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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
Police post near Yei, western Al Istiwai State
Courtesy Robert O. Collins
Police force in Maridi
Courtesy Robert O. Collins
The Sudan Police Force (SPF) had its beginnings in 1898 when
a British army captain was placed in the central administration
for police duties, and thirty British army officers directly
responsible to him were detailed to organize provincial police
establishments. The arrangement proved overly centralized,
however, and complete decentralization of police control was
introduced in 1901. As great differences arose in the standards
and performance of the police in the various provinces, a
modified form of administrative control by the central
authorities was decreed in 1908, with the provincial governors
retaining operational control of the forces. The SPF was
officially established by the British in 1908 and was absorbed by
the Sudanese government on independence in 1956.
It was technically and economically impractical for the
police to cover the entire area of Sudan; therefore, a system of
communal security was retained for more than seventy years. The
central government gave tribal leaders authority to keep order
among their people. They were allowed to hire a limited number of
"retainers" to assist them in law enforcement duties. This system
was finally abolished by the Nimeiri government in the early
1970s.
Under Nimeiri, command and administration of the SPF was
modified several times. The police were responsible to the
minister of interior until 1979, when the post of minister of
interior was abolished and various ministers were made
responsible for different areas of police work. This arrangement
proved unwieldy, however, and the Police Act of 1979 instituted a
unified command in which the head of the force reported directly
to the president. After Nimeiri's fall, the cabinet position of
minister of interior was restored, and the director general of
police was made responsible to him.
Central police headquarters in Khartoum was organized into
divisions, each commanded by a police major general. The
divisions were responsible for criminal investigations,
administration, training, public affairs, passport control,
immigration, and security affairs. The main operational elements
were the traffic police and the riot police. The 1979 legislation
brought specialized police units, such as that of the Sudan
Railways, under the authority of the SPF headquarters. The
Khartoum headquarters maintained liaison and cooperation with the
International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, and with
agencies involved in combating international drug traffic.
The government's new system of administration delegated many
powers to the regional level, but law enforcement outside major
urban areas remained provincially oriented. Thus, the national
police establishment was subdivided into provincial commands,
which were organized according to the same divisions found in the
national headquarters. Local police directors were responsible to
provincial police commissioners, who in turn were responsible to
the SPF director general in Khartoum. Each provincial command had
its own budget.
The SPF expanded from roughly 7,500 officers and men at
independence in 1956 to approximately 18,000 in 1970 and 30,000
by the mid-1980s. Except for the south where internal security in
government-held areas was the responsibility of military and
security organs, the police establishment was distributed roughly
in proportion to population density but was reinforced in areas
where there was a likelihood of trouble. In some places, the
police were too thinly scattered to provide any real security. It
was reported that there were no police stations along the Nile
from the town of Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border south to
Dunqulah, a distance of about 300 kilometers. Elsewhere in the
north, police posts could be staffed by as few as two police with
insufficient transport or communications equipment to patrol
their district. Efforts to control smuggling were apparently the
responsibility of the armed forces and the security authorities.
Police officer cadets usually received two years of training
at the Sudan Police College near Khartoum. The institution was
equipped to provide theoretical and practical instruction; it
also served as a training school for military personnel who
required police skills in their assignments. In addition to
recruit training, the college offered instruction in aspects of
criminal law, general police duties, fingerprinting, clerical
work, photography, and the use of small arms. Enlisted recruits
usually underwent four months of training at provincial
headquarters. Although not numerous, women served in the SPF in
limited capacities. They were generally assigned to
administrative sections, to juvenile delinquency matters, or to
criminal cases in which female Sudanese were witnesses or
defendants. The Bashir government announced plans to remove women
from the police, but, according to one report, a number of women
were actually promoted to higher positions because of the mass
firing of senior male police officers.
Provincial police had traditionally enjoyed good relations
with the community, but during the Nimeiri regime many people
regarded them more as the object of fear than as a source of
security. The police were said to have acted appropriately--
firmly but with restraint--during civil demonstrations in the
first half of the 1980s. Since the resumption of civil war in
1983, serious abuses of human rights have not generally been
attributed to the police, as they have been to the armed forces,
government militias, and security organizations. Police treatment
of persons under arrest could be harsh. Police patrols in
Khartoum have harassed or beaten people occasionally without
apparent motive. Public order campaigns in Khartoum, often
targeting southern refugees, could result in roundups of
thousands charged with illegal street vending or loitering. In
urban areas police reportedly often acted against refugees,
stealing from them and beating them for minor infractions.
Refugees seldom had recourse to the legal system when attacked by
the police. The police were known to have inflicted floggings
summarily for drinking alcohol or for curfew violations.
Brutality increased after the 1989 coup, but roundups and
floggings declined somewhat after officials of the Bashir
government promised closer supervision of the police.
Data as of June 1991
Apart from in the south, domestic order in Sudan was a shared
responsibility of the military, the national police force, and
security organs of the Ministry of Interior. Martial law was in
effect in government-controlled areas of the south and in some
northern areas as well.
The Sudan Police Force
Police post near Yei, western Al Istiwai State
Courtesy Robert O. Collins
Police force in Maridi
Courtesy Robert O. Collins
The Sudan Police Force (SPF) had its beginnings in 1898 when
a British army captain was placed in the central administration
for police duties, and thirty British army officers directly
responsible to him were detailed to organize provincial police
establishments. The arrangement proved overly centralized,
however, and complete decentralization of police control was
introduced in 1901. As great differences arose in the standards
and performance of the police in the various provinces, a
modified form of administrative control by the central
authorities was decreed in 1908, with the provincial governors
retaining operational control of the forces. The SPF was
officially established by the British in 1908 and was absorbed by
the Sudanese government on independence in 1956.
It was technically and economically impractical for the
police to cover the entire area of Sudan; therefore, a system of
communal security was retained for more than seventy years. The
central government gave tribal leaders authority to keep order
among their people. They were allowed to hire a limited number of
"retainers" to assist them in law enforcement duties. This system
was finally abolished by the Nimeiri government in the early
1970s.
Under Nimeiri, command and administration of the SPF was
modified several times. The police were responsible to the
minister of interior until 1979, when the post of minister of
interior was abolished and various ministers were made
responsible for different areas of police work. This arrangement
proved unwieldy, however, and the Police Act of 1979 instituted a
unified command in which the head of the force reported directly
to the president. After Nimeiri's fall, the cabinet position of
minister of interior was restored, and the director general of
police was made responsible to him.
Central police headquarters in Khartoum was organized into
divisions, each commanded by a police major general. The
divisions were responsible for criminal investigations,
administration, training, public affairs, passport control,
immigration, and security affairs. The main operational elements
were the traffic police and the riot police. The 1979 legislation
brought specialized police units, such as that of the Sudan
Railways, under the authority of the SPF headquarters. The
Khartoum headquarters maintained liaison and cooperation with the
International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, and with
agencies involved in combating international drug traffic.
The government's new system of administration delegated many
powers to the regional level, but law enforcement outside major
urban areas remained provincially oriented. Thus, the national
police establishment was subdivided into provincial commands,
which were organized according to the same divisions found in the
national headquarters. Local police directors were responsible to
provincial police commissioners, who in turn were responsible to
the SPF director general in Khartoum. Each provincial command had
its own budget.
The SPF expanded from roughly 7,500 officers and men at
independence in 1956 to approximately 18,000 in 1970 and 30,000
by the mid-1980s. Except for the south where internal security in
government-held areas was the responsibility of military and
security organs, the police establishment was distributed roughly
in proportion to population density but was reinforced in areas
where there was a likelihood of trouble. In some places, the
police were too thinly scattered to provide any real security. It
was reported that there were no police stations along the Nile
from the town of Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border south to
Dunqulah, a distance of about 300 kilometers. Elsewhere in the
north, police posts could be staffed by as few as two police with
insufficient transport or communications equipment to patrol
their district. Efforts to control smuggling were apparently the
responsibility of the armed forces and the security authorities.
Police officer cadets usually received two years of training
at the Sudan Police College near Khartoum. The institution was
equipped to provide theoretical and practical instruction; it
also served as a training school for military personnel who
required police skills in their assignments. In addition to
recruit training, the college offered instruction in aspects of
criminal law, general police duties, fingerprinting, clerical
work, photography, and the use of small arms. Enlisted recruits
usually underwent four months of training at provincial
headquarters. Although not numerous, women served in the SPF in
limited capacities. They were generally assigned to
administrative sections, to juvenile delinquency matters, or to
criminal cases in which female Sudanese were witnesses or
defendants. The Bashir government announced plans to remove women
from the police, but, according to one report, a number of women
were actually promoted to higher positions because of the mass
firing of senior male police officers.
Provincial police had traditionally enjoyed good relations
with the community, but during the Nimeiri regime many people
regarded them more as the object of fear than as a source of
security. The police were said to have acted appropriately--
firmly but with restraint--during civil demonstrations in the
first half of the 1980s. Since the resumption of civil war in
1983, serious abuses of human rights have not generally been
attributed to the police, as they have been to the armed forces,
government militias, and security organizations. Police treatment
of persons under arrest could be harsh. Police patrols in
Khartoum have harassed or beaten people occasionally without
apparent motive. Public order campaigns in Khartoum, often
targeting southern refugees, could result in roundups of
thousands charged with illegal street vending or loitering. In
urban areas police reportedly often acted against refugees,
stealing from them and beating them for minor infractions.
Refugees seldom had recourse to the legal system when attacked by
the police. The police were known to have inflicted floggings
summarily for drinking alcohol or for curfew violations.
Brutality increased after the 1989 coup, but roundups and
floggings declined somewhat after officials of the Bashir
government promised closer supervision of the police.
Data as of June 1991
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