VZCZCXRO3885
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0847/01 1600515
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 080515Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0978
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000847 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PREF SOCI UNSC SU
 
SUBJECT:  DARFUR STUDENTS BEATEN AND DORMITORIES DESTROYED FOLLOWING 
PROTESTS AT KHARTOUM UNIVERSITY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  According to eyewitnesses and participants, 
Sudanese security services violently broke up a Darfuri student 
protest at Khartoum University on June 5.  Security forces beat the 
protestors with iron bars, threw several Molotov cocktails into the 
crowd, and fired handguns into the air to disperse the crowd.  After 
breaking up the protest, the security forces then moved on to a 
dormitory inhabited by Darfuri students and destroyed the living 
space of approximately 40 of them.  Contacts from SLM-Minnawi report 
that approximately 20 students were wounded in the clash, with three 
of them in critical condition.  According to these sources, at least 
one dozen students remain in detention.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On June 6, TDRA Legal Secretary Abdel Aziz Sam and 
Director of Capacity Building met poloff at SLM-Minnawi headquarters 
in Omdurman.  Dozens of young men were present at the headquarters. 
In one room approximately seven young men lay on the ground with 
bloodied bandages applied to their heads and legs.  Poloff 
photographed the injured and will transmit images to AF/SPG and the 
Office of the Special Envoy. 
 
REASON FOR THE PROTESTS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶3.  (SBU) According to SLM-Minnawi contacts, on June 4 a leader of 
the Darfur Students' Association, Ismail Ahmed Salah, was harassed 
by a Sudanese security agent assigned to the University of Khartoum. 
 According to these sources, Salah was sitting with a group of young 
women when the security agent said, "Don't sit with these women, you 
slave," and then struck Salah with the butt of his pistol. 
 
PROTESTS 
- - - - - 
¶4.  (SBU)  On June 5, the Darfur Students' Association organized a 
protest at Khartoum University at 13:30 to protest the attack on 
Salah.  Eyewitnesses estimated that there were roughly seven or 
eight hundred unarmed protestors gathered at the university from 
different political parties and geographic origins.  According to 
protest participants, approximately 150 security forces and NCP 
affiliated students approached the gathering.  Most of these 
individuals were carrying iron bars, while others had Molotov 
cocktails and twenty others had handguns, these sources said. 
According to these sources, although the security forces were 
dressed in civilian clothing, the presence of firearms and the 
matching boots of many of the individuals, indicated that the 
individuals came from the state security apparatus.  "They shot 
their guns up in the air and then stormed at us with their clubs 
beating anyone who was in their way," stated one eyewitness. 
Protestors fled, but security forces detained roughly one dozen 
individuals.  Contacts stated that while beating many of the 
individuals from Darfur, the security forces made the victim state 
"I am a slave and I will never rule Sudan." 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Salah Ibrahim, one student with a large bloodied bandage 
wrapped around his head, told poloff that he was beaten and then 
detained by Sudanese security.  He stated that he was insulted, 
beaten further, and then thrown into a security vehicle en route to 
interrogation.  Ibrahim stated that he faded in and out of 
consciousness while in the vehicle, alarming his captors who stated, 
"He might die, we better get rid of him."  Ibrahim said that he was 
then dumped at the doorsteps of a nearby hospital, and as the car 
pulled away the security men yelled, "This man belongs to Khalil 
Ibrahim!" 
 
DORMITORY ATTACK 
- - - - - - - - - 
¶6.  (SBU)  According to these same sources, after the protest had 
dispersed, a larger group of plain-clothes security forces gathered 
outside of a student dormitory at approximately 18:00.  The force 
was "more than 150 people" with heavier weapons, including 25 
Kalashnikovs and other larger caliber weapons.  According to these 
sources, the security forces then entered the second story of the 
dormitory and destroyed six rooms housing approximately 40 students, 
destroying the rooms and setting some of their possessions on fire. 
Inhabitants fled to higher levels of the building, and according to 
one contact, security forces threw several students off of the 
second and third stories of the building, resulting in severe 
injuries. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) TDRA Legal Secretary Abdel Aziz Sam stated that the 
government recognizes that Darfuri students are active, strong, and 
if challenged, a threat to the government.  He added that the GoS 
currently feels pressured following the UNSC visit, the breakdown in 
bilateral discussions between the U.S. and Sudan, and the 
possibility of further indictments by the ICC.  "There is a 
relationship between all of these major events and even events like 
this," stated Sam.  Sam stated that his most immediate concern is 
finding treatment and refuge for the wounded staying at SLM-MM 
 
KHARTOUM 00000847  002 OF 002 
 
 
headquarters.  "These young students are wounded and Zaghawa, and if 
they go home or go to the university everyone will think they were 
part of the JEM attack," stated Sam. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  On June 5, the moderate Arabic daily "Al-Sudani" provided 
front-page coverage of the protest and the GoS's response. 
"Al-Sudani" stated that "more than fifteen students were injured in 
the clash between NCP students and SLM students affiliated to Abdul 
Wahid Al-Nur."  The article also states that the NCP students 
released a statement on the event, stating that four of their 
students were injured in the events.  Reacting to the column, Abdel 
Aziz Sam commented, "This is just propaganda - the Government wants 
to discredit this and say it is tied to Abdul Wahid and Israel." 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
¶9.  (SBU) In the last six months there have been at least three 
other protests by Darfuri students at Khartoum's universities. 
However, SLM-Minnawi observers agreed that this was the largest, 
most organized, and most violent Darfuri student protest to occur in 
¶2008.  Abdel Aziz Sam also is correct to tie it to other events.  As 
the GoS feels more pressure from within and without Sudan, it will 
likely take out its frustrations on its usual targets. 
 
DATTA