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Africa Horn

Sudanese protest coalition calls for civil disobedience

2019-05-09

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sudanese protest and opposition leaders called on Wednesday for civil disobedience in response to the military’s "disappointing" answer to their interim constitutional proposals. The Transitional Military Council (TMC) said it broadly agreed with the draft but that it neglected some important issues such as a reference to Islamic shari’ah as a source for legislation. But the opposition groups’ umbrella body, the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF), said shari’ah was not a matter for the interim constitution, and that the TMC response would in effect give the military control of a proposed interim government. "We call for and prepare for civil disobedience," Madani Abbas Madani, a DFCF leader, told a news conference in Khartoum. Thousands of protesters have been camping outside the Defense Ministry in central Khartoum and, having secured a military overthrow of president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, are now demanding that the TMC hand over power to civilians. The TMC has said it is willing to agree to a government of technocrats, but wants to retain overall control, pending elections, to prevent Sudan sliding into chaos. Khalid Omar Yusef, another protest leader, said the aim was not to start a confrontation with the military but to speed up efforts to resolve the impasse.

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Africa Subsaharan

South Africa High Court Says Allowing Bashir to Leave Violated Constitution

2015-06-16

[NYTIMES] Shielded by the authorities, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan flew out of South Africa on Monday morning aboard his presidential jet, just hours before a South African court ruled that the government was legally required to arrest him. Yeah, yeah. I don't like him, either, but you don't "arrest" a head of state without a declaration of war. If then. Mr. Bashir's plane left a military airport near Pretoria, the capital, unhindered by the authorities who had already been ordered over the weekend by South Africa's High Court to prevent him from departing. Though South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , its government defied the longstanding arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir, who once again eluded international prosecutors seeking to try him on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. His departure dealt a serious blow to the international court's six-year campaign to bring him to justice. Mr. Bashir's plane took off just as South Africa's High Court was holding a hearing on whether the government was required to comply with the international court, which is based in The Hague.

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Africa Horn

Sudan expels two senior U.N. officials

2014-12-26

[REUTERS] Sudan has ordered two senior United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... officials to leave, the world body said on Thursday, in what appeared to be an escalation of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's move against U.N. activities in the country. The United Nations said in a statement that the officials are Ali Al-Za'tari, U.N. resident coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme; and Yvonne Helle, the UNDP's country director. U.N. front man Stephane Dujarric said in the statement that Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... condemned Khartoum's demand for the exit of the two senior UNDP officials. "The sanctioning of United Nations personnel sent to Sudan to carry out their duties in accordance with the United Nations Charter is unacceptable," Dujarric said. "The Secretary-General calls on the government of Sudan to reverse its decision immediately and urges it to cooperate fully with all United Nations entities present in Sudan," he added.

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Africa Horn

Sudan arrests opposition leader al-Mahdi, could face death penalty

2014-05-18

[AF.REUTERS] Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... on Saturday on charges that could lead to the death penalty, a government official said, a move that could hurt efforts to ease political tensions before elections due next year. Al-Mahdi, a former prime minister in Sudan's last elected civilian government, is the head of the Umma Party, the most prominent party opposing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who ousted him in 1989. The public prosecutor had in the past days already opened an investigation into accusations that he insulted state security forces over a surge in violence in the troubled Darfur region. "I spoke to my grandfather's lawyer and he said charges of halting the constitutional system and inciting hatred against the state were added and their penalties range from life in prison to death," al-Mahdi's granddaughter Mariam told Rooters. A government official, who declined to be named, confirmed al-Mahdi's arrest and the possible punishment he could face and said the investigations into him would start on Sunday.

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Africa Horn

Thousands demonstrate in Sudanese capital after protester deaths

2013-09-29

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] More than 3,000 protesters erupted into the streets of the Sudanese capital on Saturday to demand for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to step down, witnesses said, after days of unrest in which dozens of people have been killed. The protests, which are on their sixth day, were sparked by the scrapping of fuel subsidies that have turned into an expression of anti-government sentiment. Opposition sources say more than 140 people have been killed since the unrest began on Thursday. But the official corpse count is now at 33 after four protesters were rubbed out by unidentified gunnies on Friday, Rooters news agency reported.

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Africa Horn

Schools shut down in the 3rd day of Sudan riots

2013-09-26

Schools in the capital were closed on Wednesday, in the third day of violence prompted by a cut in fuel subsidies. According to an Al Arabiya correspondent, several users said access to the Internet had been cut. Meanwhile, the education ministry said schools in the capital would remain shut until Sept. 30. At least seven people were killed in Sudan on Wednesday as anti-government violence flared in the capital Khartoum, prompting authorities to completely shut down the internet. Protesters torched cars and petrol stations and threw rocks at police, who fired tear gas to try to disperse the biggest display of public anger against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government in more than a year. Some 20 demonstrators were arrested. The United States embassy in Khartoum appeals for calm, urging "all parties" to avoid the use of violence.

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Africa Horn

Sudan police fire tear gas to end protest over fuel subsidies

2013-09-24

[Al Ahram] Sudanese police fired tear gas on Monday to disperse hundreds of people protesting in the capital Khartoum against the lifting of petrol subsidies by veteran President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir, in power since 1989, has avoided an "Arab spring" uprising of the sort that has unseated other rulers in the region but many in Sudan complain about soaring food prices, corruption, violent conflicts and high unemployment. The government almost doubled prices for fuel and cooking gas on Monday to bring its budget under control. The Arab African country lost three-quarters of its oil reserves - its main source of revenues and of dollars for food imports - when South Sudan became independent in 2011. Within hours of petrol stations adjusting their price displays, some 800 protesters gathered in the centre of Khartoum, shouting "No, No to price hikes". Others called on Bashir to resign, yelling "go, go". Police arrived, firing tear gas to disperse the crowd. Late on Sunday, Bashir held a televised news conference lasting two hours to defend his abolition of fuel subsidies. He promised to use much of the money saved to help the poor and increase salaries for civil servants. But many Sudanese have gorwn impatient with years of what they see as economic crises caused by mismanagement and U.S. trade sanctions. "The government ... has no idea of what people are going through. I am ready to join any protest against the lifting," said 41-year old Ahmed Iassan, an unemployed worker.

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Africa North

Charity to Rapture Sudanese Christians

2013-08-22

An international relief agency plans to airlift some 3,400 Christians out of Sudan, where they face increasing persecution from the Islamist government. The Barnabas Fund has already whisked about 5,000 Christians from the embattled country, where President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has vowed to create a “a 100 percent Islamic constitution, without communism or secularism or Western [influences].” The Christians will be taken to South Sudan, a smaller nation formed in 2011 where religious freedom is better tolerated.

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Africa Horn

Sudan rebels attack city, push closer to capital

2013-04-28

[Al Ahram] Rebels from Sudan's Darfur region attacked a city in a neighbouring state on Saturday, taking their fight closer to the capital, witnesses said. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - which launched an unprecedented assault on Khartoum in 2008 - said it and other fighters attacked Um Rawaba in North Kordofan state, around 500km (300 miles) south of the capital. The group did not say whether it planned to push further. Sudan's army told state media it was still fighting rebels inside the state's second largest city. It accused the Death Eaters of destroying a power plant, petrol stations and a telecommunications tower. "Battles are still ongoing," army front man al-Sawarmi Khalid told state news agency SUNA. Armed men in 20 trucks drove into Um Rawaba and looted a market and several commercial banks, residents told Rooters. "Our forces are controlling parts of eastern North Kordofan and Um Rawaba," JEM front man Gibril Adam said, adding that the fighting had blocked the road between Khartoum and El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. "The goal of this attack is to weaken the government to realise our strategic plan to topple the regime," said Adam, who denied the rebels had looted any property in the city. JEM forces drove across hundreds of miles of desert to attack the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman in May 2008 and were stopped just short of the presidential palace and army headquarters. The group was one of two main rebel forces that took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, demanding better representation for the remote western region of Darfur and accusing Khartoum of neglecting its development. Khartoum mobilised militias to crush the uprising, unleashing a campaign that Washington and activists described as genocide. Sudan's government denies the charge and accuses the Western media of exaggerating the conflict. JEM, which has fought the government in neighbouring states before, says it also wants fairer government across all of Sudan. It is part of an alliance with Death Eaters in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states bordering South Sudan, and has vowed to overthrow President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

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Africa Horn

Anger in Sudan after student protesters found dead in canal

2012-12-09

Sudanese activists have blamed the authorities for the deaths of at least three student protesters and are calling for more demonstrations. Police in Gezira state, an agricultural area south of the capital Khartoum, confirmed two students had been found dead in a canal, and a third was missing, but said there were no signs of violence. It all depends on your definition of "violence." And the students at Columbia and San Francisco State think they're oppressed... Arab-African Sudan has avoided the mass protests that have swept across much of the Middle East, but rising food prices and other grievances have inspired smaller demonstrations over the last two years. Students from Darfur - a western region the size of Spain that has been torn by war for nearly a decade - had staged a sit-in at Gezira University demanding an exemption from tuition as they say a presidential decree required, a spokesman for a Darfur student association said. He said the sit-in was broken up on Wednesday by what he called militias loyal to the ruling National Congress Party. A number of students disappeared and three were found dead on Friday in the canal near the university, he added, asking not to be named. "We hold the university administration and the ... students of the National Congress Party responsible for the death of these students," he said. Sudanese youth activist groups including Change Now and Girifna issued statements blaming security forces for the students' deaths and calling for protests. Small demonstrations erupted across Sudan in June after the government announced cuts to its costly fuel subsidies and other tough austerity measures to contain an economic crisis brought on by last year's secession of oil-producing South Sudan. The protests calling for the resignation of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government petered out after a security crackdown and the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

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Africa Horn

Sudan arrests ex-spy chief after foiled plot

2012-11-23

Sudan tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... its former spy chief and other senior military and security officers on Thursday after foiling what officials said was a plot to incite chaos and target leaders in this oil-producing African state. Witnesses told Rooters they saw army tanks and armored vehicles moving down a main street in the centre of Khartoum around midnight, but life in the city was normal during the day with shops in the centre bustling with customers. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has kept up a 23-year hold on power, even as a series of uprisings troubled the country's poor border areas, including the conflict-torn region of Darfur. But Sudan has been stuck in economic crisis since the south - the source of most of its known oil-reserves - declared independence last year under the terms of a peace deal. High prices for food have added to widespread public anger over losing the south and have emboldened opposition activists to call for protests. Analysts say the crisis has also exacerbated divisions in the government and squeezed the patronage system they say Bashir has relied on. Unrest over price rises and food and fuel shortages has preceded coups in Sudan in the past. Salah Gosh, former head of Sudan's powerful intelligence and security agency, was arrested with 12 others on suspicion of "inciting chaos", "targeting" some leaders and spreading rumors about Bashir's health, the information minister told news hounds. Bashir, 68, has undergone throat surgery twice since the summer. Officials insist he is in good health.

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Africa Horn

Sudan bolsters army, imposes curfew in Darfur after attack

2012-09-09

[Al Ahram] Gunmen killed seven people in Sudan's Darfur region during an attack on a government official's motorcade, prompting the authorities to impose a curfew and close schools, state media said on Thursday. Darfur has been plagued by violence since rebels took up arms in 2003, complaining the central government had neglected the remote western territory. While violence is down from its peak in 2003 and 2004, law and order have collapsed in parts of the vast territory and banditry, tribal fighting and festivities between rebels and government forces have continued. On Tuesday afternoon, unknown gunnies opened fire on a motorcade carrying the commissioner of North Darfur state's Kutum area, state news agency SUNA said. The attack in Kutum town killed a guard and two police, the agency added, quoting North Darfur state governor Osman Mohamed Youssef Kibir. Two police were also killed by "sniper fire" in the town market, the report said, adding two civilians had also been killed. The report said 21 people were maimed. Gunmen also attacked local police buildings, stole two cars, and burned two others, it said. The state government took emergency measures including withdrawing regular police forces from Kutum town, relocating the leadership, and reinforcing an army unit in the area, said SUNA. All schools in Kutum would be closed "until further notice," it said. Carrying guns in all the state's cities "except in necessary cases" would be banned and a curfew in Kutum would be imposed from 6pm to 7am, it added. Senior army officer Mohamed Kamel Mohamed Nour was appointed to "oversee the administrative and operational management" of the Waha and Kutum regions temporarily, it said. Violence spiked in the region on August 1, when gunnies killed the local leader of the Al-Waha region, the report said. Gunmen later surrounded a camp for displaced people in Kassab, burnt down a cop shoppe and looted the main market, a peacekeeping mission there said at the time. The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... has indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and issued an arrest warrant for Defence Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein to face charges of war crimes in Darfur, charges they deny. The government signed a Qatar-brokered peace deal with small Darfur rebel groups a year ago but the main rebel groups have refused to join.

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