Sudan’s Port Sudan-based administration has formed a committee to prepare for a possible detainee exchange with the Rapid Support Forces under a United Nations initiative.
The committee was established under a decree issued by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and has begun registering and classifying people allegedly detained or missing in RSF-controlled areas.
Amjad Farid, an adviser to Burhan, said families of civilians who are detained, abducted or missing should register their cases at the nearest police station or public prosecutor’s office.
The committee gave families one week to submit reports and said it would prepare records of detainees while coordinating medical and psychological support before, during and after any exchange.
The move follows a proposal attributed to UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan Pekka Haavisto to facilitate an exchange between the army and the RSF, with the possible involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC has said it is prepared to act as a neutral intermediary in the safe and voluntary transfer of detainees whose simultaneous release has been agreed by the parties.
However, the committee was announced solely by the Burhan administration. The RSF and the TASIS-led Peace Government had not publicly confirmed their participation in the committee or accepted the Port Sudan authorities’ account of the detainee file at the time of publication.
The Burhan administration described the initiative as a humanitarian measure intended to document missing people and protect families’ right to know the fate of their relatives.
Rights groups have documented allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and other abuses by forces on both sides of Sudan’s war.
