Khartoum: Rhino – The African-European Organization for Humanitarian Action and Development has condemned the systematic evictions of citizens from western Sudan and expressed its deep concern over what it called the serious and repeated violations against civilians in marginalized areas, referring to what happened in Square (13) in the eastern Al-Ahama district of Khartoum state, known as Babu (Karshola). In a statement obtained by Masarat News, the organization said that the authorities carried out a forced demolition of citizens’ homes on June 16, 2026, in direct violation of the right to housing and the principles of social justice and non-discrimination enshrined in international and regional human rights law.

The organization said that the demolition was carried out on the orders of the state security committee headed by the acting governor, Ahmed Othman Hamza, and under the field command of a lieutenant colonel, in the presence of a deputy prosecutor and a number of land protection engineers, using three heavy (loaders), confirming the organized nature of the operation and the political intent and will behind it.

The organization pointed out that the operation resulted in the destruction of more than 200 homes belonging to families who had been living in the area since 2010 under official possession certificates issued by the Bahri local authority after paying the required fees.

The organization explained that the residents were not given any alternative housing, opportunities to appeal, or appropriate legal notices prior to the demolition, and that they were left out in the open without shelter and in extremely harsh humanitarian conditions.

The organization revealed that those affected are a mix of the most vulnerable groups: widows, mothers, children, the elderly, and those with limited income, which increases the gravity of the crime and its human rights and humanitarian impact.

The organization explained that the relevant authorities visited the site, including the Land Authority and the Ministry of Urban Planning – Rural Development Administration, and conducted a technical survey that confirmed that the area falls within plots: 1/12, 1/1/3, 1/1/ 4 in the Matri Am Driwa area, indicating a prior intention to legalize the situation in accordance with the directives of the Deputy Director General of the Land Authority in the North Bahri region.

It added that, despite this, the legalization process was aborted in favor of the demolition, in flagrant disregard for procedural justice and the residents’ right to secure tenure.

The organization stated that the demolition was an extension of a series of discriminatory policies directed against this group of residents in recent years, particularly during the tenure of former governor Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein, whose policies were characterized by repression, eviction, and deprivation of water, electricity, and basic services under the pretext of “illegality,” in clear violation of the right to water and human dignity.

The organization said that these systematic violations cannot be understood in isolation from the broader context of ethnic and geographical discrimination in Sudan, as influential parties seek to empty the population belt surrounding the capital of groups not associated with traditional centers of power, especially those coming from marginal states, while privileges and services are granted to groups from the Nile River region in a clear pattern of racially motivated demographic engineering that violates the principle of equality and non-discrimination and is a dangerous precursor to crimes against humanity.

According to the organization, the states of Khartoum and Al-Jazira witnessed a new wave of forced evictions coinciding with this incident, with citizens reporting to Kanabi Al-Jazeera that local authorities, supported by armed militias, were carrying out systematic attacks against residents on the basis of their ethnic or geographical affiliations as part of a deliberate displacement campaign, while residents of the village of Al-Khayrat in East Nile said that the authorities had demolished their homes.

The organization pointed out that the frequency of these operations amid the raging war and the collapse of state institutions indicates the existence of a systematic strategy of exclusion and population displacement managed by centers of power in Port Sudan using military and administrative tools and with the clear collusion of some judicial and parliamentary bodies.

The organization called on international and regional human rights bodies, foremost among them the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, to take urgent action to immediately investigate the forced evictions that took place in the East Al-Ahamda area and other areas in Khartoum and Al-Jazira, considering that they amount to serious violations that may fall within the scope of persecution and discrimination. 

It called on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to take practical steps to document the violations, support the victims, and enable them to seek justice and accountability.

At the same time, it called on the special procedure’s mechanisms of the United Nations, in particular the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Special Rapporteur on racial discrimination – to study these practices and issue official reports condemning the authorities involved and contributing to creating international pressure on the ruling authority. The organization called on international relief and justice organizations to provide emergency support to affected families and document violations in order to ensure the preservation of victims’ rights and facilitate access to redress.

The organization emphasized that targeting marginalized groups and uprooting them from their lands poses an existential threat to Sudan’s unity and future and risks widening ethnic and social tensions.