About 300 missing in the Sudanese clashes. Confusion and sadness engulf dozens of families

KHARTOUM — Kamal Moussa's family has been living with great anxiety for two weeks after their breadwinner mysteriously disappeared in the Jabra neighborhood (south of the Sudanese capital), joining a long list of missing people who have been flooding social media since fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces began in mid-April.

The disappearance of Kamal, 37, since the sixth of May / May is common big question marks and sadness residing among the family, as Kamal was preparing to leave for Egypt. According to his brother Khaled Moussa, his brother had intended to take their sick father so that he could continue his treatment, but he left home two weeks ago and has not returned until now.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Moussa said that the family informed the Red Cross and many local bodies and organizations of the disappearance of his brother, hoping to help them.

Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Khartoum, most police stations have closed their doors and disappeared completely from the scene, leaving ample room for gangs and repeat offenders, and dozens of families wishing to report disappearances and missing people have been puzzled.

Youth targeting

Eyewitnesses who were on the way to travel between Khartoum and River Nile State say to Al Jazeera Net that the military points erected on the road take harsh measures and violate international laws and human rights, when dealing with male travelers, especially young people.

One of the humanitarian activists tells the island net that he was searched, abused and looted by elements of the Rapid Support in her fulcrum opposite the Halfaya Bridge. Officers stop whatever car it is, climb into it and ask the youths to get out with their personal bags, he said.

"He asked me and five other young men to get off the bus and carry our personal bags, and then they searched us separately and ordered us to empty the bags on the floor and ask us about our profession and destination, then they took our phones and money and ordered us to pack the bags again and wait," he said.

He stated that the officer who searched him surreptitiously put his phone in his pocket and whispered to him to get on the bus immediately, and that he would try to return other people's phones and money.

"He returned my phone without the money, and the rest of the comrades lost it because the soldier could not convince his colleagues to return the phones," he said.

Eyewitness accounts correspond that the outposts on which RSF elements stand on many roads took young men from buses for not showing their identity cards, and their fate is no longer known.

Al Jazeera Net was able to communicate with the father of one of the missing, but he refrained from going into any details on how her absence so as not to cause his speech harm to her if she was in the hands of the gunmen, he said.

Mounting numbers

As fighting and clashes escalate in Khartoum, several families complain of the loss of a member who usually goes out to search for water, food, bread or medicine amid serious security complications and threats. In separate statements, the armed forces accuse the RSF of using civilians as human shields inside residential neighborhoods.

A report entitled "The Weakest Link" – issued by the organization "missing" – talked about the loss of 234 people during the period from the ninth of May to 19 of the same month, including 11 girls, and 6 of the missing were reported killed, as the statistics obtained by Al Jazeera Net show.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the founder of the "Missing" initiative, Yahya Hussein, explains that most of the missing are young people, between the ages of 20 and 35 years.

She explained that 29 missing people returned during the last period to their families, including 4 people who returned during the past days.

One of the returnees to the island net that he was detained by the forces tracking the rapid support, after they subjected him to inspection at one of the checkpoints, and doubted the lack of carrying proof of identity and accused him of spying for the army, while the young man was trying to search for bread for his family, which lives in the suburb of Dim.

The statistics showed the loss of 15 people under the age of 18, and Khartoum recorded the loss of 192 people compared to 37 in Omdurman, and 43 in Khartoum North.

Other people went missing in Meroe, where conflict between the army and the RSF erupted, and people have disappeared in the cities of Shendi in River Nile State (north), Madani (centre) and Wadi Halfa (north) since 15 April. Among the missing are six non-Sudanese nationals.

As of 19 May, 269 people were missing in clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Detention and enforced disappearance

In turn, said a member of the initiative "missing" Sarah Hamdan to the island that since the outbreak of the war the initiative worked hard to monitor the missing, and contributed to the dissemination of their information and follow-up through its pages, noting the return of some of the missing, but the majority are still unknown fate.

According to a statement issued by the Coordination Committee of the "Missing" initiative, issued last Friday, monitoring and follow-up operations revealed that a number of civilians were arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Rapid Support Forces, some of whom were arrested from their homes, others from the roads or from within neighborhoods.

Sarah said it is likely that some of those detained and forcibly disappeared are among those who went missing in recent days.

The EIPR statement stressed that due to these practices, unfortunate information was received about the death of one of the missing, after the army's attack on one of the Rapid Support headquarters, which resulted in deaths, the number of which is not yet known, nor the fate of the rest of the forcibly disappeared detainees, and whether there are similar cases, where the Rapid Support Forces place detainees in different areas, in clear violation of human rights laws and rights.

The initiative called on both parties to abide by international human rights treaties and covenants, and to what was committed to in the Jeddah Declaration for the Protection of Civilians, which stressed that the safety of civilians is a key priority.

The initiative also called on the Rapid Support Forces to release all civilians in their custody and to ensure their lives and the safety of their return to their families, unconditionally.