Source ::: REUTERS
KHARTOUM: Human rights activists yesterday accused Sudan’s security service of arresting a Darfuri campaigner in Khartoum and holding him without charge for a week.
Abdelmageed Salih was arrested with a friend in the capital’s prosperous Khartoum 2 district on Friday, members of the Darfur Democratic Forum, and other activists, said. No one was immediately available to comment from Sudan’s security services.
Khartoum is highly sensitive about complaints about its human rights record. The government expelled 13 foreign aid groups and closed down three local organisations in March, accusing them of passing information to the International Criminal Court (ICC). “We were on the side of the road, near a minibus station when security arrested both of us,” said Mohamed Ali Ishag, who said he was a friend of Salih and a former member of another campaign group. “They kept asking me about my involvement with Abdelmageed. When I said it was nothing to do with politics, they let me go on Saturday afternoon. I haven’t seen him since.”
The Darfur Democratic Forum, one of a number of small Darfuri campaign groups, described Salih as one of its founders and the president of the separate Peace Youth Association. The Darfur conflict flared in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms accusing Khartoum of neglecting the development of the region. “The arrest … represents a clear violation of the international conventions ratified by Sudan,” said the Darfur Democratic Forum.