A/HRC/9/13 page 8 25. The use of child soldiers is not limited to the Omdurman attacks. Compounding numerous reports of the use of child combatants, during her visits the Special Rapporteur encountered some child soldiers recruited by different factions, including the Sudanese armed forces. Encouragingly, the Government’s Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Commission continues to be very active in its efforts to campaign against the recruitment and use of child soldiers and carries out reintegration programmes in close collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as other international partners. 26. According to the Government, 34 civilian deaths were caused as a result of the fighting in Omdurman. There were reports of serious violations by combatants on both sides, including the targeted killings of civilians, indiscriminate fire, the disproportionate use of force and the execution of wounded or captured enemy combatants. B. Arbitrary arrests and detention 27. The Government responded to the events of 10 May by making numerous arrests. According to police figures, in the Khartoum area 481 people were detained and then released again in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Other sources have reported that several hundred civilians were arbitrarily arrested and detained without charge in the aftermath of the attacks, in addition to combatants and some 90 alleged child combatants. At the end of July, two and a half months after the attacks, some 500 were feared to still be in NISS detention, their whereabouts unknown, and the authorities had provided no specific information on those in detention to relatives or human rights workers. Other sources report even higher figures of detainees remaining in custody in connection with the attack. Those held reportedly include human rights activists, journalists, family members of the accused, and women. As the United Nations still does not have access to places of detention in Khartoum, the exact number of detainees is impossible to verify. The large majority of those detained appear to be of Darfurian origin and there is credible evidence that many of them were arrested on grounds of their ethnicity. 28. According to reports, detainees have been held incommunicado. There were allegations of torture, mistreatment and inhumane detention, with some sources even reporting a number of deaths in custody. The Special Rapporteur’s request to visit detainees other than the captured child combatants was refused by the Government, which stated that the detainees could only meet with their defence counsels. The Ministry of Justice gave assurances that “the Government’s firm policy is that nobody will be tortured” and ACHR has expressed a willingness to follow up on any allegations of torture in coordination with UNMIS. However, no information has been provided with regard to the whereabouts of the estimated 500 persons who have been subjected to enforced disappearance. The Special Rapporteur must express her grave concern about the safety of the detainees and urge the Government to investigate the allegations of torture. She encourages ACHR to respond to the letters submitted in this regard by the Director of the UNMIS human rights section. 29. In addition to those held without charge, some 64 persons have been charged with criminal offences in connection with alleged participation in the 10 May attack and brought before special courts created under the 2001 Terrorism Act. This is the first time anyone has been tried under this Act. Several accounts of the trials have emphasized incompatibilities with international legal