman for the RSF, Colonel Abdelrahman El Jaali, announced the arrest of Haroun Mahmoud Madikheir, the spokesman for the Revolutionary Awakening Council at Wadi Bari south of Misteriya of Kutum locality in North Darfur. Madikheir was reportedly on his way to Chad with his bodyguards.

El Jaali said in a statement to SUNA that the rapid support militia managed to arrest the most important person in the leadership and the founder of the Revolutionary Awakening Council accompanied by his personal guard.

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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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