Yasir Arman: International Community is Failing the Suffering, Marginalized Regions of the Sudan

London: By Ammar Adam

Arman explained on the phone that the ongoing and protracted talks between the international community and the Khartoum government on the delivery of food to the displaced in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile contributes in providing a necessary cover for the rulers of Khartoum to evade their responsibilities towards its citizens.  Arman said that the time is going quickly, the rainy season is approaching, and the government air force is continuing its aerial bombardment of civilians coupled with a continuous campaign and mobilization of its militias that are trained to commit war crimes and have never engaged in clean war before. The Khartoum government is buying time and using the ongoing talks with the international community as a pretext and cover for not allowing humanitarian aid to the displaced while there is total silence from the international community.

Arman noted that the time has come to mobilize the maximum possible efforts of Sudanese inside and outside of Sudan and friends of Sudan to use all possible and available means of pressure to stop the crime that has been ongoing for the last ten months and which is intended to systematically deny access of humanitarian assistance to the displaced and kill them by war and mass starvation. Arman added that it is time to organize a strong campaign, especially in the USA and Europe, in solidarity with the friends of Sudan to shed more light on the war crimes in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile and went on to say that this is particularly important when war crimes that include prisoners of war are talked about publicly and are not just mere allegations by the SPLMN and the Sudan Revolutionary Front but an admission by one of the leading war criminals, Ahmed Haroun, who is ironically a graduate of law school.

Mr. Arman said that he wanted to draw attention to one of the major cases of human rights violations in Sudan, which are the ongoing trials of prisoners of war and civilians, which violate all international laws that safeguard the safety and rights of prisoners of war.  The arbitrary trials sentenced 19 of the SPLMN members to death sentences (Moniem Rahama and others) and also the trials of prisoners of war ( Hamid Tutu and Ibrahim Elmaz.) Yasir added that the Ibrahim Almaz case has more than one facet as he is a Northerner as well as a Southerner who joined JEM before the secession of the South.  Arman called upon and encouraged all eligible Northerners and Southerners, who desire, to keep their citizenship in both States because that will positively serve the future of the North and South Sudan.

Arman also stressed that the cold blooded assassinations of Awadia Ajbna and Abdelhakam Musa will not pass without punishment.  He also pointed to the continuous detention of the SPLMN members and their friends like Khalid Daraja from Western Darfur, Mrs. Jaleela Musa and Dr. Gamar Hussein.  This is in addition to the disappearance of more than 400 of the SPLMN members. These cases deserve the widest campaign of solidarity.  At the same time, Arman sincerely thanked Sudanese lawyers and those concerned with human rights issues inside or outside of Sudan and the free press who stood firm against these human rights violations as the ongoing violations against journalists, the press and opinion writers deserve our stand and solidarity with them.

Arman concluded by saying that the attacks on civilians in Kibkabya, old Half, Khartoum, Blue Nile and South Kordofan and Nuba Mountains cannot be rewarded by organizing an economic conference in Istanbul to support the war criminals or by keeping silent in front of atrocities.  Arman added that we unite our efforts of peaceful and armed struggles to create a national platform to defend human rights and bring down regime and establish democracy.