The Sudan Social Development Organization, better known by the acronym SUDO, is a Sudanese non-profit organisation working in Sudan, with offices located around the country, aiding civilians affected by conflicts and internally displaced persons. The organisation describes itself as being dedicated to the promotion of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and international development

International development

International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...

.

Projects and partnerships

, SUDO is engaged in seven major projects, six of which are partnerships with other organisations working in the region.

North Darfur

In North Darfur

North Darfur

North Darfur is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the three states composing the Darfur region. It has an area of 296,420 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,583,000 . Al-Fashir is the capital of the state...

, a partnership with Kids To Kids helps to provide safe drinking water to people and cattle by digging water well

Water well

A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...

s and supplying pump

Pump

A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...

s. With aid from the British Embassy, SUDO built a health centre to provide basic health care to residents of the Zam Zam IDP

Internally displaced person

An internally displaced person is someone who is forced to flee his or her home but who remains within his or her country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the current legal definition of a refugee. At the end of 2006 it was estimated there were...

 camp.

South and West Darfur

In South Darfur

South Darfur

South Darfur is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the three states that compose the region of Darfur in western Sudan. It has an area of and an estimated population of approximately 2,890,000 . Nyala is the capital of the state. The State was affected by the 2010 Sahel...

 and West Darfur

West Darfur

West Darfur is one of the 15 states of Sudan, and one of three comprising the Darfur region. It has an area of 79,460 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,007,000 . It borders North and South Darfur to the east. The Chadian prefectures of Biltine and Ouaddaï lie to the west,...

, a partnership with Norwegian Church Aid

Norwegian Church Aid

Norwegian Church Aid , "Kirkens Nødhjelp" in Norwegian, is an independent humanitarian and ecumenical organisation with headquarters in Oslo, Norway. The organisation also has offices in 65 countries worldwide and receives funding from the Norwegian Protestant church, their institutions and...

 to provide basic health services, sanitation, and safe drinking water. A partnership with Trócaire

Trócaire

Trócaire is an Irish non governmental organization development agency. The charity is registered in the Republic of Ireland under Irish Charity No...

 helps to provide shelter to people in the Mershing IDP camp by constructing huts from locally-sourced materials. Another partnership with Norwegian Church Aid, along with Caritas

Caritas (charity)

Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....

, Sudanaid and the Sudan Council Of Churches, helps residents of the towns of Nyala

Nyala, Sudan

Nyala is the capital of South Darfur state in the western part of the Sudan. Nyala is located at elevation 2,208 feet in the Darfur historical region.- History :...

 and Zalingei

Zalingei

Zalingei or Zalinjay is a town in western Sudan, located in the state of West Darfur. It is known for its white cheese Gibna Bayda. As of 2009 it had an estimated population of 27,258....

 who have been affected my militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 attacks.

West Kurdufan

In West Kurdufan

West Kurdufan

West Kurdufan was formerly one of the 26 wilayat or states of Sudan. It had an area of 111,373 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,320,405...

 a partnership with Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation over 40 years ago it has worked in 50 countries and currently employs 3,200 staff in 25 countries around the world. Concern works to help those living in the world's poorest countries to achieve real and...

 with aid from the French embassy aims to reduce conflicts over water and to promote human rights.

Sudanese government actions

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 has recorded a series of attack on SUDO by the Sudanese government and by armed militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

s operating within Sudan.

Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam is a Sudanese human rights activist and engineer known for his role in exposing human rights violations in Darfur...

, the organisation's director, was arrested at his home in December 2003 after a visit to Darfur. He was charged with crimes against the state, which carried the possibility of being sentenced to death, but charges were dropped in August 2004.

In September 2004 Adil Abdallah Nasr al-Din, director the SUDO's Zalengei branch, was arrested and held, first at an unofficial detention centre near Kober

Kober

Kober is a surname shared by the following people:*Adolf Kober , German rabbi and medievalist*Alice Kober , U.S...

 prison in Khartoum

Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...

 and then at Debek prison North of Khartoum, until 19 April 2005.

On 29 September 2005 the Sudan Liberation Army abducted three members of SUDO at the Zam Zam IDP camp.

In March 2003 the Sudanese government closed two of the organisation's offices and froze its bank accounts.

Closing of SUDO and 2010 Mudawi trials

On 5 March 2009, the same day that President Omar al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir

Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...

 was indited by the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

, the Sudanese government ordered the closure of SUDO, and its offices were taken over by state security forces. The New York Times reported that the letter closing the offices "came from the Humanitarian Affairs Commission, which is run by Ahmed Haroun

Ahmed Haroun

Ahmed Mohammed Haroun is one of three Sudanese men wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur...

, one of the people facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for mass slaughter in Darfur." Mudawi and the organization appealed their closure in court, winning the appeal in April 2010. However, according to a 2011 SUDO press release, the organization remains effectively closed: "in Sudan you can win a case but nothing changes. SUDO’s offices remained locked, its assets remained frozen, and the organization in Sudan was not allowed to resume operations."

At the same time, Mudawi faced repeated trials for "financial mismanagement" of SUDO's resources. He was initially acquitted of these charges on 5 March 2010, but the case's judge, Abdel Monim Mohammed Saleim, reversed the acquittal on 22 December, re-imprisoning Mudawi. He was sentenced to "one year imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 Sudanese pound

Sudanese pound

The Sudanese pound is the currency of Sudan and also used in South Sudan until finalization of the introduction of the South Sudanese pound. Both Arabic and English names for the denominations appear on the country's banknotes and coins. On 24 July 2011, Sudan launched a new currency...

s (USD 1,250) for financial mismanagement" Mudawi was released on 25 January with notice that the time he had served had been sufficient; however, as of January 2011, the charges against him remain, and Amnesty International continues to name him a prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...

.

External links

• Sudan Social Development Organization - official website