April 2025
The undersigned organizations applaud the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Volker Türk for his statement of 3 April 2025 about the widespread extrajudicial killings of civilians in Khartoum following its recapture by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on 26 March 2025. We fully associate ourselves with the concerns expressed by Mr. Türk about the reports of numerous incidents of summary executions of civilians in several areas of Khartoum.
It is abhorrent that Brutal and archaic killing methods are being used to terrorize the victims, including Daesh-style dismembering by knives and machetes. We are shocked by the images and videos of men in military fatigue forcing scores of unarmed civilians in South Khartoum to board refrigerated service trucks and take them to unknown locations. Forcing individuals into such trucks, devoid of ventilation, with an external heatwave forecast exceeding 40°C, is a death sentence by suffocation.
The rise in online hate speech and incitement to violence, mainly targeting ethnic groups from the greater Darfur and Kordofan regions is especially disturbing. Whole families were exterminated, including children, women and elderly men such as Mr. Osman Mohamed Jafano (Abu-Shura) and Mr. Hasab-Allah Abu-Tagia, two octogenarians, killed in Khartoum on 29 March 2025. On the same day the security forces killed Dr. Abdelrahim Hamad Abu-Sadam and his three sons in their home in Souba area in south Khartoum. Extrajudicial killings of civilians from Darfur were also reported in Kassala state. In Sinnar State, tribal militiamen allied with the army killed at least 35 people, mainly women and children in Al-Shagaig village and displayed their mutilated bodies. This crime was reported on 4 April 2025 and the victims originate from Darfur, including Ms. Hadeel Ahmed Hussain, a 20-year-old student at Sinnar University. The attackers reportedly live in a nearby village (Taibat Al-Lahween). It is our belief that the ethnically motivated killing in Sudan is entering a new phase that may lead to a large-scale tragedy reminiscent of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994.
1.
We strongly call upon the Sudanese army and the security forces to put an immediate end to the ethnically motivated extrajudicial killing and abuses of civilians. All the parties to the conflict must stop all military operations, notably aerial bombardments, the use of artillery in civilian areas, lift military sieges and fully respect international standards on matters of protection of civilians.
2.
The African Union should invoke Article 4 (h) of its Constitutive Act which authorizes the Union to intervene in a Member State in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, and it should accordingly scale up its intervention in Sudan and take the lead in guiding the international community to dispatch a military force to protect civilians. It should pressurize the parties to reach a negotiated settlement of this devastating armed conflict without delay.
3.
We encourage the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue its efforts in documenting the human rights violations and other international crimes committed in Sudan and raise awareness accordingly.
Signed:
1.
Abwab Organization for Development and Social Peace, Kampala
2.
African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, Banjul
3.
African Organization for Rights and Development, Kampala
4.
Al-Dar Women and Child Rights Development Foundation Limited, Kampala
5.
Al-Fajr Organization for Peace, Development and Justice, Nairobi
6.
BAWADI Peace and Development Organization, Kampala
7.
Canabi Congress, Sudan
8.
Darfur Initiative for Justice and Peace, Kampala
9.
Darfur Victims Support Organization, Kampala
10.
Democratic Monitor for Transparency and Rights, Kampala
11.
Edrak Center for Media and Training, Kampala
12.
Elaf Organisation for Peace and Community Development, Kampala
13.
Human Rights Institute of South Africa, Johannesburg
14.
Independent Commission for Human Rights in Norh Africa, Morocco
15.
Justice, Rights and Development Organization, Nyala/Kampala
16.
Kordofan Women’s Organization for Human Rights, Kampala
17.
Lifeline Relief and Rehabilitation Organization, Kampala
18.
Mahd Al-Hikma for Development and Nonviolent Organization,
19.
Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy, Kampala
20.
Organisation Afro Européenne de l’Action Humanitaire et de Développement, Paris
21.
Peace and Human Dignity Organization, Kampala
22.
Rise for Rights and Justice Centre, Australia
23.
Sudan Knowledge Centre, Switzerland
24.
Sudanese Centre for Democratic Media, Kampala
25.
Sudanese Journalists Initiative for Peace and Democracy, Kampala
26.
Sudanese Refugees Advocacy Group, Australia
27.
Sudanese Women Union, Khartoum/Nairobi
28.
Taja Organization, Kampala
29.
The Agricultural Workers Initiative for Rights and Development, Kampala
30.
Ubuntu Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, Kampala
31.
Vision Centre for Peace and Development, Kampala
For more information, please contact 1. Mr. Abdelmageed Haroun at: haroun@aford.org, Tel/WhatsApp +256 7 621 97 247
