Beja houses knocked down

Ten houses of block concrete have been knocked down by officials. Over sixty people are now homeless. Last week many houses were also knocked down, and Alrakoba.com reports that over 200 houses have now been destroyed.

Apparently the people did not have proper identification or permits for the house construction, though they did have ownership of the land. The inhabitants were displaced from the South Tokar region because of war.

A few years ago, Tokar area was managed by Beja Congress and Eastern Front forces, which lead to a blockade by Sudanese Armed Forces on agricultural production, so most farms were abandoned since there was no market to sell at. Currently, because of smuggling through the Eritrean border, Sudanese security is very tight in Tokar region at the delta of the Baraka River.

The unpleasant enforcement of government policy took place in one of the slum areas of Port Sudan, in [Box neighbourhoods]  #9 and 10 and 11. The Ministry of Urban Planning, Red Sea State was responsible for this event. Many security forces cordoned off the area before the demolition.


Journalists who covered the destruction and removal of houses were prevented from taking photographs. Some houses still had household belongings inside.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4069603105551&set=o.133279973408087&type=1&theater

Beja activists arrested

 Port Sudan Beja demonstrate on February 2 against the arrests of human rights activists a week earlier in Kassala. Shortly after this photo was taken,  some Beja in Port Sudan were arrested. [sakanab.com]

A conference entitled "The Massacre in Port Sudan and the Crisis in East Sudan" was held in Kassala on January 25. The conference was organized by Nagi Musa. He has been arrested.

Conference participants discussed human rights and the political situation in Sudan. The primary focus of the group centered on the Massacre in Port Sudan on January 29, 2005. Twenty two Beja people were killed by Sudanese National Forces while demonstrating in the streets of the city. In the melee, 400 other Beja people were severely injured.

After domestic and international pressure from human rights organizations, the government set up a commission to investigate the Port Sudan event, with a view to determining how unarmed civilians were killed, and who was responsible for police decisions  to use deadly force. However, the final report has never been published. Every year, many Beja activists create events to remind the government that no real effort has been made to bring justice to the Beja people and to remember those who were killed. Activists now see them as martyrs, and view some government officials as perpetrators of crimes against humanity, etc.

In Kassala, last week, Nagi Musa and four others were arrested. Those arrested along with Nagi Musa include: Amar Dirar, Gazi Altayeb, Mohamad Mahjoub and Shareef Kamal. All are members of Girifna, the organizing group. Two youth leaders also disappeared on Wednesday, January 25: Omar Ahmad Hamid, a senior student at Khartoum University and Mohamed Omer Al Amin, a recent graduate of the College of Law at Nillen University. Apparently, several other Sudanese citizens engaged in the human rights conference and Girifna group have complained of intrusive police surveillance. Fearing arrest, torture or worse, several people have gone into hiding.

In a separate event, on the 28th of January, Sudanese National Security Forces arrested four leaders of the non-violent pro-democracy movement organization, Sharara: Youth for Change. At a regular meeting of Sharara, Sudanese police took four human rights activists into custody. Khalef Saeed, a human rights campaigner based in the United Arab Emirates who was visiting Sudan to consult with Sharara was arrested along with three more organizers of the nonviolent Sharara movement: Magdi Akasa; Hatim Shinab and Yasin.

Since the arrests, Beja people in East Sudan have mounted a campaign to release the detained citizens. Street demonstrations have been held to publicize the situation [see photo at top of page].

After a street protest in Port Sudan on Thursday, February 2, as many as fourteen more people were arrested, including some women. They include lawyers and members of the Beja Congress Students Union.

Concerned Beja believe that some of the arrested persons are now being held in isolation at the infamous Kober Prison in Khartoum.

UPDATE: A facebook page dedicated to freeing the Girifna group of 10 that were arrested has been created. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-the-Girifna-Heroes/177199752386817

UPDATE #2 Amnesty International has picked up these arrests as an item to highlight on their Sudan page, along with arms trading to Darfur, etc.

UPDATE #3 Most of the people arrested have now been released. Some of them were subject to torture. Details are available at the Girifna site. 

UPDATE #4 No further action required. 

Beja detained by security forces

 Kassala [Wikipedia]

In Wednesday, January 25, a symposium was held in Kassala. People talked about the current concerns in eastern Sudan, such as poverty and corruption. and held a memorial meeting for the people who were killed in 2005 at the Port Sudan massacre. After the meeting a few Beja people were detained by police. No details about the reasons for their arrest have been released.

The names of the people who are being held by security forces include
1 - Ammar Dirar
2 - Naji Moussa
3 - Ghazi Al-Tayeb
4 - Mohammad Mahjoub
5 - Sheriff Kamal

Fellow members of the congress meeting are calling for their immediate release.

Riots in Kassala, 13 year old killed

Kassala Police say that there a confrontation between themselves and smugglers of sorghum. A child was shot and killed.

What's the reality? Reports say a 13 year old was killed by police. No reports on how that happened. Citizens were enraged, and threw stones at riot police and set fire to two police cars the next day, on Tuesday, November 1, 2011. Another child was shot by police and seriously injured.

Kassala is the centre of demonstrations over the rising price of foodstuffs, for a few weeks now.

Read the complete account at AllAfrica.

Another account has these details.

Police used teargas to break up a protest in eastern Sudan on Tuesday after police killed a 13-year old boy while chasing a truck, a witness said.

Hundreds of residents gathered in the city of Kassala near the border with Eritrea on Tuesday after the 13-year boy died. A 12-year old boy was also injured during the chase.

"Police used teargas to disperse the protest. People are very angry," said [unnamed] witness.

A police spokesman said the boy had been killed accidentally when police opened fire on a truck they suspected was carrying smuggled food. He said police in Kassala are investigating the incident.

Sudanese Online.