Latest news with #SudanTribune
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- The Guardian
‘No one recognised him, even as he said his name': last video of rescued man shows horror of Sudan torture camps
In the last video of Alwaleed Abdeen, taken in the school turned prison in which he had been held for six months, he was so emaciated that friends could barely recognise him – even when he spoke his name to the camera held by his rescuers. Lying on a dirty floor as he spoke, the 35-year-old's bones were visible through his skin after months of detention and torture at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, which controlled most of Sudan's capital, Khartoum until late March. The video was taken by soldiers from the Sudanese government army, and was among many recorded as they drove the RSF out of the city and made grim discoveries of graves and prisons, revealing the conditions many residents endured under the RSF. 'Honestly, I was shocked by what I saw on that video – I couldn't believe my eyes, seeing his body so thin from the hunger, the sickness and torture he endured,' says Mohammed Awad, a neighbour of Abdeen's. 'Whoever can torture and kill a peaceful person like Alwaleed so brutally, they are a person of no faith, no morality, no humanity.' Like Abdeen, Awad had remained in the wealthy Arkaweet neighbourhood of Khartoum despite it becoming overrun by the RSF, whose senior commanders took over abandoned houses as their lodgings or used them to store weapons. Abdeen stayed because his elderly parents refused to leave. He had been briefly detained by RSF forces on several occasions since the war between the RSF and army began in April 2023, before he finally disappeared in October 2024. Awad says he does not know how Abdeen was captured but that many in the area were taken prisoner while trying to reach markets to buy food. Last month, the Sudan Tribune reported that 50,000 people have been forcibly disappeared by the RSF during the war, based on data from the Sudanese Group for Defending Rights and Freedoms. Awad said citizens who remained in Khartoum struggled to access food, water, electricity and medical care after health facilities were taken over by the RSF; shortages which led to Abdeen's mother dying from illness during his detention. 'They brutally arrested citizens and tortured them without any care for their rights, especially in Arkaweet,' says Awad. 'Our homes, women, were not safe. They threatened by gunpoint to steal, loot, beat and abuse.' The video of Abdeen in detention was taken in Jebel Awliya, on the road south out of Khartoum. In another video from the area, the same soldier recorded images of bodies and says they died of hunger and thirst. The news that Abdeen had died later in hospital prompted a wave of mourning on Sudanese social media because of his popularity in the city, where he was a well-known figure. Abdeen was considered a force in Sudan's entrepreneur scene, helping co-found the Khartoum edition of Ted Talks and innovation hubs such as 249 Startups, which helped young entrepreneurs. He also won fellowships to study in the UK and US. As friends shared their memories, many wished that final video was not their lasting memory of him and posted images of him healthy and happy. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion 'I want to have the image of the Alwaleed I remember,' says Dalia Yousif, who considered him a business mentor. She says he was a kind, generous man, who was always eager to help others and did so by championing Sudanese entrepreneurs, not only in the capital but in marginalised areas such as Darfur. 'He was passionate about what he was doing but also about what other people were doing. So he was always trying to not just grow himself but also empower others to grow with him,' says Yousif. Reem Gaafar, a neighbour of Abdeen's, who met him at an arts workshop, says his death brought home the reality and violence facing people in Sudan. She had hoped he had escaped the area, as many in Arkaweet had. She initially refused to watch the prison video, having avoided such imagery throughout the war. But then her sister told her the man pictured was one of their neighbours. 'I screamed. I was in shock, my mum came running to my room. The shock of seeing him in that way, to know that all of this time he was in that situation,' she says. 'All this time we were living our lives and he's been in this awful situation, detained, starved. No one even recognised him from that video, even as he said his name. It was like you were looking an old, sick man.' 'I am ashamed because I know this happened to thousands of people, some in worse situations, to women, but when you see it happen to someone you know, it is a whole different thing.'
The Guardian
31-03-2025
- The Guardian
New images reveal extent of looting at Sudan's national museum as rooms stripped of treasures
Videos of Sudan's national museum showing empty rooms, piles of rubble and broken artefacts posted on social media after the Sudanese army recaptured the area from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in recent days show the extent of looting of the country's antiquities. Fears of looting in the museum were first raised in June 2023 and a year later satellite images emerged of trucks loaded with artefacts leaving the building, according to museum officials. But last week, as the RSF were driven out of Khartoum after two years of war, the full extent of the theft became apparent. A video shared by the Sudan Tribune newspaper showed the museum stripped bare, with only a few large statues remaining, including the seven-tonne statue of King Taharqa, a pharaoh who ruled Egypt and Kush (present-day Sudan) from 690 to 664BC. Others showed ransacked rooms and smashed display cabinets. The museum held an estimated 100,000 artefacts from thousands of years of the country's history, including the Nubian kingdom, the Kushite empire and through to the Christian and Islamic eras. It held mummies dating from 2500BC, making them among the oldest and archaeologically most important in the world. Elnzeer Tirab Abaker Haroun, a curator at the Ethnographic Museum in Khartoum, said a specialist team visited the site after the RSF were expelled to assess the damage, which they will be documenting in a report. 'The tragedy was immense,' he said. 'Most of the museum's rare artefacts, as well as its precious gold and precious stones, have been lost.' The theft includes not only items on public display but those held inside a fortified room, including gold, which it is feared have been smuggled out of the country for sale abroad. Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has previously called on art dealers not to trade, import or export artefacts smuggled out of Sudan. The scale of the damage to the museum and Sudan's heritage has been felt deeply by Sudanese. 'Seeing the Sudan National Museum being looted and destroyed by RSF was one of the most painful crimes … I felt ashamed and angry,' said Hala al-Karib, a prominent Sudanese women's rights activist. As a student, Karib and her friends would walk through the building admiring the artefacts from ancient kingdoms and jokingly posing as if they were themselves the queens depicted. She first started visiting the museum with her father and, when she became a parent herself, took her own daughter there almost weekly. 'It was very personal; we are proud people and continually inspired by our ancient civilisation – it is the heritage we pass on to our children and grandchildren.' Many view it as a tragedy emblematic of the loss the country has suffered since the war started in 2023 during a power struggle between the army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF's leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo Shahenda Suliman, a Sudanese trade unionist, said: 'Whilst the human tragedy of this war outweighs everything for me, there's a symbolism there in seeing emptiness where these grand objects once stood that sort of captures the scale of destruction, loss and emptying of the country that we've seen since the war started. 'There are artefacts that have survived every plague, invasion and occupation for millennia, and predate the birth of Christ, that didn't survive this war.' Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem, a former journalist displaced from Khartoum by the war, said the loss of the museum's heritage was especially significant as an appreciation of Sudan's ancient history has become more widespread only recently. She highlighted how the term Kandaka – a title for queens from the ancient kingdom of Kush – was used to describe female activists who participated in the 2018 protest movement that ousted the dictator Omar al-Bashir. 'I don't know how we'll be able to replace these priceless historical artefacts – and if there's a will to do so,' said Abdelmoniem. 'The majority of Sudanese have been adversely affected on so many levels by this war, the restoration and return of items of historical, cultural and ancient significance I fear may not be viewed as a priority.'
Al Bawaba
11-03-2025
- General
- Al Bawaba
Over 390,000 Sudanese return home in 4 months
March 10, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) revealed on Monday that 396,000 individuals have returned to their homes in Al Jazirah, Sennar, and Khartoum states over four months. On October 23, the Sudanese army retook the city of Al Dindir, before expanding its control over most of Sennar and Al Jazirah states, as well as large areas of Khartoum Bahri (North Khartoum) and parts of Omdurman and South Khartoum. In a statement received by Sudan Tribune , the IOM said that between December 18, 2024, and March 4, 2025, its field teams monitored the return of approximately 396,738 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their locations of origin in Sudan. The IOM specified that the majority of returns were to Al Jazirah (66%), followed by Sennar (29%), and Khartoum (5%). The IOM provided a detailed breakdown of the returnees' previous locations. Of the 262,645 individuals who returned to Al Jazirah state, the largest proportions came from Gedaref (44%), Sennar (21%), Kassala (11%), and River Nile (9%) states. Smaller numbers were returned from the Red Sea (7%), White Nile (4%), Blue Nile (2%), and Northern (2%) states. Traditional Sudanese clothing The 114,759 people who returned to Sennar state originated mainly from Gedaref (38%), Red Sea (19%), and Blue Nile (18%) states. Additional returnees came from Kassala (13%), White Nile (7%), River Nile (3%), Northern (1%), and Khartoum (1%) states. The IOM data showed that the 19,334 individuals who returned to Khartoum state came mainly from the River Nile (38%), Red Sea (34%), White Nile (18%), and Northern (10%) states. The ongoing conflict has forced 11.5 million Sudanese to flee their homes to other areas within the country, while 3.3 million have crossed borders into neighbouring countries seeking safety. A returnee is a person who was previously displaced from their usual place of residence within the country due to an event dating back to 2003 or later and has now voluntarily returned home. The IOM stated that the returnee statistics do not include the return movements of displaced people within the same state. This means that the number of returnees may be higher than reported. The Sudanese government is encouraging the return of displaced people to their homes that the army has retaken. Official and community-led initiatives are also active in facilitating voluntary returns, despite civilians' complaints about the lack of security in the areas they are returning to, particularly in Wad Madani and Khartoum Bahri.
Iraqi News
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Sudanese army claims control of key Khartoum Bahri areas, nearing full control
The Sudanese army said on Thursday it had retaken key areas of Khartoum Bahri, a strategic city north of the capital, and was close to fully ousting the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Military sources told Sudan Tribune that troops had advanced into the Al-Azba district and the eastern part of Kafouri, one of the RSF's last strongholds in the city. Heavy fighting, involving artillery and drones, continued in eastern districts of Khartoum Bahri until Thursday afternoon. The army also reported simultaneous attacks on the suburbs of Dardoq and Nabta, east of the city. 'The army controls most districts from the Khartoum refinery northwards to the Mak Nimer Bridge leading to Khartoum,' Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed al-Tijani Suleiman, a commander at the Shambat Paratroopers Camp, told Sudan Tribune. He added that only small pockets of RSF fighters remained in Kafouri and areas east of the city. Sudanese wildlife safaris The military has made rapid gains in central and southern Khartoum Bahri since announcing last Saturday that it had pushed the RSF from the Khartoum oil refinery, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Khartoum Bahri. Military officers speaking to Sudan Tribune described the 'Blue Towers' in Shambat as a particularly challenging sniper position due to their height, strategic location, and reinforced construction. The fighting has caused widespread damage to infrastructure. Abdel Rahman Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the executive director of the Khartoum Bahri locality, told Sudan Tribune that the Khartoum Bahri water station, the police headquarters, and the Khartoum Bahri Teaching Hospital had been heavily damaged. He said that some residents had begun returning to safer areas and that the state and federal governments were working to repair water and power infrastructure. Restoring the Khartoum Bahri water station, the largest in the state, with a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per hour, was a top priority, he added. Health officials have also begun assessing hospitals. Dr. Mohamed Faisal al-Mahjoub, director of the state's central ambulance service, told Sudan Tribune that the Khartoum Bahri Teaching Hospital had sustained significant damage, particularly to its emergency department, but that intensive care units and the oxygen plant were still functional. He pledged to restore the hospital to service as quickly as possible. According to the health ministry, the Khartoum Bahri Teaching Hospital is the third largest in the state. A Sudan Tribune correspondent observed that the International Hospital on al-Moussa Street appeared undamaged. The RSF had reportedly used the facility to treat wounded fighters. The al-Baraha Hospital in Shambat, however, was destroyed by fire.
