On Tuesday, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was sworn in for another term in office after winning 94 percent of the vote. Bashir, who assumed power in 1989 and later appointed himself President in 1993, promised to increase Sudan’s economy while strengthening security and national stability. He lauded his own accomplishments for building peace, increasing trade and forgiving his detractors.
So to commemorate his new term, let’s look at some of his most notorious handiwork.
Continued Conflict in Darfur, South Kordofan and The Blue Nile
Although popularized in the early 2000s, leading to attention from the global community, atrocities in Darfur are still ongoing. Last year over 3,000 villages were looted and destroyed, and military soldiers carried out a mass rape of over 200 women and girls. When the UN went in to investigate, security forces barred them from doing their jobs. However, a Human Rights Watch report, which included testimonies from the survivors shows a slew of horrors still taking place in the Darfur region.
In South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains — where there has been far less press, but no shortage of horror — the government has participated in a number of aerial campaigns including the bombing of hospitals. Another method they use, as cited in a leaked document from top officials, involved starving out the residents in the Nuba mountains. To accomplish this, army members were told to destroy the crops and food staples for the Nuba people.
In the Blue Nile area, under Omar al-Bashir’s watch, HRW documented atrocities the New York Times described as “unspeakable.” These include men being burned to death while women are mutilated and attacked with impunity.
Yet the most disturbing aspect might be that because human rights monitors and NGOs are so cut off from this area of the world, where so little news ever emerges, what has leaked out could easily be just the tip of the iceberg.
Prosecuting Victims of Sexual Violence
A little over a year ago, a woman in Sudan was thrown in prison while pregnant. Her crime? While she was apartment hunting in Khartoum, a group of men gang raped her and took a video of the act. The men later sent the video around on the popular messaging platform Whatsapp where it went viral. Yet instead of it being used as proof this woman was a victim in dire need of psychosocial services, the Sudanese authority threw her in jail. Her crime? Creating pornography.
She also later faced the death penalty when adultery was added to her list of charges. Although she was ultimately released, she was forced to spend her third trimester on a concrete floor in a dark Sudanese prison. Oh and this is after the UK Department for International Development pumped millions of dollars into the Sudanese judicial system to help raise the status of women.
This was not the first or last woman to face the death penalty for trumped up crimes such as adultery or apostasy. Sadly, for many women in Sudan the justice system is not used for protection, but rather as a tool of oppression.
Detainment and Torture
The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Sudan is well known for their use of arbitrary detention and torture. The government has stepped up efforts to assist them in their violation of human rights by passing a law that allowed the NISS to hold anyone for up to 4 months without judicial review.
A number of activists and opposition leaders have been held without any confirmation by authorities, access to lawyer or ability to communicate with their families. According to Amnesty International, torture is a risk for anyone who passes into Sudan’s detention system. Popular methods of torture included, “kicking; beating with sticks, rubber hoses and fists; making detainees stand in scorching heat for days at a time; being deprived of food, water and sleep; and forcing detainees to adopt stress positions. Amnesty International has also received information that some female detainees have been subjected to sexual violence, including rape.”
Impunity
Omar al-Bashir, despite being the president of Sudan, has a number of warrants for his arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2007, they charged him on seven counts, including crimes against humanity. Then, in 2010, they opened a new case against him which included three counts of genocide.
While Bashir has been banned from traveling to a number of countries, he still moves quite freely around certain areas of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, enjoying an opulent trips to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. So as Bashir settles into yet another rigged term in office, lets all take a moment to hold this dictatorial president accountable for his many “accomplishments.”
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-many-accomplishments-of-sudans-omar-al-bashir.html#ixzz3dzp0Bwz7
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