Citizens denied passports due to their affiliation to Darfur

On Thursday, the Darfur Bar Association “DBA” announced that it had received several complaints from citizens who were denied passports by the Sudanese authorities, because of their ethnic and regional affiliation.

The Human Rights Commission stated that it “had received numerous complaints from Sudanese citizens who come from different regions in Sudan and belong to various ethnicities, about violations committed against them by a police team from the Sudanese Ministry of Interior that arrived in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to facilitate the process of obtaining and renewal of passports for the Sudanese citizens in Uganda.”

The Commission shared about the testimony of Othman Mukhtar Mohammadi, a Sudanese citizen who graduated from the University of Khartoum. He confirmed that he had become subject to the ban because he belonged to one of the tribes described as representing socially nurturing environment for the Rapid Support Forces, while he has no connection to any civil or armed political organization, and was forced by the circumstances of the ongoing war in Sudan to seek refuge in Uganda.

Othman Mukhtar, added, according to his testimony, reported by the Human Rights Commission in its statement, that he “comes from East Darfur state and has booked an appointment via email to renew his passport with the Sudanese Ministry of Interior team in Kampala.”

He added, “On Wednesday, the 24th of April 2024, he went to the Sudanese Embassy headquarters in Kampala to complete the procedures. He was surprised by the response of Maj. Yasser Mohammed Al-Nur “police officer,” that he was banned by the Sudanese authorities’ Ministerial Resolution No. (54) of 2024.”

Mukhtar confirmed, according to his testimony, that he is a Sudanese citizen who has no connection to any political party, Armed Movement, or the Rapid Support Forces. He belongs, rather, to one of the geographical areas whose residents are considered by the Sudanese authorities to be socially nurturing environment for the Rapid Support Forces.

He added, “What took place is a clear violation of our basic rights to travel and identity, depriving us of our constitutional and legal rights.”

The Darfur Bar Association “DBA” confirmed receiving complaints from other people and obtaining similar statements to those of Othman Mukhtar Mohammadi.

The Commission urged the official Sudanese authorities to immediately review the Ministerial Resolution No. (54) of 2024, and to stop using the authorities to engage in grave violations that fall within the parameters of crimes against humanity.

The Commission announced: “In case the review does not take place as soon as possible, the Commission will inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of these grave violations committed by the Sudanese authorities. It will also submit a complaint in solidarity with its partners to the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACmHPR) in Gambia.”

For their part, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied in a statement the occurrence of such incidents of preventing the renewal of passports for Sudanese people in the Ugandan capital, indicating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have the authority to ban the passport of any Sudanese citizen, because issuing passports is not within its jurisdiction.”