Sudan Doctors Network
Statement
A report prepared by teams from the Sudanese Doctors Network, based on information from inside Nyala city, reveals the conditions inside Dagris and Kober prisons—two of the largest sites of forced detention in South Darfur State—as well as several detention locations under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) across the Darfur states. The information indicates that wide-scale arrest campaigns have targeted members of the regular forces, civilian professionals, and political activists. Detainees are being held in environments lacking basic humanitarian and legal standards, and are being denied their fundamental rights.
According to the network’s local sources, the numbers of detainees, prisoners of war, political detainees, and professionals indicate the presence of more than 19,000 detainees in Dagris and Kober prisons and in several RSF detention centers in Darfur. This includes 4,270 prisoners from the Unified Police, 544 from the Security Service, 3,795 from the Armed Forces, and 5,000 detainees from El Fasher, in addition to groups from army-aligned auxiliary forces for whom no precise statistics are available. The network has also documented 5,434 detainees from various civilian professions, including politicians and media workers, most of whom were arrested in Khartoum and Darfur. Among them are 73 medical personnel.
The network confirms that the health conditions inside the prisons have severely deteriorated due to the spread of infectious diseases resulting from overcrowding, poor sanitation, and the absence of medical isolation. A cholera outbreak has begun claiming the lives of detainees because of the lack of medical care. Acute shortages of medicine, safe drinking water, and adequate food have become major causes of rising deaths, with more than four deaths recorded weekly due to medical neglect, alongside the absence of qualified staff and the lack of first aid or the ability to transport critical cases to hospitals.
The Sudan Doctors Network calls on the United Nations and international organizations to pressure RSF leadership to release civilian detainees, provide necessary care, publish the lists of detainees, and enable families to learn the conditions of their relatives. The network also calls for the release of those who have not been charged, an end to arbitrary arrests of civilians, and improvements to the health conditions in the prisons.
The network urges the international community to act urgently to protect detainees and ensure their safety in accordance with humanitarian and legal standards.
