The “Foreign Faces” Law: A Tool of Racial Discrimination against the People of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains in Areas Controlled by the Sudanese Army
The so-called “Foreign Faces Law,” implemented in several areas under the control of the Sudanese army, has sparked widespread controversy both within Sudan and internationally. It is widely condemned as a discriminatory practice targeting specific ethnic groups, primarily the people of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains. This law has led to widespread arrests, racially motivated searches, and serious human rights violations under the pretext of “national security” and the pursuit of suspected individuals.
An Unwritten Version of Apartheid
A Media Term, Not an Official Law… But with Serious Legal Implications
The term “foreign faces” is not a law issued by the Sudanese parliament or any legislative body. Rather, it is an expression coined by media and security agencies loyal to the army to justify the detention of individuals in Khartoum and other cities based on their physical features, accents, or region of origin. Its use began after the outbreak of war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, with neighborhood committees and paramilitary groups adopting this characterization to target people with dark skin and non-Arabic dialects.
It was applied informally by neighborhood committees and pro-army armed groups who appointed themselves as security forces, conducting searches in neighborhoods, markets, and public transportation, and detaining people based on their appearance or dialect, claiming they were “strangers” or “infiltrators.” Human rights organizations described these actions as “racial profiling” and “undeclared practices of social segregation.”
Despite the absence of any official legal basis, these committees and security agencies treated the term as if it were de facto law, using it to launch campaigns of arrests, searches, and psychological and verbal torture against citizens belonging to marginalized geographical and ethnic groups. While the stated aim of this measure was to combat infiltration and security threats, it effectively became a tool for systematically targeting the people of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains because of their African features and dialects, which differ from those of the inhabitants of central and northern Sudan.
Despite the lack of any official legal basis for this measure, the military authorities remained silent about its practices and even implicitly encouraged them, thus opening the door wide to violations against civilians.
Human Rights Criticism and Warnings of Social Fabric Disintegration
This behavior was met with sharp criticism from local and international human rights organizations, most notably Human Rights Watch and the Sudan Transitional Justice Monitor, which considered it a systematic racist policy that reproduces concepts of ethnic discrimination in Sudan.
Human rights reports confirmed that hundreds of people from Darfur and the Nuba Mountains were arbitrarily detained, and some were subjected to beatings and verbal abuse at checkpoints, without being formally charged or brought to trial. One report described the law as “an unwritten version of apartheid,” where complexion, accent, and clothing were used as initial tools of accusation.
Victim Testimonies: Fear of Features and Appearance
Abdel Rahman, a young man from Nyala, recounts how he was arrested by armed men in Khartoum because, as they put it, he “resembled Rapid Support Forces (RSF) members.” He says, “They asked for my ID, then said I was suspicious simply because I’m from Darfur. They threatened to kill me if I didn’t confess to being an undercover soldier, even though I’m just a day laborer.”
Judi, a university student from the Nuba Mountains, says she stopped leaving her home in a city in the Northern State after being harassed repeatedly at checkpoints simply because she is “dark-skinned” and speaks with a Nuba accent.
“One of them told me: ‘You’re an RSF member in disguise… You all look the same… Anyone who looks like that is considered an agent!’” Videos circulated by activists show members of popular committees searching phones and stopping passersby based on their appearance or accent, without any legal authority, reflecting a security chaos tinged with racism.
Calls for Accountability
Human rights activists are demanding an immediate investigation into the violations of the “Foreign Faces Law” and holding accountable the entities and individuals who implemented these policies without legal justification.
They also call for official directives from the military leadership to cease the application of this racial classification and to affirm that all Sudanese are equal in rights and duties, regardless of their appearance or region.
Observers warn that the continuation of this trend will escalate public anger and strengthen separatist tendencies among marginalized groups who feel targeted within their own country.
In a country torn apart by armed conflict and political division, the “Foreign Faces Law” constitutes a moral and legal catastrophe that is tearing apart what remains of the fragile national fabric. If this racist approach is not urgently dismantled, Sudan could be on the brink of a social explosion that goes beyond the danger of armed war to a war of identities that leaves nothing standing.
Original article [translated with Google]
Image: Sketch of typical faces from Nuba Mountains and/or Darfur. Source: Barq Sudan.
| Themes |
| • Armed / ethnic conflict • Demographic manipulation • Destruction of habitat • Discrimination • Displacement • Dispossession • Indigenous peoples • Public policies |
