Fear of Disappearance and extrajudicial execution

Amnesty International Urgent Action Bullegin, AI Index: AFR 54/14/99, 2 August 1999

Souleymane Garfa Ahmadai Sabre Sileck Sagga

reportedly members of a Chadian armed opposition group the, the Alliance Nationale pour la Resistance, National Alliance for Resistance

Chadian nationals Souleymane Garfa, Ahmadai Sabre and Sileck Sagga, who were arrested in Sudan on 27 July 1999, may be at risk of deportation to Chad where they would be in danger of disappearance or extrajudicial execution.

Amnesty International is also concerned that Sileck Sagga has reportedly been ill-treated by the Sudanese security forces.

The men, reportedly members of the Alliance nationale pour la Resistance (ANR), National Alliance for Resistance, were arrested by Sudanese security forces in El Djenenah, Sudan, an area currently under state of emergency close to the Chad border.

Souleymane Garfa, the younger brother of ANR president Colonel Garfa, may be particularly at risk of deportation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The government of President Idriss Deby in Chad faces continued sporadic opposition from a number of armed opposition groups. Some members and supporters of these groups are now in exile in neighbouring countries. On a number of occasions Chadian nationals believed to be members of armed opposition groups have been forcibly returned to Chad from neighbouring countries, including Sudan. On their return they have faced arrest, torture, extrajudicial execution or disappearance. Such deportations have taken place without any judicial or other extradition procedures, in contravention of the principle set out in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.

In August 1996, four members of a Chadian armed opposition group, Armee nationale tchadienne en dissidence (ANT/D), Dissident National Chadian Army, part of the ANR, disappeared in Chad shortly after being deported from Sudan.

In 1998, Amnesty International expressed concern for the safety of three ANR members arrested in Sudan, who were later released.