Khartoum, May 25 (Darfur24)
The Emergency Lawyers Group said on Monday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested dozens of civilians in the city of Ghabish, West Kordofan State, following last week’s drone strike on the city’s market, accusing them of passing military coordinates to the Sudanese army.
In a statement, the group said the RSF arrested Al-Fatih Abdul Rahman Abdullah Wad’a Allah and Al-Sadiq Muhammad Saleh Abdullah Wad’a Allah on May 20 as part of what it described as an arbitrary arrest campaign targeting civilians after the May 19 drone attack on the Ghabish market.
The group noted that Al-Fatih Abdul Rahman had previously been assaulted by RSF members after the forces took control of Ghabish in August 2024, resulting in injuries that required treatment in Al-Nuhud, and expressed concern over his health condition amid reports that he remains detained incommunicado.
According to the statement, the arrests are part of a broader pattern of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances in areas controlled by the RSF, where civilians are allegedly held in detention centers and prisons without legal procedures or guarantees of protection.
The Emergency Lawyers Group also warned of worsening reports of torture and ill-treatment inside detention facilities, including Daqris prison in Nyala, which it said is overcrowded and marked by inhumane conditions.
The group stressed that holding civilians without allowing contact with their families or revealing their whereabouts constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and civilian protection principles.
It called for the immediate disclosure of the fate of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, guarantees for their safety and communication with their families, and the release of all civilians held arbitrarily.
West Kordofan and other parts of the Kordofan region have witnessed escalating clashes and drone attacks in recent months amid worsening humanitarian and security conditions.