Sudanese Army Officers and Soldiers Held by Abdul-Wahid Movement Face Uncertain Fate

Several families of Sudanese army officers and soldiers accused the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdul-Wahid Nour on Monday of detaining their relatives who had fled from El-Fashir to areas under the movement’s control east of Jebel Marra.

Some soldiers from the Sixth Infantry Division in El-Fashir and other bases in Darfur reportedly withdrew to territories controlled by the SLM. Families of these soldiers and officers, who are stranded in SLM-controlled areas, told Darfur 24 that the movement is holding dozens of them and preventing them from returning to their families.

They added that their relatives have been detained in these areas without permission to communicate with their families. According to the families, those held in SLM-controlled regions have faced an uncertain fate since fleeing El-Fashir after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the city in late October.

One family told Darfur 24 that their son, a lieutenant, along with seven other officers of various ranks, was arrested by RSF in Hamrat-Al-Sheikh in North Kordofan during their withdrawal from Jebel Marra in November. The family accused unspecified parties within Abdul-Wahid Nour’s forces of collaborating in this arrest by leaking information to the RSF militia.

They added that their son and the other officers were transferred to RSF prisons in Nyala, where their fate remains unknown.