UN ‘deeply alarmed’ at Sudan prison breaks

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP):

The United Nations has expressed concern over prison breaks and deepening impunity in Sudan as fighting continues, with a number of suspected war criminals taking advantage of the crisis to escape.

Several jailbreaks, including of a high-security prison holding those suspected of war crimes, have taken place since violence erupted across Sudan two weeks ago.

UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says the UN is “deeply alarmed” that the impunity symbolised by the jailbreaks “is at the root of a lot of what we are seeing today”.

Ravina said: “We’re very, very deeply alarmed by the prison breaks. As you know, impunity has been a huge issue in Sudan going back decades. And we strongly feel, and the High Commissioner has said, that this impunity is at the root of a lot of what we are seeing today. When you see continued impunity for serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, it emboldens the perpetrators.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes to find places of greater safety at any cost, and face abuses en route. But thousands remain trapped in residential areas where fighting has taken place, with shelling and use of heavy weapons, trying to use any period of calm to reach places of relative safety.”