Letter: Stop the Sudanese reign of terror

JULIE FLINT ('Even if they have to beat schoolboys senseless', 2 May) vividly shows the 'reign of terror' of the Sudanese government. When I visited last month, I found a regime that routinely caused people to 'disappear'; that detained and often tortured people in secret in 'ghost houses'; that obliged people to turn up for day detention indefinitely. Sudan is being tyrannised by a brand of Islamic fundamentalism that threatens both Christians and most Muslims.

Huge areas of the country are kept out of sight. International aid agencies would willingly go, despite the risks to themselves, to areas such as the Nuba Mountains, but the Sudanese government stops them. We have only the haziest idea of what has been happening there but it seems certain that tens of thousands of mainly women and children have been forcibly displaced.

Sudan is heading for bankruptcy and moral purdah. The World Bank has withdrawn and private capital is in flight. The United Nations has unambiguously condemned its human rights record. There must be pressure to end the 10-year civil war and to tell the Sudan government that its crimes against its people must stop.

Tony Worthington MP

London SW1