Honorable
Michael R. Pompeo
Secretary
of State
U.S.
Department of State
2201
C Street, NW
Washington,
DC 20520
Dear
Mr. Secretary,
We,
the undersigned 85 Sudanese, friends of the Sudanese people, and long time
observers of the Sudan regime, write to warn you regarding U.S. engagement in
Sudan. The leaders of Sudan have
outlasted and outsmarted several U.S. Administrations because they and their
counterparts in the Muslim Brotherhood are committed to a long-term
vision. They succeed at advancing their
agenda because they can count on the U.S. and the international community to
focus on short-term gains at the expense of long-term transformational
objectives that yield real and sustainable international peace and security.
The
U.S. government seems to believe it has found a reliable source of intelligence
in the Sudan regime. The Sudan regime
knows what the U.S. wants and it is willing to temporarily and partially
cooperate to gain access to financial markets.
Once Sudan has what it wants, what will be the incentive for it to
continue to cooperate with the United States?
The Sudan regime is loyal to no one as evidenced by its opportunistic
relationships with Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Egypt, and a
variety of terrorist groups in Libya, in Mali, Hamas, the LRA, al-Shabab and
al-Qaeda, and others in the region. If
the U.S. removes Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, a
designation that accurately defines the regime, the financial fortunes of the
regime (not the people of Sudan) will improve and the U.S. will have empowered
a regime guilty of supporting terrorism, committing genocide and destroying the
lives of millions of people, including American citizens.
For
an Administration that is committed to keeping terrorists out of the United
States, it is difficult to fathom why the State Department would issue a visa
to Mohammed Atta al-Moula, the recent former head of Sudan’s National
Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), the arm of the Sudan regime that
carries out the crimes of the regime and controls the country through violent
oppression. Atta is now the Chargé
d’Affaires for the Sudan Embassy in Washington, DC. While U.S. agencies may think they will have
more direct access to the intelligence they seek, the U.S. is also giving a
leader of worldwide intelligence networks, including terrorist networks, direct
access to the United States of America.
Atta is a serious national security threat.
As
the Head of NISS from 2009-2018 and the Deputy Head of NISS from 2002-2009,
Atta is responsible for a long list of crimes committed by NISS. A partial list of those crimes includes the
following:
NISS
is the mechanism used by Bashir to control the country through fear. NISS ghost houses are infamous for
torture. Those arrested by NISS for
protesting the crimes of the regime, including the mismanagement of the economy
and sham elections that re-elect Bashir year after year, are first severely
beaten, then taken to detention and beaten again, sometimes for an entire
day. Prisoners are kept in solitary
confinement, given small rations, and some are not allowed to sleep for days,
while others are raped and abused. Many
are referred to as slaves. One victim of
NISS shared, “The security in Khartoum tortured us badly,” says Abdel Rachide,
tears rolling down his face. “They put us in ice, in cold water, and they beat
us very badly in Khartoum. I can’t tell you all the torture they did to me,” he
says.[1]
NISS
controls terrorist organizations based in Sudan, and it opposes the detention
of clerics who espouse terrorist ideology in the mosques and in the markets.
NISS
prevents religious freedom. It harasses,
arrests, and falsely accuses moderate Muslims and Christian leaders. On behalf of the state, NISS seizes and
destroys property of Christian organizations and does not allow new structures
to be built. Atta directly managed this
process as he assigned the NISS officer, Mohammed Abdalla, to head the
Christian department within the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowment.
NISS
controls arms dealers in Sudan and it provides support to armed opposition in
the region, including Central African Republic and South Sudan.
NISS
controlled the Janjaweed and it now controls the Rapid Support Forces (RSF),
which are guilty of attacking and burning villages and crops, killing unarmed
citizens, throwing babies into roaring fires, raping men, women and children,
contaminating water wells, looting cattle, markets and other property. These crimes have harmed millions of people
and are daily events in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur.
While
the SPLM-N provides some protection for the people in the Nuba Mountains and
Blue Nile, NISS operates in government-controlled areas and arbitrarily
arrests, rapes and terrorizes Sudanese citizens.
In
Eastern Sudan, large numbers of NISS controlled Rapid Support Forces are in
place to supposedly “stop” human trafficking, yet it has been widely reported
that RSF forces are deeply involved in the trafficking themselves. RSF forces are profiting from this
trafficking and have been accused of torturing migrants and extorting them for
money.
A
special project of NISS has been to facilitate the seizure by foreigners of
land owned by Sudanese who have been violently displaced by NISS forces, making
repatriation nearly impossible for people too afraid to return to their homes.
NISS
arbitrarily arrests, beats and kills university students who may speak out
about the crimes of the regime or who come from marginalized areas of Sudan
such as Darfur. For example, in 2011
when Atta led NISS, four students were drowned by NISS in a ditch.
NISS
owns gold mines and controls others, requiring payment by Sudanese citizens for
“protection.”
According
to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, Atta’s involvement in these
serious crimes would make him ineligible for a U.S. visa. Under Atta’s direction, NISS has committed
severe violations of religious freedom, endorsed and supported terrorist
activity, commissioned acts of torture and extrajudicial killings, recruited
child soldiers, and committed genocide.
Atta
and his counterparts in the Sudan regime are as charming as they are
ruthless. They are experts at appearing
to be the victim of the U.S., as though the actions of the U.S. forced them to
torture, deprive and kill Sudanese citizens.
The regime is an expert at creating a problem, solving it (at least
partially) and then demanding credit from the international community, which
repeatedly falls for this deadly game.
The regime is an expert at controlling the United Nations by constantly
threatening expulsion if it doesn’t play by the regime’s rules. The regime is an expert at manipulating the
international community by helping it fight battles in Yemen or by curbing
immigration to Europe. The regime can
count on the international community to avoid looking too closely at its
methods because it knows the international community is tired, distracted and
does not want to deal with the crimes of the regime. The regime is confident that it will be
excused because it has already gotten and continues to get away with genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and in
Blue Nile. The African Union is willing
to look the other way, and the international community refuses to arrest
criminals wanted by the International Criminal Court.
While
the world may be willing to forget the crimes of the regime, we will not, and
the U.S. government must not. We do not
forget because the people of Sudan and South Sudan who have been hunted and
killed or forcibly displaced by the Sudan regime deserve to be remembered and
they deserve justice. We do not forget
because if we allow genocide, mass atrocities and war crimes to go unpunished
it puts all of us at risk. Impunity puts
the world in grave danger and we are seeing that play out before our eyes
around the world. “Winning” the war on
terror at the expense of justice is a short-term if not illusive victory. Real security is achieved through
accountability. Stability is a byproduct
of freedom and equal citizenship. There
are no short cuts or substitutes.
Make
no mistake, the Sudan regime is determined to survive. It will sell-out anyone and everyone, it will
make short-term concessions, it will say what you want to hear, but
fundamentally it has not and it will not change. The Sudan regime and its security and
intelligence arm in Sudan and Washington are dangerous. Don’t be fooled.
Sincerely,
Act
for Sudan, Eric Cohen, Co-Founder, USA
Abdel
Monim El Jak, Researcher
African
Freedom Coalition, Al Sutton M.D., President, New York, NY
African
United Democratic Party (AUDP), Sibusiso Bbusibheki Dlamini, Secretary General,
Swaziland
Ahmed
H. Adam, Research Associate, School of Law, SOAS University of London, UK
Akulia
Foundation, Lita Muki, Chairperson, Juba, Jubek, South Sudan
American-MidEast
Coalition for Democracy, Tom Harb, Co-Chair, Nashville, TN
Blue
Nile Community Association, Philip Nima, Community Organizer, Salt Lake City,
Utah
Brooklyn
Coalition for Darfur & Marginalized Sudan, Laura Limuli, Coordinator,
Brooklyn, NY
Catalyst
Schools Projects, Ngor Kur Mayol, Unity State, South Sudan
Coalition
of Advocates for South Sudan, Peter Magai Bul, Chicago, IL
Collectif
Urgence Darfour, Dr. Jacky Mamou, President, Paris, France
Concerned
Citizens for Change, Gene Binder, Member Steering Committee, Bronx, NY
DAAM-UK
(Pro-Democracy Activists Abroad), Ali Abdelatif M. Hussein, Co-ordinator,
London, UK
Damanga
Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, Daowd Salih, Co-Founder & Board
President, Peapack, NJ
Darfur
Action Group of South Carolina, Richard Sribnick, MD, President, Columbia, SC
Darfur
Community Association, Mohammed Esmail, General Secretary, Cape Town, Western
Cape, South Africa
Darfur
Community Org, Bakheit Shata, Executive Director, Omaha, NE
Darfur
Human Rights Organization of the USA, Abdelgabar Adam, Founder and President,
Philadelphia, PA
Darfur
Interfaith Network, Martha Boshnick, Co-Chair, Washington, DC
Darfur
People’s Association of New York, Motasim Adam, Secretary General, Brooklyn, NY
David
Alton, Professor the Lord Alton, Independent Crossbench Peer, London, UK
Doctors
to the World, Nuba Mountains, Sudan, C. Louis Perrinjaquet, MD, MPH, ,
Breckenridge, CO
Dr.
Deborah Mayersen, Research Fellow, University of Wollongong, Wollongong,
NSW Australia
Dr.
Samuel Totten, Presidential Scholar, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Elhag
Ali Warrag Sidahmed Warrag, Editor in Chief, Hurriyat
Ellen
J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without Genocide, St. Paul, MN
Eric
Metaxas, Author, nationally syndicated radio host, cultural commentator, New
York, NY
Eric
Reeves, Senior Fellow, Harvard University’s François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for
Health and Human Rights, Northampton, MA
Face
Past for Future Foundation (FP4F), Abdelrahman Gasim, Chairperson, Kampala,
Uganda
Genocide
No More – Save Darfur, Marv Steinberg, Coordinator, Redding, CA
Golda
Abbe, London
Group
Against Torture in Sudan (GATS), Dr. Mohamed Elgadi, Secretary, Amherst, MA
Hamid
E. Ali, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy and Administration,
The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt
Henry
C. Theriault, Ph.D., President, International Association of Genocide Scholars,
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Worcester State University,
Worcester, MA
HERO
(Human Rights Education and Relief Organization), Jason Jones, President,
Kapolei, Hawaii
Hon.
David Kilgour, J.D., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Human
Rights and Development Organization (HUDO Centre), Bushra Gamar Hussein,
Executive Director, Kampala, Uganda
In
Altum Productions, Jordan Allott, Founder, Washington, DC
Independent
Movement, Adil Taha, External Relations, Fairfax, VA
Institute
on Religion and Democracy, Faith J.H. McDonnell, Director, International
Religious Liberty Program & Church Alliance for a New Sudan, Washington, DC
Investors
Against Genocide, Susan Morgan, Co-founder, San Francisco, CA
Jan
Theisen, Arvada, CO
Jews
Against Genocide, USA, Sharon Silber, Co-Founder, New York, NY
Joining
Our Voices, Slater Armstrong, Founder/Director, Baton Rouge, LA
Kentuckiana
Taskforce Against Genocide, Robert Brousseau, Founder and Co-Chair, Louisville,
KY
Magdi
Elgzouli, Human Rights Activist, Sweden
Massachusetts
Coalition to Save Darfur, William Rosenfeld, Director, Boston, MA
Mia
Farrow, Actress and Humanitarian
Middle
East Christians Coalition (MECHRIC), John Hajjar, Executive Board, Quincy, MA
Mohamed
Y. Khalifa, Instructor, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Mohaned
Elnour, Human Rights Lawyer and Director, Justice Center for Advocacy and Legal
Consultation (JCALC)
Mustafa
Sharif, PhD., College Station, TX
Najlaa
Ahmed, Human Rights Advocate, Columbia University, London
Never
Again Coalition, Lauren Fortgang, Policy Director, Portland, OR
New
York Coalition for Sudan, Eileen Weiss, Co-Director, New York, NY
Nuba
Christian Family Mission, James Flournoy, Director, Englewood, CO
Nubia
Project, Nuraddin Abdulmannan, President and Fakiri Gawish Taha, Co-Founder,
Washington, DC
Omer
G. Ismail, Sudan Policy Advisor, Washington, DC
Rabbi
Azriel, On behalf Darfuri and Sudanese at large
Rev.
Dr. Austin Watson, Retired, United Methodist Church, Hendersonville, NC
Rev.
John Calhoun, Director, Center For Pastoral Leadership, Point Loma Nazarene
University, San Diego, CA
Rona
Wronker, Evergreen, CO
Safwan,
Attorney, S.P.L.M., Alexandria, VA
San
Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, Mohamed Suleiman, President, San
Francisco, CA
Save
The Persecuted Christians Coalition, Washington, DC
Seifeldin
Kudi, Human Rights Defender, Boston, MA
Skills
for Nuba Mountains, Lazim Suleiman Elbasha, Founder and Director, Kauda, South
Kordofan/Nuba Mountains Sudan
Society
for Threatened Peoples – Germany, Ulrich Delius, Director, Göttingen, Germany
South
Sudan Victims and Survivors Organization, Amute Francis Lobalu, Executive
Director, Juba, South Sudan
St.
James Social Justice and Peace Committee, Joyce Rothermel, Chair, Wilkinsburg,
PA
Sudan
Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, Ishraga Ahmed Khamis, Blue Nile, Sudan
Sudan
Rowan, Inc., Ngor Kur Mayol, President, Atlanta, GA
Sudan
Unlimited, Esther Sprague, Founder and Director, San Francisco, CA
Sudanese
Community Church, The Episcopal Church in Colorado, The Rev. Oja B. Gafour,
PhD., Vicar, Denver, CO
Sudanese
Community of Kentucky Inc, Abdulrahim Adam, President, Louisville, KY
The
Rev. Heidi McGinness, International Human Rights Activist and Peacemaker,
Denver, CO
The
Reverend Ronald D. Culmer, , St. Clare’s Episcopal Church, Pleasanton, CA
The
Right Reverend Alan Scarfe, Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, Des Moines,
IA
The
Rt. Reverend Julian Dobbs, Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans in North America,
McLean, VA
The
Rt. Reverend William L. Murdoch, Bishop, The Anglican Diocese in New England,
Amesbury
Unite
for Darfur Organization, Bahar Arabie, CEO, Gaithersburg, MD
Victoria
D. Sanford, PhD, Director, Lehman Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies,
Bronx, NY
Waging
Peace, Maddy Crowther, Co-Executive Director, London, UK
Western
Sudan Aid Relief in the U.S.A. Inc, Seddik Abdel Jabbar, President and CEO,
Dallas, TX
[1] “Tales of slavery and torture for Darfuri
refugees in Chad who have nowhere to go,” Laura Angela Bagnetto, August 10,
2018
August
22, 2018