State of emergency “endangers civilians”

A Sudanese torture victims group told a British parliamentary committee this week that human rights in Sudan were endangered by the country’s state of emergency. The coordinator of the Sudanese Victims of Torture Group (STVG), Osman Hummaida, said: “There is an increased danger to Sudanese people, since any protection by laws has been removed and the state of emergency will allow the Sudanese security forces to act with total impunity”.

In a press release, he called on the government to immediately lift the state of emergency, and “cease all forms of intimidation, harassment, and detention of students”. Hummaida said the government of Sudan had made only “modest concessions” on human rights. These included a declaration of general amnesty, partial closure of some “secret detention centres”, and the release a group of political prisoners and detainees. The government had also become involved in negotiations and peace talks with opposition parties, he said. But he stressed that these concessions were a result of internal and international pressure “combined with the desire of the government to break the isolation and to legitimise its position”. He said the concessions did not represent a fundamental change in attitude on the part of the government.