Kampala, June 12 (Darfur24)
The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed Nour, has dismissed several members, including the head of the movement’s Council of Churches, Ibrahim Mahajer Abdul Aal Adam, without justifying the reasons behind the decision.
The dismissed members told Darfur24 that the measures were taken after they objected to the detention of fellow members and raised concerns about the conditions of detainees held in the Jau region on the border between Sudan and South Sudan.
Ibrahim Mahajer, known as “Arqola,” stated that the decision to dismiss him was issued without following legal procedures or referring the matter to an accountability committee. He argued that the real reason for his removal was his opposition to what he described as arbitrary arrests within the movement and a policy of persecution carried out outside established legal and accountability frameworks.
Mahajer further alleged that he had condemned what he described as the extrajudicial killing of several members inside the movement’s detention facility in the Jau area, saying those incidents occurred without legal justification.
Darfur24 obtained copies of dismissal letters issued in October against four members of the United Popular Front (UPF), the student wing of the movement in Sudanese universities. The letters cited violations of organizational procedures. The dismissed members were Rashad Adam Aris Abdelghani, Abdelghani Mohamed Abdelaziz, Abdelrahman Abdelrazig Abdelrahman, and Mustafa Al-Tijani Mohamed.
The movement also expelled three members in March last year, citing organizational reasons, according to documents reviewed by Darfur24. Those expelled were Mudathir Hussein Mustafa, Mohamed Ali Haroun, known as “Ban Ki-moon,” and Ismail Abdel-Shafi Arbab, known as “Marshal.”
Mohamed Ali Haroun told Darfur24 that his dismissal came after he repeatedly sought clarification regarding the continued detention of movement members in the Jau region.
According to Haroun, the movement’s leadership did not provide answers about the detainees and instead treated inquiries about the issue as a violation of internal regulations. He said he and others were dismissed without appearing before an accountability council or undergoing a transparent investigation.
Haroun also highlighted the difficulty of obtaining information about the detainees or accessing the Jau area, particularly following reports that several detainees escaped in March. He said little reliable information is available regarding their whereabouts or conditions.
Darfur24 contacted Sudan Liberation Movement spokesperson Mohamed Abdel Rahman Al-Nayer for comment on the allegations, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
According to statements provided by relatives of detainees, more than 74 members of the movement are being held in the Jau area within the “Sudan Secular Division” camp, which is reportedly led by the movement’s deputy chairman, Abdullah Adam Haran.
Family members identified several detainees, including Mustafa Sharif Mohamed, Yaqub Hussein Ishaq Madani, known as “Njamarwa,” Al-Hafiz Abdul Aziz Kambal, Mohamed Abdullah Musa, known as “Al-Bur,” Hamid Mohamed Hamid, and Ramadan Yaqub, known as “Abu Al-Rum,” among others.
Hafiza Abdullah Musa, the sister of detainee Mohamed Abdullah Musa, told Darfur24 that her brother’s whereabouts have remained unknown since 2022. She said the family has received no information regarding his place of detention or his health and humanitarian conditions.
She added that information reaching the family suggests that several detainees escaped toward the Sudanese border and the eastern mountains of Kordofan, but that the movement has not provided any official clarification regarding their fate.
According to Hafiza, families of detainees have sought assistance from international humanitarian organizations to help determine the whereabouts of their relatives amid what they describe as a lack of transparency from the movement.
In a Facebook post, Manasek Sharif Mohamed, the sister of detainee Mustafa Sharif Mohamed, appealed to the movement’s leadership to release her brother after years in detention.
She said her brother has been held in the Jau region since 2020 without formal charges or accusations of wrongdoing.
Manasek also claimed that several detainees had escaped in previous years, although some were later recaptured and returned to detention. She said reports indicated that some escapees were killed while others reached safe areas, whereas the fate of several others remains unknown.
She called on the movement’s leadership to disclose information about the detainees and publish a list identifying those who have died and those who remain in custody.
The Jau region lies along the border between Sudan and South Sudan and has been used by the Sudan Liberation Movement as a military and administrative base since 2017, according to multiple sources.