Showing posts with label 3 June 2019 massacre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 June 2019 massacre. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Sudan: Inquiry by PHR finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters

An inquiry by the New York-based advocacy organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters in June 2019. 

PHR is calling on UN member states to sanction the Sudanese officials responsible for the human rights abuses and for Sudan’s civilian-military government to include human rights, rule of law and accountability protections in the nation’s new constitution. Full story:

Sudan accused of masterminding lethal attacks on Khartoum protesters
Inquiry finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters
Report from The Guardian.com 
Global development
Dated Thursday 05 March 2020 13.03 GMT, Last modified 8.07 GMT.
Photo: Demonstrators hold a banner bearing images of protesters allegedly killed in unrest in Khartoum in June 2019. Photograph: Marwan Ali/EPA

Sudanese security forces systematically planned and coordinated a series of deadly attacks that killed up to 241 pro-democracy protesters and injured hundreds more at a Khartoum sit-in last year, an inquiry has found.

Authorities “purposefully pre-positioned” state security forces armed with tear gas, whips and assault rifles in the month before the protests began, and “intentionally targeted” medical personnel and facilities during and after the protests, according to the New York-based advocacy organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which led an investigation into the violence.

The findings were based on interviews with 30 survivors of the 3 June massacre, eyewitness accounts, and analysis of thousands of still and video images of the protests, among other sources of information. They contradict previous theories that the attacks on the protest camp were spontaneous, or the work of “rogue” military personnel, as a government-led inquiry indicated.

“The June 3 massacre against Sudanese civilians at the hands of government security forces is an egregious violation of human rights,” said Phelim Kine, PHR’s director of research and investigations.

“Security forces’ horrific tactics – sexual violence, including rape, use of tear gas, whips, batons, and live ammunition – killed and critically injured hundreds of civilians. To support the national commission charged with investigating these crimes, the Sudanese legal and human rights community, as well as international bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union, must conduct further investigation into the full scope of government-perpetrated violence on June 3.”
Photo: Sudanese forces deployed to disperse the Khartoum sit-in are seen around army headquarters on 3 June, 2019. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

Grassroots pro-democracy protests began in December 2018 [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/25/sudan-clashes-between-security-forces-and-anti-bashir-protesters-prompt-concern ] in the centre of Khartoum in opposition to three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. The unrest continued after the president was ousted by military generals in April 2019 as protesters called for power to be ceded to civilians.

On 3 June, armed men in military uniform – many of whom declared themselves to be members of the Rapid Support Forces – stormed the peaceful sit-in that had been camped for months outside the military headquarters, shooting, stabbing, beating, raping and humiliating protestors.

Interviewees told PHR how security forces taunted them while beating, burning, and cutting them. One witness described an attempt by armed men to sexually assault him after they detained and tortured him, cutting open a healed wound and putting out cigarettes in it. Several interviewees said they had seen women gang-raped in broad daylight. 

Others described being shot at, beaten with whips and batons, and suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

PHR said some survivors would suffer from a lifetime of chronic pain and disability as a result of their injuries.

One interviewee, Muna, recounted how she had been wearing skinny jeans during the protests. She reported that a soldier from the Rapid Support Forces – a paramilitary force heavily armed by Bashir – grabbed her and said: “How do we get her pants off her? Give me a blade so we can tear it off her.”

A doctor interviewed by PHR said he was directly targeted by soldiers, who pointed automatic weapons at him as they yelled: “You’re the reason for all this chaos and this whole mess … You’re the reason why the country’s like this. You’re the reason why we kill people. You’re the reason why people die.”

The attacks were used to “intimidate and silence those demanding civilian rule and major reforms in Sudan”, said PHR’s director of policy, Susannah Sirkin, who contributed to the report.

“As doctors and their organisations were at the forefront of calls for change in Sudan, they were a target. As those who treated injured protesters, or received bodies in the morgues, they were doubly targeted. As credible witnesses to gross human rights violations and their physical and psychological impacts, they were triply targeted.”

The report echoed similar findings, published by Human Rights Watch [ https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/11/17/they-were-shouting-kill-them/sudans-violent-crackdown-protesters-khartoum ] in November, which concluded that “the number of forces deployed in the operation against the sit-in – estimated in the thousands – suggests official operational planning”.

Medical expert Rohini Haar, who serves as research and investigations adviser at PHR, said: “This pattern of targeted attacks on healthcare is a recurring weapon used by Sudanese security forces that violates the obligation and rights of medical personnel to treat those in need, threatens the lives of medical workers, and has a devastating impact on civilians.”

PHR is calling on UN member states to sanction the Sudanese officials responsible for the human rights abuses and for Sudan’s civilian-military government to include human rights, rule of law and accountability protections in the nation’s new constitution.

Global development is supported by BILL & MELINDA GATES foundation

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Sudan: The last days of Bashir in the palace

  • On 30 August 2019 during the third trial session of Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir, the court in Khartoum indicted Bashir on charges of suspicious enrichment and illegal dealing with foreign exchange.  This follows charges in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protestors during the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in April. 
  • According to the spokesperson of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Bashir’s 2009 arrest warrant for crimes against humanity under the ICC remains valid.  
  • “The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council,” ICC Spokesperson Fadi el Abdallah told Ayin.
  • Bashir’s trial will resume tomorrow [07 Sep 2019] while a future trial at the Hague may become a reality if Sudan’s justice system cannot demonstrate a genuine national investigation and prosecution will take place, Abdallah added.  Full story:
Article from and by Ayin Network.com
Dated 06 September 2019 
The last days of Bashir in the palace, new days in court
The moment millions of Sudanese entered into the vicinity of the General Command of the Army Headquarters on 6 April [2019], the deposed former President al-Bashir was sitting on a chair with another set of empty chairs around him in the courtyard of his residence. Outside his presidential palace overlooking the Nile, protests against his rule intensified, eventually ousting him five days later.

Ayin conducted an exclusive interview with close confidants of the former president that worked within the presidential palace. The sources described to Ayin the scene they saw of the former president just days prior to his arrest. The names of these sources remain confidential for their security.

To curb stress, former president Bashir pulled tattered strings off his Muslim skull cap while three of his presidential aides entered the room. The conversation was stilted and everyone sat in awkward silence. To cut the tension, according to a witness, one of the two aides attempted to make small talk about Bashir’s cap, noting the colour and how it was the first time to see the former president wearing such a hat. Bashir responded by noting the skull cap was the “fashion of the day” and were worn among young people. Gaining access to the presidential palace and then Al-Bashir’s residence was challenging for the three presidential aides –loud protests calling for Bashir to step down could be heard all around them.

They were convinced that they must meet and console the former president in the palace at this difficult time, according to one of the aides. While driving tinted-window cars through the alleyways of central Khartoum to reach al-Bashir’s residence, the three aides could see the multitude of protestors and realised their days of employment were numbered. None of them could have predicted the turnout against the former president. The short distance from the presidential palace to the guest house where Bashir resided seemed longer than ever, the aide told Ayin. The short road appeared to represent the end of Bashir’s 30-year regime. 

The aides entered the former president’s residence at around 5 pm on 6 April where Bashir and his guards sat on full alert, covering the entrances, fearing an attack. A tear gas grenade could be heard outside from security forces in a futile attempt to disperse a crowd of millions in front of the army command post. Bashir could clearly hear the crowds chanting outside, calling for his ouster, according to the inside sources. 

Abdallah al-Bashir, the President’s brother, appeared with a number of Bashir’s bodyguards, and after the salute, he whispered in the president’s ear and called on the guards accompanying him to return to the palace. It turned out that he was accompanying them to the roof of the new palace building inside the general command of the army, where he was monitoring the masses outside and relaying what he saw to his brother. According to one of the former president’s aides, he had never seen Bashir appear so weak and distraught.

Another witness Ayin spoke to claims he saw the former head of security, Salah Gosh, speak to Bashir, allegedly promising to clear the area of the protestors outside his residence. But this never took place.
The break up that did not break
On 7 April, the security committee told President Bashir of their decision to break up the sit-in in front of the army headquarters. Bashir gathered his family and informed them of the decision and asked his relatives who were with him in the guest house to leave the palace and ordered his younger brother, Musaab, to stay with him, according to the two confidential sources that spoke to Ayin.

While waiting for the commencement of the security operation to break up the sit-in, Musaab and others went up to the roof of the palace to see the operation and how it was being carried out. Musab was accompanied by a number of the former president’s guards and security officers. Bullets could be heard. The source of bullets was not known to them before they learned moments later that an army force sided with the revolutionaries and exchanged fire with the security forces and even repulsed them to keep the sit-in going.

This was a difficult reality for those who planned to break up the sit-in and waited for the hour of victory to return directly from the top of their building to inform the former president that the operation had been successful. Instead, no genuine counter-attack against the protestors took place and Bashir would eventually find himself re-accommodated from a palace to a prison where he is currently facing trial. 

Sudan's Bashir 'took $90m from Saudi crown prince', corruption trial hears
[See tweet by Middle East Eye here:

On trial at home, possibly abroad
On 30 August during Bashir’s third trial session, the court indicted Bashir on charges of suspicious enrichment and illegal dealing with foreign exchange. This follows charges in May with incitement and involvement in the killing [https://3ayin.com/june-3-massacre/] of protestors during the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in April. 

Far from the glittery walls of the palace, the former president now sits in a cage in front of Justice Al Sadiq Abdul Rahman who refused a bail request, citing the law preventing such a measure for crimes that involve prison sentences that potentially exceed 10 years. 

But Bashir may face further trials in a different setting. According to the spokesperson of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Bashir’s 2009 arrest [https://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/albashirwarrant for crimes against humanity under the ICC remains valid. “The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council,” ICC Spokesperson Fadi el Abdallah told Ayin. Bashir’s trial will resume tomorrow [07 Sep 2019] while a future trial at the Hague may become a reality if Sudan’s justice system cannot demonstrate a genuine national investigation and prosecution will take place, Abdallah added.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Sudan: PM orders probe into massacre of protestors

Sudanese Prime Minister orders formation of a committee to probe killing of protesters while their sit-in was being broken.

Article from Anadolu Agency.com
By MOHAMMED AMIN 
Dated Saturday 21 September 2019
Sudan to probe killing of protesters
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Saturday [21 Sep] has ordered the formation of an independent National Investigation Committee to probe the killing of the protesters in the massacre which took place in front of the army headquarters on June 3, 2019. 

The committee will have seven members to probe the killings, a statement issued by the Sudanese Council of Ministers said.

The investigation committee will include seven members representing the judiciary system, the ministries of justice, defense, interior and other independent lawyers, it added.

Human rights organizations and opposition groups said more than 100 protesters have been killed when the security officers attacked the sit-in of the pro-democracy protesters in front of the army headquarters.

Sudan has remained in turmoil since April 11, when the military establishment announced the “removal” of President Omar al-Bashir after months of popular protests against his 30-year rule.

On Aug. 21, Abdalla Hamdok became the first civilian prime minister of Sudan since 1989, when ousted President Omer al-Bashir toppled Mahdi. 

The country is being ruled under a power-sharing deal between Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Sudan: Hemeti's RSF fake news is a source of danger

  • Days after Sudanese soldiers massacred pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June, an obscure digital marketing company in Cairo began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert operation to praise Sudan’s military on social media.
  • Since the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April, new employees were told, protesters had sown chaos in Sudan.  Their demands for democracy were premature and dangerous.  Order had to be restored.
  • “We’re at war,” an instructor told the new employees.  “Security is weak.  The army has to rule for now.”
  • “Fake news is a real source of danger for Sudan.  If there is ever a counter-revolution, one of the regime’s main tools will be social media.”  Full story:
From The New York Times via MSN.com
Written by DECLAN WALSH and NADA RASHWAH
Dated Friday 06 September 2019 
‘We’re at War’: A Covert Social Media Campaign Boosts Military Rulers
Photo:  © Reuters Protesters on the streets of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 3, 2019 — the day that soldiers massacred dozens demonstrating in favor of civilian rule.

Days after Sudanese soldiers massacred pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June, an obscure digital marketing company in Cairo began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert operation to praise Sudan’s military on social media.

The Egyptian company, run by a former military officer and self-described expert on “internet warfare,” paid new recruits $180 a month to write pro-military messages using fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram. Instructors provided hashtags and talking points.
Photo:  © Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sudanese soldiers during a mass protest in Khartoum in June.

Since the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April, new employees were told, protesters had sown chaos in Sudan. Their demands for democracy were premature and dangerous. Order had to be restored.

“We’re at war,” an instructor told the new employees. “Security is weak. The army has to rule for now.”

Covert influence campaigns have become a favored tool of leaders in countries like China and Russia, where manipulation of social media complements strongarm tactics on the streets.

In the Middle East, though, those campaigns are being coordinated across borders in an effort to bolster authoritarian rule and douse the kind of popular protests that gave rise to the Arab Spring in 2011.
Image:  © Stephen Lam/Reuters Facebook said the Egyptian and Emirati companies worked together to manage 361 compromised accounts and pages with a reach of 13.7 million people.

The secretive Egyptian effort to support Sudan’s military on social media this summer by the company in Cairo, New Waves, was just one part of a much bigger operation that spanned the Middle East and targeted people in at least nine Middle Eastern and North African countries, according to Facebook.

The campaign was exposed on Aug. 1 when Facebook announced that it had shut down hundreds of accounts run by New Waves and an Emirati company with a near-identical name.

Working in concert, the two companies used money, deception and fake accounts to leverage their audience of almost 14 million Facebook followers, as well as thousands more on Instagram.

In an interview, a Facebook spokesman said the company had not found sufficient evidence to link the operation to the governments of Egypt or the United Arab Emirates. But there were many hints of such a link.

The New Waves owner, Amr Hussein, retired from the Egyptian military in 2001 and described himself on his Facebook page as a “researcher on internet wars.”

He is a vocal supporter of Egypt’s authoritarian leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and has publicly campaigned in support of Mr. el-Sisi’s draconian crackdown on internet freedoms.

His company operates from a military-owned housing project in eastern Cairo where employees are warned not to speak to outsiders about their work.
Photo:  © Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A Saudi-led airstrike in Dhamar, Yemen, on Sunday. Some Facebook messages talked up the Saudi-led war in Yemen and promoted independence for Somaliland.

Its messages are a mirror image of the foreign policy objectives of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — a powerful axis that has wielded immense influence across the Middle East since 2011, bolstering authoritarian allies or intervening in regional wars.

The internal workings of New Waves were described by four people with knowledge of the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter with the Egyptian authorities.

Responding to Facebook’s accusations, Mr. Hussein, the owner of New Waves, called the company “liars” and denied any links to the Emirates.

“I don’t know what you are talk about,” he wrote in a text message, calling Facebook “not fair.” He declined to comment further.

Two former New Waves employees did not respond to requests for comment.

Sudanese activists who noted a surge in pro-military social media activity over the summer said they were unsurprised to learn of the campaign.

“There have been so many fake accounts,” said Mohamed Suliman, a Boston-based engineer allied with Sudan’s protest movement.

“Fake news is a real source of danger for Sudan. If there is ever a counterrevolution, one of the regime’s main tools will be social media.”

Facebook said the Egyptian and Emirati companies worked together to manage 361 compromised accounts and pages with a reach of 13.7 million people. They spent $167,000 on advertising and used false identities to disguise their role in the operation.

Their posts gave a boost to the Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter, who counts Egypt and the United Arab Emirates among his staunchest allies, praised the United Arab Emirates and slammed the wealthy Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a sworn enemy of the Saudis, Egyptians and Emiratis.

Other messages talked up the Saudi-led war in Yemen and promoted independence for Somaliland — a key objective of the Emirates as it jockeys for influence and lucrative contracts in the Horn of Africa.
Photo:  © Ashraf Shazly/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Gen. Mohamed Hamdan and his notorious Rapid Support Forces paramilitary unit posted pictures on Facebook of him cooking and calling for higher wages for teachers, to soften his image.

The website of the Emirati company, Newave, which shut down after Facebook named it on Aug. 1, listed its business address as a government-owned media complex in Abu Dhabi.

A customer service agent at the complex, Twofour54, said Newave had a registered capacity of 10 employees and named its general manager as Mohamed Hamdan al-Zaabi. Emails and phone calls to the company went unanswered.

In Cairo, recruits to the New Waves operation targeting Sudan were told their job was to create “balance” between the military and protesters on social media.

“We’re doing something very big, very important here,” one trainer said. “In the past wars were conducted with weapons. Now it’s through social media.”

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the main supporters of the Sudanese generals who seized power in April.

The Saudis and Emiratis offered $3 billion in aid while Egypt provided diplomatic support.

Sudan’s vibrant social media space, though, has been harder to control.

Since the first protests against Mr. al-Bashir in December, protest leaders have used the internet to mobilize demonstrations, to circumvent official censorship and to attract support from global celebrities like the pop star Rihanna.

[ “With more protests planned for today, June 30, I send my and I pray for the safety of the Sudanese people. They have a right to speak out and demand peace, justice and a transition to civilian rule. Over 100 were killed & hundreds more were wounded during the June 3rd protests” ]

Within hours of the massacre of civilians in Khartoum on June 3, the military’s first act was to shut down the internet in Sudan. Then it turned to social media to try and soften its harsh image.

Accounts run by Lt. Gen Mohamed Hamdan [Hemeti] and his notorious Rapid Support Forces [RSF] paramilitary unit showed him cooking meals and addressing rallies, highlighting his demands for higher teachers’ wages.

Sudanese activists petitioned Facebook to shut down those accounts, accusing the company of giving a free platform to a potential war criminal.

Facebook declined to act because the Rapid Support Forces had become a “state actor,” a Facebook press officer said. General Hamdan is now a leading figure in the power-sharing government, which began taking shape this week with the formation of a new cabinet.

In April, however, Facebook investigators started to scrutinize New Waves as part of the tech giant’s global drive to shut down what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on its platform.

Sudanese democracy advocates had also noticed something awry: a stream of pro-military posts on Twitter written under false names, often using photographs of prominent activists or musicians.

They identified the tweets as fake, they said, through Arabic language tics that suggested they had been written by non-Sudanese.

For example, tweets rendered the word “Sudan” in the feminine, while Sudanese write it in the masculine.

The New Waves operation had echoes of the Egyptian state’s approach to controlling online debate. Under Mr. el-Sisi, Egypt has blocked over 500 websites and introduced laws that criminalize criticism of the government on social media, which Mr. el-Sisi has described as a threat to national security.

Online critics are frequently jailed in Egypt. On July 7, a dual American-Egyptian citizen, Reem Mohamed Desouky, was arrested on arrival at Cairo airport with her 13-year-old son.
Image:  © facebook A screen grab of the facebook page of Rapid Support Forces paramilitary unit in Sudan. A Facebook press officer said the company did not intend to take down the Rapid Support Forces pages because the group had become a “state actor.”

Officials confiscated Ms. Desouky’s phone, scrolled through her Facebook posts and charged her with using social media to undermine Egypt.

She is being held at Qanatir prison outside Cairo; her son has returned to the United States.

Between 2015 and 2017, Mr. Hussein, the owner of New Waves, wrote a column for al-Bawaba, a pro-military newspaper. Last fall he fronted a public awareness campaign warning Egyptians of the dangers of social media.

“From 2011 onward it’s been a war of social media,” Mr. Hussein said in an interview with a pro-state television channel in which he cited the Nazi dictum “the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.”

Executives at New Waves and its Emirati sister company went to considerable lengths to hide their role in the Middle East influence campaign, Facebook said.

They obtained fake accounts to administer Facebook pages that purported to be news sites about nine countries, including Sudan, Somalia, Kuwait and Libya.

The pages often featured genuine posts about real news or light entertainment items like cartoons, interspersed with fake items that followed a common theme.

The Sudan Alyoum (Sudan Today) Facebook page linked to a news website of the same name that published 17 articles between this May and August accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of conspiring to overthrow Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, and 60 other articles supporting General Hamdan’s leadership.

Facebook shared its findings with Twitter, which has taken down the New Waves account. Twitter declined to comment except to say it had removed several accounts related to Sudan.

In an interview in July, Mr. Hussein claimed New Waves had just one client, a state-run theater production called Opera Bent Araby. He is vocal about social media, he said, because Middle Eastern society is “special.”

“I talk about the dangers not only in Egypt — in all our world,” he said.

Last Friday, Mr. Hussein declined to speak further. “I have nothing for you,” he wrote in a text. “Please forget me.”

View original at The New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2ZWuF4t

Sudan: 22 still missing since June 3 massacre

Article from Radio Dabanga.org
Dated Friday 06 September 2019 - KHARTOUM
New committee planned to trace Sudan missing

Families of the persons who went missing during the uprising that started mid-December last year, demand an independent commission of inquiry, and the formation of an inspection committee to search for the missing in prisons, and detention camps and centres throughout the country. The Sovereign Council supports this initiative, Council members Mohamed El Faki and Mohamed El Taayshi said.

Spokesperson for the Initiative for Missing People Fadia Khalaf said at a press conference on Wednesday evening that 22 people are still missing. Ten of them disappeared during the violent dispersal of the Khartoum sit-in on June 3.

She pointed out that 45 others have been found in morgues, hospitals, and detention centres. Some were found in poor mental health conditions after being tortured.

The Initiative for Missing People was set up by the Sudanese Professionals Association. It reached out to families of the missing persons and searched with them on the ground and on social media. It also prepared publications with pictures of and information about the missing persons and distributed them on markets and in shops.

Commission of inquiry
A group of lawyers submitted a request to the Attorney General to form a commission of inquiry comprising of judges, prosecutors, lawyers and independent experts to investigate the fate of the missing.

Sovereign Council member Mohamed El Taayshi said that most of the missing were subjected to a systematic enforced disappearance “because of their role in the December Revolution”.

He said that the new interim government should play a key role in the investigation into the fate of the missing, the circumstances of their disappearance and what they have been exposed to during their disappearance.

Police
The police commented that they did not receive official reports about the missing at the sit-in. Police spokesperson Brig-Gen Dr Omar Abdelmajid said in a press statement that the numbers of missing protesters and activists need to be thoroughly investigated in proper legal procedures. He accused parties of seeking political gain by exploiting the fate of others.

He also pointed to precautionary measures taken by the police to prevent groups from destabilising security in Sudan by launching rumours about outlaw operations.

Marches
A number of marches, vigils and professional strikes took place in Khartoum and the states on Thursday.

District committees in Khartoum organised a march to the headquarters of the judiciary to demand an independent judiciary and an investigation into the cases of the persons killed and gone missing.

The march moved from El Gorashi Park to the judiciary offices. Slogans were shouted, calling for an independent judiciary, and disclosure of the fate of the missing. The demonstrators raised banners calling for a transparent investigation.

El Kalaka
Residents of El Kalakla in southern Khartoum organised a march and a vigil in protest against the sale of the western part of El Kalakla El Gatiya School for Girls.

El Gedaref
On Thursday, health workers in El Gedaref went on strike and staged a protest against the National Health Insurance Administration in the state. The administration had filed reports against young workers for corruption. The protesters pointed out that the real corruption can be found at the top of the administration of the National Health Insurance.

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Sudan: African Union lifts Sudan suspension

Article from The Associated Press (AP)
Dated Friday 06 September 2019
AU lifts Sudan suspension saying it created civilian gov't

CAIRO (AP) — The African Union says it has lifted Sudan's suspension because it has established a civilian-led government since the military's ouster of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir in April.

Ebba Kalondo, a spokeswoman for the AU Commission in Addis Ababba, Ethiopia, tells The Associated Press on Friday: "The sanctions were lifted."

The AU Peace and Security Council tweeted its decision, saying that it "commits to support its reconstruction and international mobilization efforts."

Sudan's newly appointed prime minister on Thursday named his new Cabinet members, part of a transitional power-sharing agreement between the military and pro-democracy demonstrators.

The AU had suspended Sudan's participations in the pan-African organization's activities in June after a deadly crackdown by security forces on protesters demanding civilian rule. The decision was aimed at pressuring the military to hand power to civilians.

- - -

Article from China.org.cn
Dated Saturday 07 September 2019
Sudan welcomes AU decision to lift its membership suspension

KHARTOUM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Foreign Ministry on Friday welcomed the decision by the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU-PSC) to lift suspension of Sudan's membership at the African Union (AU).

"In the name of Sudan government and people, the foreign ministry warmly welcomes the AU-PSC's decision to lift suspension of Sudan's membership at the AU and end freezing its activities," said the ministry in a statement.  
Read more: http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2019-09/07/content_75181383.htm

Friday, August 16, 2019

Can Sudan Achieve Peace and Democratic Transition? (Dame Rosalind Marsden)

Article from Chatham House, UK
Associate Fellow, Africa Programme
Dated 09 August 2019
Can Sudan Achieve Peace and Democratic Transition?
  • Sudan has a unique opportunity to embrace democratic transition but there is no room for complacency
  • Comprehensive reforms and a united democratic front will be key to achieving peace, freedom and justice, as will continued international pressure
Photo: Sudanese demonstrators in Khartoum celebrate a hard-won transitional agreement on 4 August 2019. The agreement provides for a joint civilian-military body to oversee a civilian government and parliament for a three year transition period. Photo: Getty Images.

A compromise agreement

After more than seven months of peaceful pro-democracy protests, leading to the fall of former President Omar al Bashir’s regime in April, Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition coalition of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) agreed on 4 August to form a civilian-led transitional government, paving the way for democratic transition. 

The agreement is a step forward but still leaves considerable power in the hands of the military. Given the power imbalance between the military and unarmed civilians, the FFC concluded that a compromise was needed in order to establish a transitional government, however imperfect, so that civilians could push their reform agenda from inside government and avoid a political vacuum. Such a vacuum could leave room for counter-revolutionary coups or escalating violence by Sudan’s many security forces.

The TMC realized the limits of its power when its attempt to halt the revolution with a brutal crackdown on 3 June backfired, sparking international outrage. Defiant protestors continued to demonstrate, with many Sudanese determined to sustain the revolution and the FFC able to mobilize mass support.

Strong African and international pressure for the rapid formation of a civilian-led transitional authority, US/UK diplomatic intervention with the TMC’s backers, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, and a coup attempt by counter-revolutionary Islamist forces may all have persuaded the TMC that they had to strike a deal with the pro-democracy movement.

Will Sudan have a genuinely civilian-led transitional government?

Mediated by the African Union and Ethiopia, the deal provides for a transitional period of three years and three months to prepare for national elections in 2022. During this period, the government will be composed of three transitional bodies: a joint military/civilian Sovereign Council acting as a collective head of state, with six civilian and five military members; a civilian prime minister and Cabinet of technocrats; and a Legislative Council to be formed within 90 days.

The constitutional declaration initialled on 4 August builds on a power-sharing deal agreed in July and details the powers and responsibilities of the three bodies. A signing ceremony is expected to be held on 17 August with the members of the new government to be announced shortly afterwards.

Some opposition forces have criticized the agreement for being too weak, particularly as the military will chair the Sovereign Council for the first 21 months and will be able to veto its decisions. FFC negotiators point to gains made in the constitutional declaration, such as confirmation that the FFC will have 67 per cent of the seats in the Legislative Council, the increasingly powerful RSF Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia will come under army control and government officials will not enjoy blanket immunity from prosecution.

But political dynamics will matter more than pieces of paper. The unity of FFC forces has been strained by the negotiation process, continuing street violence and internal bickering. If civilian authority is to prevail, the FFC will need to create a united political front.

Ending Sudan’s internal wars

While civilian rule and civic rights are the main demands of protestors in urban areas, Sudanese living in conflict zones attach more importance to achieving peace and ending the marginalization of Sudan’s peripheries.

The armed movements in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), which fought for years against Bashir’s regime, have stressed that peace and democratization must go hand in hand if the revolution is to enable people in the peripheries to become equal citizens and take full part in national elections – putting an end to long-established forms of governance which favoured a privileged political elite in Khartoum.

The constitutional declaration recognizes that achieving a comprehensive peace settlement should be the first priority for the transitional period and includes a peace agenda developed with the SRF.

However, the SRF are calling for the constitutional declaration to be amended before it is signed so that formation of the transitional government can be calibrated with the peace talks. Solutions will also have to be found for the armed movements who remain outside the agreement.

Other challenges facing the new transitional government

The incoming transitional government will face huge challenges, including strong public pressure for justice and accountability, especially for the 3 June massacre, and a national economy in collapse that will require immediate stabilization and fundamental structural reforms.

The biggest challenge facing the government will be dismantling the Islamist deep state created over thirty years by the former regime, which took control of all state institutions and key sectors of the economy, including hundreds of businesses owned by the military-security apparatus.

Key to dismantling the deep state will be the implementation of a comprehensive programme of security sector reform aimed at establishing a professional and inclusive national army and reducing the power of the intelligence service.

Much will depend on whether it is possible to control the RSF by reducing its funding from the Gulf states and the gold trade, as well as containing the political ambitions of its commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemeti), who will be an influential figure during the transition.

Recruiting from Chad and Niger as well as from the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur, the RSF is an ill-disciplined transboundary militia, which could destabilize Sudan as well as the wider region. As a first step, the RSF should be withdrawn from all law enforcement activities across Sudan.

Another challenge will be to ensure proper representation of youth and women in the new governance structures. These groups were the driving force of the revolution but have been largely excluded from FFC decision-making bodies. Including these new social forces and other marginalized groups in the political process will be crucial if Sudan is to transform established patterns of power and privilege. 

Robust support for security sector reform, as well as political and economic restructuring should be prioritized by the international community if there is to be any prospect of democratic transition, development and stability. Given its size and strategic geopolitical position, the stakes in Sudan and for the wider region are high.

With its vibrant civil society, plural political environment and new social forces, Sudan has a unique opportunity to embrace democratic transition and equal citizenship. If this opening is wasted, the country could be plunged into further chaos or revert to military dictatorship.