Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Sudan
When I see all these faces in this room, I say yes there is hope, but for this hope to materialize we have to pay sacrifices.
We in this room are privileged because there is someone keeping an eye on us, but there are thousands of people trying to protect the basic human right of others - but who are losing their own lives. Thanks for the eyes.
I am giving this testimony on behalf of my organization, Sudan Social Development Organization SUDO, and myself.
I would like to thank Front Line for awarding me their first Inaugural Award for a human rights defender at risk. Thank them for their support and unprecedented work they have done on my behalf. I would like to thank the Irish Government, The President and the people of Ireland for their support, encouragement and the assistance they have given to me, my family and SUDO. I would also like to register a word of thanks to our Irish partners,Trocaire and Concern, for their solidarity.
To understand the situation for human rights defenders in Sudan, I feel that it is extremely important to give a brief background of our history.
What is Sudan and Sudanese? In Arabic, the word ‘Sudan’ literally means ‘the blacks’. In ancient history, it was used to describe the land South of Egypt. In modern history, it is used to describe the inhabitants of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Chad (the French Sudan) and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Sudan‘s political boundaries are the result of territory sharing between colonial powers during the 20th century. The country is characterized by its multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious population. There are more than 600 tribal groups living in the country. When the boundaries were being set, these groups were not consulted about whether or not they wanted to live together as one nation. There is no one nation, but a country of groups with diverse races, cultures and religions.
How it is Ruled? The colonial powers established a centralized system of governance controlled by Khartoum. The system was inherited and preserved by those who came to power after the independence in 1956. The system allows for the majority of the population to be ruled by a minority which exploits the country’s resources, controls the state apparatus and denies the majority the right to govern their wealth, to participate in society and to promote their distinct cultures and heritages. Despite promises to introduce the principles of decentralization, regionalism, federation and just redistribution of national power and wealth, the hegemony and domination of the minority has intensified. Culturally speaking, the traditions, cultures, and customs of the majority have been marginalized and the official identity presented has been based on a narrow-minded and exclusive vision. Socially and economically, the majority, especially in rural areas, suffers from poverty, ignorance, disease and deprivation, and experiences war, famine and epidemics. This situation has led to the emigration and displacement of people towards cities to dwell in miserable conditions. Misery has become the general feature of life in both urban and rural areas.
The following manifest the essence of this system of governance:
(1)The strict centralization ensures that the government of Khartoum has absolute power to decide on all crucial local and national issues. This situation compromises democracy and marginalizes and deprives the people in other regional areas and rural communities upon whom the burden of central decisions weighs heavily. (2)The process of uneven development inherited from the colonial era has continued. Hence, although common to the whole nation, the phenomenon of economic collapse and the decline in standards of living is particularly evident in rural areas.. (3)The imposition of one single Sudanese identity based on the religious and ethnic superiority of Arabic and Islamic culture which ignores all other Sudanese cultures and aims, either peacefully or through coercion , to dislodge and exterminate them. (4)The establishment of the religious state which has been accompanied by systemic ethnic and religious purging and mass annihilation. The religious state deprives people of their right to citizenship and creates a group of second class citizens. It also supports economic and social inequality and render the unity of the country impossible.
Due to these policies Sudan has never lived in peace since its independence, war even irrupted in the south before the colonial troops left. The central government in Khartoum adopted the policy of divide and conquer and used local conflicts between the different groups to wage war on its opponents. The regular army has always fought by proxy using tribal militias. The more people voice their grievances and start demanding equality and justice, the more brutal the actions of the central government. In the south of Sudan, in a long war, 2 million people have been killed, 5 million have been displaced. The war in Darfur has killed over 300,000 persons, and displaced 2 million persons.
Emergence of SUDO
Under these circumstances, 54 Sudanese men and women gathered and formed a national NGO, under the name of the Sudan Social Development Organization known as SUDO, to work towards the welfare of the Sudanese people.
SUDO Mission: To contribute in the creation of a general Human Rights movement capable of defending itself and seeking a society free from all forms of Human Rights violations.
SUDO considers providing and availing of basic needs and services a basic human right, It adopts a rights-based approach in all its interventions. SUDO finds it impossible in societies like in Sudan to advocate for political rights without economic and social rights. Therefore, drilling a borehole or building a clinic or school is a good way to advocate for political and economic and social rights, as well as conducting simultaneous training and advocacy programs.
Given the conditions of the country, being ruled by a dictatorship and controlled by security, registering an NGO with such mission was in its own a challenge. Thanks to the efforts of different members who have used their diverse strength to bring SUDO to life.
From the first day of its registration SUDO started to work, and adopted an approach of going directly to the grass root community. Our volunteers suggested areas and sectors to work on. We considered the most deprived communities ; IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) on the outskirts of Khartoum, communities in conflict, marginalized and forgotten areas North, South, East and West.
SUDO’s Testimony:
In this short testimony, I will give a brief description of SUDO work in defense of human rights in the region of Darfur.
SUDO has been working in Darfur since it was formed in 2001. Although very young and vulnerable SUDO started advocacy work to raise awareness of the conflict in the region. As early as early as 2002, we approached diplomatic missions in the Sudan to inform them about abuses in the region, attacking villages, killing of civilians, burning houses, looting and destruction of property. SUDO reported the systematic trend of attacks, the systematic killing of individuals and the mass killings of certain tribal groups. SUDO reports were not listened to, not because they were discredited but because the political environment was not willing to accept what had been said. SUDO worked closely with Amnesty International to highlight the gravity of what was going in the region, in terms of human rights abuses. Although we managed to get out credible reports throughout the year 2002 and 2003, western governments were not willing to accept the fact that there is yet another war going on in the Sudan. Western governments were at that time very involved in the peace process between the so-called South and North. One of the diplomats even told us “Why Darfur now?”, to which we replied “It is not our choice, we have not invented it”.
Hundreds of Darfuri’s were arbitrarily detained, SUDO worked closely with Amnesty International in calling for their release and mobilizing local communities. Thanks to these efforts we managed to free many who were innocent, but with severe regret, many lost their lives under torture. Slowly the war started to gain a political dimension. By the end of 2002, a political/armed group known as Darfur Liberation Front DLF was formed, later transformed to Sudan Liberation Army/Movement SLA/M. The circumstances had changed. Instead of militias backed by government forces attacking villagers, the government army started to launch systematic attacks against civilians. The SLA has launched planned attacks against government army garrisons, and the government retaliated by using heavy bombardment, air raids against villages, concurrently used militias to attack these villages burn, loot, rape and kill.
SUDO and other international organizations started reporting these incidents to the public and to the Western missions in Khartoum, but still very little notice was taken. The government reacted by putting restrictions on INGO movement, confining them to the main cities in Darfur, Geneina, Fasher and Nyala. The government started to gather outlaws, free criminals, grant amnesty and recruit mercenaries to join the war campaign. As a national NGO, SUDO has not abided by the restriction of movement. SUDO staff and members have traveled to all areas of Darfur, to witness the misery of the fighting and the burden inflicted upon the civilians. Hundreds thousands of women and children have been forced to leave their burned villages, their dead husbands, sons and fathers and to flee barefooted, for days and weeks. Without water and food, forced in camps at the outskirts of deserted towns, away from the eyes of the humanitarian organizations. Miserable and hungry, without shelter or clothes, people were subject to attacks from the government militias known as the Janjaweed. SUDO reported in one group, the death of a child every second day. By the end of 2003, the international community slowly started to take action, forced by the magnitude and gravity of the situation.
In its effort to highlight the situation in Darfur, SUDO suffered a lot. Many of its members, volunteers and staff were arrested and/or tortured, but in spite of that continued to work. SUDO intervened to provide humanitarian assistance to people in need and managed to encourage many international organizations to become involved. Our staff has carried the risk on their shoulders. Under fire and bombardment, in Kaila, Mershing, Zalingei and many other places, they are on the front line. Young men and women, risking their own lives, opening a road for international assistance. SUDO staff has faced militias and talked to the tribes involved in the conflict. SUDO staff is still working and delivering services to people in need, despite the personal danger they face. Our staff regularly works in areas designated by UN security as unsafe.
Although there is an emergency, SUDO still upholds its protection mission and our field monitors offer assistance to victims of rape and other violations. Our protection officers assist UN agencies to deliver their duties. At camps and towns, they are training police and other law enforcement forces, in human rights, with the aim of encouraging their compliance with international human rights conventions.
A Short Personal Testimony:
After the government came to power in 1989, I was arrested and detained several times. In recent years, I have also been arrested, with other colleagues, in connection with our work on the Darfur conflict. I have been arrested three times since December 2003. The first was meant to intimidate me. On 24 December 2003, at 11pm, I was arrested from home by eight plain-clothes security members with kalkinshovs. My house and my office were searched, and I was interrogated for two days at security offices and then transferred to a security detention centre in the general federal prison of Sudan called Kober. After being kept in that detention center for more than 45 days, I went on hunger strike on 8 February. On 10 February I was transferred to the prosecutor of the crimes against the state and charged under 9 articles of the Sudanese penal code, five of these charges carried the death penalty. I went on trial for about eight months, until the case was withdrawn by the prosecutor general, due to lack of evidence and national and international pressure. Again, on 24 January 2005, I was detained in my village with a friend and kept in solitary confinement at a ghost house called Abu Ghyreib for two months. I went on hunger strike for 12 days, after which due to national and international pressure I was transferred to the Prosecutor of the crimes against the state and charged with an attempt of suicide and then transferred to the hospital to be treated from the effect of the hunger strike. I lost ten kilograms during the hunger strike. I was released from the hospital, without the charge being dropped. On 8 May, just before boarding the plane to Dublin to receive Front Line first Inaugural Award I was detained again. My passport was confiscated and I was banned from traveling. I stayed three days at the security detention together with my friend and my driver, and I was then transferred to the prosecutor of the crimes against state under accusation of espionage and photographing military areas. I walked out from the prosecutor office ten days later without being stopped.
Still I ask, whether I deserve being awarded this prize, when I can recall individuals, paying their lives trying to protect their people’s rights. Do I really deserve it?