Tuesday, June 22, was one of the most difficult
Darfur24/Nyala
Tuesday, June 22, was one of the most difficult days of my journalistic work, I was arrested by the forces of the Sudan Liberation Forces Movement, led by member of the Sovereign Council, Al-Taher Abu Bakr Hajar.
Last Saturday, the director of the office of the French news agency, Ms. Menna Zaki, asked me to prepare a news story about the looting and sabotage of the former UNAMID premises.
I went a long way in collecting and editing information, and I had photographs of the effects of the looting and vandalism that took place on these compunds , so I decided yesterday morning, Tuesday, to go to former UNAMID premises in South Darfur.
I was surprised by the presence of forces at the gate, I met their commander and I introduced myself and the purpose for which I came, and his response was that he could not allow me or refuse, and he asked me to meet their leadership inside, so one of the soldiers accompanied me inside, and there I found an officer questioning one of the civilians, so I greeted him and let him know my identity and purpose When I came to the site, he in turn asked me to wait for someone, and he told me to wait for someone to come and then see what happened.
I stood for a while and then picked up a chair that was near him to sit on, but he refused and directed me to sit in a chair that was in a small cage near them. All I have is “Cards and Business Tools”
After about half an hour, an officer called “Adam Abu Daqan” came, who is apparently the commander of the military police of the movement. He was very harsh. I asked him for his phone to make a call. I found the nearest phone number in the outgoing calls, the number of my colleague Abu Zhar Masoud. So I told Abu Zhar that I was detained by the forces of the Sudan Liberation Forces Movement in the suburb of Siqra,
While we were sitting in the sun, the person introduced me to himself, his name was “Mohamed Eid,” and he told me in a whispered voice so that they would not hear us, that he had been arrested since last Saturday from inside Al-Suhaini Square in Nyala, while Al-Taher Hajar the movement’s leader was addressing a public meeting there, and he told me that for the fourth day his family did not know what happened to him and his whereabouts, and he told me that his family is in the city of Kass 85 kilometers west of the city of Nyala, capital of South Darfur.
In the middle of the day, a herder passed by them while he was riding a camel, so they called him and searched what was carried in the back of his camel and asked him about the reasons for crossing the area. He told them that he was looking for his animals, so they beat him with whips in a humiliating manner.
After the noon prayer, the officer, Adam Abu Diqin,” took us to a creek a few meters to the east, carrying a whip, and there he beat me until he wounded me in the back and in my right hand.
They brought us back again, and before the sunset prayer, which was preceded by rain, they referred us to the buildings that they used as housing for their forces.
At nine-thirty, one of the leaders accompanied by the leader, Tahir Hajar, came and took me to the guesthouse. After several attempts by my colleague Abu Dhar Masoud, the information officer of the governor’s office, I met a leader called “Abu Rass” who apologized to me for what happened and asked me to write a statement that I willingly went there.
I wrote, “I am the journalist Abdel Moneim Madbo, and I acknowledge that I went to the former UNAMID mission premises in the suburb of Saigra, and I did not know the presence of the forces of the Sudan Liberation Forces at the site, so I was detained for hours, interrogated and