Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Glimmers of democracy breaking out in the Sudan?

Today, Reuters confirms Sudan withdraws controversial presidental decrees:
"I consider this as a victory for all, as a victory for the democratic transformation and the new system," Yasir Arman, the head of the SPLM parliamentary bloc said on Wednesday. He said the decrees were now to be debated as bills, which parliament could amend.

One of the decrees gave police and army officers immunity if they used deadly force against civilians and allowed any of Sudan's tens of thousands of largely uneducated police rank and file to use live fire at their own discretion.

Another decree regulated the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Sudan, requiring them to place their funds in accounts run by the government and allowing them to be ejected or shut down if they publicly disagreed with government policy.
I say, things are looking up. Sudan has so much going for it, apart from being beautiful. It is capable of pulling itself out of the dark ages, if only they'd all pull together and use their brains instead of fighting.

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