MTN is out, Zain calls mostly out, Sudani calls out, net OK for now. If this continues Sudan will be in blackout

Sudan Watch Ed: Hat tip with thanks to https://twitter.com/sudanreeves

MTN is completely out.
Zain net & calls mostly out
Sudani calls are out but net working for now.
Servers are down cause no electricity in most, if not all, of Khartoum & generators running v short on diesel.
If this continues the whole country will be in blackout.

— dalliasd (@dalliasd) May 5, 2023

[Ends]

Thousands flee Khartoum Sudan. “There is no chance of putting a lid on this now, none whatsoever”

NOTE from Sudan Watch Ed: In this report Cameron Hudson, an expert in US-Africa policy, puts the Sudan fight in a nutshell by saying (and I couldn't agree more) “There is no chance of putting a lid on this now, none whatsoever”. I say, Burhan and Hemeti will only stop if arrested or dead.

Report from The Guardian

By Jason Burke , Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum and Kaamil Ahmed

Monday 24 April 2023 18.49 BST UK

Last modified on Mon 24 Apr 2023 20.39 BST

Sudan: thousands flee Khartoum as civilian casualties escalate

Lack of supplies and rising prices add to perilous journey by road to Egyptian border and Port Sudan

Thousands more residents of Khartoum fled the Sudanese capital on Monday, risking long, dangerous journeys to escape continued street battles and murderous airstrikes that continue to cause significant civilian casualties.

Some headed north by road to the Egyptian border in packed buses, many with towering piles of luggage strapped to them. Others drove north-east to Port Sudan. Both journeys involved up to 24 hours of driving, with increasing reports of robbery of vehicles.

Many in Khartoum fear that rival factions fighting for control of the city will intensify their power struggle when the evacuations of foreign citizens have finished. The latest ceasefire, which brought almost no reduction in fighting, was due to run out Monday evening.

IMAGE MAP: Overland routes to flee the fighting in Sudan 

1. Egypt

Witnesses say buses carrying hundreds of people have been lining up at the remote Arqin border crossing

 

2. Port Sudan

There have been long convoys on the road from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, from where people have left Sudan by air and sea

 

3. Ethiopia

Hundreds of people have arrived in the Ethiopian

town of Metema Yohannes near the Sudan border, the local mayor said on Monday

 

4. South Sudan

Officials in Renk County said on Monday they had received about 10,000 people since the crisis started

 

5. Chad

The UN says 10,000-20,000 people have fled fighting in Darfur region to seek refuge in neighbouring Chad in recent weeks

Guardian graphic

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned a session of the security council in New York that the violence “risks a catastrophic conflagration … that could engulf the whole region and beyond”. He urged the 15 council members to work to end the violence.

“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss … We stand with them at this terrible time,” he said, adding he had authorised the temporary relocation of some UN personnel and families.

Throughout the day, convoys of foreign diplomats, as well as teachers, students, workers and families from dozens of countries wound past combatants at tense frontlines in Khartoum to reach extraction points. A stream of European, Middle Eastern, African and Asian military aircraft flew in all day Sunday and Monday to ferry some of them out.

The violence in Sudan has pitted army units loyal to its military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Few now believe that it is possible to bring the combatants to the negotiating table.

“There is no chance of putting a lid on this now, none whatsoever,” said Cameron Hudson, an expert in US-Africa policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Many in Khartoum have now been trapped in their homes for nine days. The prices of increasingly rare food and fuel are soaring, electricity is patchy and internet rarely working. In many neighbourhoods, armed fighters are looting shops and homes.

Residents of Khartoum on Monday reported sporadic explosions, gunfire and airstrikes, including one in the neighbouring city of Omdurman that killed a reported five people and injured about 50. 

Shelling of Khartoum’s Kalakla district continued for an hour until the area was “razed to the ground”, said Attiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Sudan Doctors Syndicate. The bombardment sent dozens of wounded to the Turkish hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the city, he said.

Abou-Obaida Abashar, a 33-year-old banker, fled his family house in the al-Fetihab neighbourhood after an airstrike hit his house and that of his neighbours.

“A plane was trying to hit 15 to 16 RSF vehicles in the area, but I am not sure if they meant to hit the houses or that came by accident, but it terrified everybody and it made us all run, some with only the clothes that they were wearing, they even didn’t take anything with them. The area has been emptied now,” Abashar said.

Those without the funds to pay for transport to Egypt or Port Sudan headed out of the city to relatively calmer provinces along the Nile north and south of Khartoum. Many more were trapped, with limited cash and transport costs spiralling.

“Travelling out of Khartoum has become a luxury,” said Shahin al-Sherif, a 27-year-old high school teacher hoping to arrange transport out of Khartoum for himself, his younger sister, mother, aunt and grandmother. The family had been trapped for days in their home in Khartoum’s Amarat neighbourhood while fighting raged outside before managing to move to a safer district farther out.

But al-Sherif expects things to get worse and is worried his sister, aunt and grandmother, all diabetic, will not be able to get the supplies they need. Bus ticket prices have more than quadrupled so renting a bus for 50 people to get to the Egyptian border costs about $14,000, he said.

Some Sudanese people have expressed anger that western countries have seemingly prioritised evacuating their people over trying to stop the fighting.

With a series of ceasefires failing to hold, the confirmed death toll in Sudan has now passed 420, including 264 civilians, and more than 3,700 people have been wounded, according to local and international NGOs. However, most analysts believe the true total of fatalities and injuries in more than nine days of fighting is much higher.

The US has warned of shortages of vital medicines, food and water in Sudan and deployed disaster response experts to the region.

Samantha Power, the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), painted a grim picture of the reality on the ground.

“Fighting … has claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and yet again dashed the democratic aspirations of Sudanese people. Civilians trapped in their homes cannot access desperately needed medicines, and face the prospect of protracted power, water and food shortages,” Power said.

“All of this suffering compounds an already dire situation: one-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence.”

The World Health Organization has verified 11 attacks on healthcare facilities since the start of the conflict, with the remaining sites in Khartoum and the south-western Darfur states facing an acute lack of supplies amid increasing needs. Emergency medical supplies that had been pre positioned are now running out, the WHO said.

Internet and phone services appeared to have collapsed across much of country. Medicine, fuel and food were scarce in much of Khartoum, while a combination of fighting and looting made leaving home to search for essential provisions dangerous.

The communications blackout has starved those still in the conflict areas of up-to-date information on the fighting and left their families abroad uncertain about their safety, with international calls also failing to connect. The few in Sudan with internet access have offered on social media to make local phone calls on behalf of those abroad.

Maryam, a Sudanese student in the United Arab Emirates who did not want to use her real name for her family’s safety, said she lost contact with her family on Sunday as they were on a bus heading from Khartoum to the Egyptian border.

When she managed to finally get through on Monday afternoon, her family were waiting to cross over to Egypt. Their bus had broken down several times on the journey, during which the driver decided to raise the price and threatened to offload anyone who could not pay.

“The last we’d heard from them they’d been about an hour from the border headed towards the Aswan border. Most of my family – including my sister, her kids and husband, some aunts, uncles and cousins – were on the bus together,” Maryam said.

The Sudanese army has blamed the outages on the RSF damaging infrastructure.

VIDEO: Sudan: evacuees brave 'risky' travel as fighting intensifies – video report

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/24/sudan-thousands-flee-khartoum-as-civilian-casualties-escalate

[Ends]

Canada suspends Sudan consular services as diplomats evacuated to “temporarily work from a safe location outside the country” to help citizens in Sudan

Report from THE CANADIAN PRESS

By Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Sunday 23 April 2023 12:30 p.m. - full copy:

Canada suspends Sudan consular services as diplomats evacuated

More than 420 people killed, thousands injured in conflict between government and paramilitary group

Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 22, 2023. The fighting in the capital between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces resumed after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed. Ottawa has suspended consular services in Sudan as reports merge of allied countries evacuating Canadian diplomats. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Marwan Ali

Canada suspended consular services in Sudan on Sunday (April 23) amid reports of allied countries evacuating Canadian diplomats and as armed conflict escalates in the East-African country.

Global Affairs Canada said Canadian diplomats would “temporarily work from a safe location outside the country” while still trying to help citizens in Sudan.

The Associated Press reports that more than 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in the fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

Those deaths occurred in just nine days after power-sharing negotiations between the two groups deteriorated.

Global Affairs said there were 1,596 Canadian citizens formally registered as being in Sudan as of Saturday.

But Nicholas Coghlan, Canada’s former top envoy to Sudan, said in a Sunday interview that the number is likely “considerably higher,” with many being dual nationals.

He said many Canadians abroad see registering as a needless hassle, while others believe their information will be shared with other branches of government such as the Canada Revenue Agency, despite laws preventing such data transfers.

Coghlan was also Canada’s first ambassador to South Sudan when it separated from that country in 2011, and he oversaw an evacuation of citizens after a civil war broke out in 2013.

At that time, less than 20 Canadian citizens were registered in South Sudan, but roughly 140 ended up being evacuated in less than a week.

Canada first evacuated those easily reachable in the capital of Juba who wanted to leave, and then worked to identify others and get them onto roughly weekly flights operated by one of Canada’s allies.

The ongoing situation in Sudan is likely different, Coghlan said, because the clashing forces are deliberately targeting airports as strategic locations in a turf war.

The Associated Press reports that fighting at the country’s main international airport in the capital city of Khartoum has destroyed civilian planes and damaged at least one runway.

Canada’s embassy sits near that airport, making it one of the most dangerous areas in the country, Coghlan said.

The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. special forces evacuated six Canadian diplomats, along with 70 American diplomats and some from other countries.

The BBC, meanwhile, reported Canadians were among a group evacuated by sea to Saudi Arabia. Global Affairs did not immediately confirm those reports.

Overland travel through contested areas has proven dangerous. Khartoum is about 840 kilometres from Port Sudan, on the Red Sea. Both the country’s militias have accused each other of obstructing evacuations.

Coghlan said Sunday’s announced suspension of consular services means Canadian citizens who need emergency passports to leave Sudan likely have no chance of getting them, because Ottawa deemed it too risky to keep a scaled-down operation running in the country.

He said many dual nationals likely have expired passports or insufficient paperwork to get on a flight.

Some registered Canadians likely work for the United Nations or aid organizations, who can help extract them, but many will be private citizens with family ties to Sudan who will be left to their own devices.

Reports from Sudan’s Arqin border crossing with Egypt suggest 30 packed coaches were trying to reach safety.

Sudan experienced a “near-total collapse” of countrywide internet and phone connections Sunday, according to the monitoring service NetBlocks.

Coghlan said many Sudanese will likely feel let down by western countries, particularly those critical of how the world handled the heads of the two duelling forces ever since an October 2021 coup d’état.

“The signal that’s been sent there is (that) there is a perception of people leaving the sinking ship,” he said,

“That’s how it looks, a sense of abandonment, for sure.”

The federal government is not evacuating its locally hired Sudanese staff, saying it is “looking at all possible options to support them.”

Coghlan said the issue of how to handle locals is always sensitive.

“The harsh reality is they are typically left to their own devices,” he said.

“That’s controversial within Global Affairs (Canada), out of a sense that we depend on these people 100 per cent.”

Last summer, the Liberals came under fire over allegations that Canada did not heed intelligence warnings about the safety of its Ukraine embassy’s locally engaged staff ahead of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion. The allegations, which have not been proven, include claims that other western countries had evacuated Ukrainians listed as targets by Moscow.

Coghlan said the current Sudan conflict, unlike the Ukraine invasion and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, does not have a focus on western policy.

He stressed that situation is dynamic and he does not have the full facts surrounding Ottawa’s choice to pull out diplomats and end consular services.

“The minister had a very hard decision to make here,” he said. “It’s very easy to be an armchair quarterback on this.”

READ ALSO: Why Sudan’s conflict matters to the rest of the world

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View original:

https://www.westerlynews.ca/news/canada-suspends-sudan-consular-services-as-diplomats-evacuated/

[Ends]

Sudan almost completely disconnected from Internet

Just 2% of all Internet users in Sudan have web connectivity at present

Source: Report from Arab World Materials 

Sunday 23 April 2023 07:29 (UTC +04:00) - full copy

Sudan almost completely disconnected from the Internet

Just 2% of all Internet users in Sudan have web connectivity at present, the international Internet monitoring service NetBlocks said on Sunday, Trend reports citing TASS.

"Real-time network data show a near-total collapse of internet connectivity in Sudan with national connectivity now at 2% of ordinary levels; the incident comes as foreign diplomats are evacuated amid fighting between military and paramilitary forces," Netblocks informed.

Internet failures were reported earlier in Sudan due to armed clashes.

View original: https://en.trend.az/world/arab/3738956.html

[Ends]

Calling the UN and International Red Cross - Released Sudan official describes ordeal since coup arrest

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I cannot understand why the UN is not ensuring that these prisoners are identified and visited by the International Red Cross or such like. Surely there are laws in place to protect prisoners.

According to the following report, a rights lawyer representing many of the detained estimated earlier this month that at least 100 Sudanese government members were rounded up in the early hours of the coup. 

Also, activists estimated hundreds of protesters and activists have also disappeared into undisclosed prisons. Saleh (pictured) himself is unsure of who else is being held, but remains worried for their safety.

Many were taken from their homes during the morning of Oct. 25 and have been since kept in undisclosed locations, with no ability to contact family or lawyers. Why isn't the UN helping with legalities? Read more in this report.

By ASHRAF IDRIS Associated Press (AP)

Published at www.abcnews.go.com

Dated 24 November 2021, 19:47

Released Sudan official describes ordeal since coup arrest

A Sudanese government official says he was kept in isolation for nearly a month after being arrested during a military coup that plunged the country into crisis

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A Sudanese government official said Wednesday he was kept in isolation for nearly a month after being arrested during a military coup that plunged the country into crisis.

Faisal Saleh, an advisor to Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, told The Associated Press that security forces took him blindfolded from his home in the early hours of Oct. 25

“We were expecting that there was a military coup coming," said Saleh, who also served as minister of information from 2019 until earlier this year. ”We just didn't know how or when it would take place."

Saleh is one of dozens of government officials who have been locked up since the country's top general, Abdel-Fattah Burhan led a coup against the country's interim civilian government. It has upended plans for the country to transition to democracy, more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Saleh was released late Monday [22 Nov] after 29 days of detention and immediately set about learning the events of the past month. He's still catching up and recovering from a chest infection that he contracted during his time in prison.

It remains unclear how many remain in detention, but in recent days activists' posts have indicated that several prominent opposition figures have been let go.

A rights lawyer representing many of the detained estimated earlier this month that at least 100 government members were rounded up in the early hours of the coup. The country's prime minister, Hamdok, was held under house arrest for weeks before being reinstated just days ago.

Activists estimated hundreds of protesters and activists have also disappeared into undisclosed prisons. Saleh himself is unsure of who else is being held, but remains worried for their safety.

Many were taken from their homes during the morning of Oct. 25 and have been since kept in undisclosed locations, with no ability to contact family or lawyers. The military leaders have also cut off mobile and internet communications across the country.

Saleh said after his arrest he was taken to a room locked from the outside, with a bed, dresser and toilet. He was given two meals a day and told he had access to a doctor if needed. He slowly concluded that he was being held in a military facility in Khartoum, the country's capital.

But his captors made one thing clear: He was only allowed contact with the guards who brought his food. He suspected colleagues of his were in the same building but had no way to know. Nor did he hear about the violence that followed the coup.

“I think being together with other people makes it easier,” said Saleh, who was also imprisoned under al-Bashir. “But this time I was alone, and I didn’t know what was happening outside the room.”

Since the takeover, protesters have flooded the streets in the biggest demonstrations since those that ended al-Bashir’s three-decade reign in 2019, and security forces have killed more than 40 demonstrators since the coup, according to doctors' groups.

Saleh is trying to acquaint himself with a new and frightening political landscape. He says he hopes soon to be able to sit down with his former boss. He is also calling for all detainees to be released, whether they are politicians or protesters.

“Only then we can look into the next steps,” he said.

The military reached a deal with Hamdok on Sunday [21 Nov] that would reinstate him as the head of a new technocratic Cabinet ahead of eventual elections. But the agreement has splintered Sudan’s pro-democracy movement, many of whom accuse Hamdok of allowing himself to serve as a fig leaf for continued military rule.

Saleh's account comes as the country slowly emerges from weeks of limited mobile and internet access.

On Wednesday, the internet advocacy group NetBlocks said that social media and messaging platforms were now fully functioning in the country for the first time since the coup.

View original: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/released-sudan-official-describes-ordeal-coup-arrest-81378472#

Sudan's military has released Al Jazeera's journalist - Sudan remains under internet blackout

🇸🇩 Following global pressure, #Sudan's military has released Al Jazeera's journalist in Khartoum, but the country remains under an internet blackout as the army continues cracking down on anti-coup protesters. 👇 https://t.co/TfyBXvlrAR

— Doha News (@dohanews) November 16, 2021

Al Jazeera says its chief in Sudan taken to prison

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor:  This site, hosted by Google, has been inaccessible intermittently since last Friday. Here below are the messages on three error pages I saw while trying to visit the site. The site's statistics show that it has not received any visitors located in Sudan since the coup.

Also, here below is a report saying Sudanese security forces went to the home of Sudanese national Al-Musalami al-Kabbashi, the bureau chief of Qatari-based Al Jazeera TV, last Sunday (14 Nov) where they arrested him and took him to prison, the latest in hundreds of arrests since a military coup three weeks ago. The report says Al Jazeera has given prominent coverage to the recent protests (8 were killed last weekend bringing the total to 23) and aired a detailed interview with the coup leader Gen. Al-Burhan.

Here is a link to a 25-minute interview by Talk To Al Jazeera aired on 9 Nov 2021 entitled Al-Burhan: 'I will have no political role' after power handover:  https://www.aljazeera.com/program/talk-to-al-jazeera/2021/11/9/burhan-i-will-have-no-political-role-after-power-handover

- - -

Sudan Watch on November 12, 13, 14

This site can’t be reached

The web page at https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

ERR_QUIC_PROTOCOL_ERROR

- - -

This site can’t provide a secure connection

sudanwatch.blogspot.com uses an unsupported protocol.

ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH

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Unsupported protocol

The client and server don't support a common SSL protocol version or cipher suite.

- - -

http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/

not secure

Warning: you could be getting scammed!

Suspected unsafe site: URL of website

This website could be trying to steal your information, install a virus or gain access to your device.

What to do next

We recommend you don't visit the website. If you've been directed to this page by an unexpected caller, it is almost certainly a scam. Please hang up and report the call on www.bt.com/scams.

___________________________________________________

Here is a copy of a news report by Agence France-Press (AFP)

Dated Monday, 15 November 2021, 7:11 pm·

Al Jazeera says its chief in Sudan taken to prison

Sudanese security forces have taken the bureau chief of Qatari-based Al Jazeera TV to prison even though the prosecution ordered him freed, the broadcaster said Monday.

Al Jazeera journalist Al-Musalami al-Kabbashi, a Sudanese national, was arrested from his home on Sunday, the latest in hundreds of arrests since a military coup three weeks ago.

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25 declared a state of emergency, ousted the government and detained the civilian leadership.

The army's power grab has derailed a transition to full civilian rule, sparked international condemnation and provoked regular protests.

Burhan insists the military's move on October 25 "was not a coup" but a push to "rectify the course of the transition".

Al Jazeera, which said it "holds the Sudanese military authority responsible for the safety of all its employees", denounced the detention of Kabbashi, saying that "the prosecution had ordered his release".

Al Jazeera has given prominent coverage to the recent demonstrations, but has also aired a detailed interview with Burhan.

Other media outlets besides Al Jazeera have also been targeted. Before the coup, Sudan was already ranked 159 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index by the NGO Reporters Without Borders.

It's not the first time judicial decisions have been disregarded by the coup authorities.

Sudan has continued to remain largely offline even after a court ruled last week that internet services be restored. Judges also ordered the release of detainees arrested during nationwide anti-coup rallies on Saturday but "police took them to an unknown location," a lawyer, Enaam Attik, told AFP.

Earlier on Monday, medics said the death toll from the weekend protests had risen to eight, bringing the total number killed since last month's military takeover to 23.

The union named all eight people killed, including a 13-year-old girl who it said had suffered "a shot to the head outside her home".

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee is in Sudan until Tuesday seeking "release from detention of Sudanese political and civilian leaders, the return of Prime Minister Hamdok to office, and the restoration of a civilian-led transitional government."

Sudan has a long history of military coups, enjoying only rare interludes of democratic rule since independence in 1956.

bur/sbh/pjm/it

View original: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/al-jazeera-says-chief-sudan-191153317.html

Sudan cuts off internet despite court order to restore

Technology & internet accessibility are a human right. Shutting down an entire country for 16 days is a violation of #humanrights and should be recognised as such.

I didn’t speak to my mother & family in 16 days. This in 2021.#InternetShutDown #SudanCoup#Amnestyinternational https://t.co/BwUtSk5sJs

— Jia (Juwayria) (@Jia_Elhassan) November 10, 2021

Day 16 Sudan military distrupts internet and telecoms

For the 16TH DAY in #Sudan that began Oct. 25 when the military forcibly took power, the military continues to block access to Internet & phone lines, suppressing #FreedomOfSpeech & access to information for an entire nation - a violation of international law.#السودان @netblocks https://t.co/MWsdfX96Hq

— USAID Sudan (@USAIDSudan) November 9, 2021

Sudan mediators hit 'hurdles' after coup

Here is a copy of a news report in full by Agence France-Presse (AFP) News 

Dated Tuesday, 2 November 2021 at 1:36 PM - reprinted by International Business Times.com

Sudan Mediators Hit 'Hurdles' After Coup

Just over a week after Sudan's top general locked up political leaders and seized power sparking mass protests and a deadly crackdown, mediators are seeking to restore the transition to civilian rule.

But experts warn that Sudan's military and civilian leadership are deeply divided, senior figures remain under military guard, and rebuilding trust between rival factions is a mammoth task.

"We sat with all actors from the military and civilian sides," one mediator said on condition of anonymity.

That intermediary is among a stream of leading Sudanese figures -- including businessmen, academics and journalists -- who have been trying to break the stalemate.

"We secured initial consent for talks, but hurdles remain in the way," the mediator added.

Sudan has enjoyed only rare democratic interludes since independence in 1956 and spent decades riven by civil war.

Since August 2019, the northeast African country had been ruled by a joint civilian-military council as part of the now derailed transition to full civilian rule.

But in a move widely condemned internationally, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- Sudan's de facto leader since the 2019 ouster of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir -- last week dissolved the government, detained the civilian leadership, and declared a state of emergency.

It triggered nationwide mass protests against the military -- demonstrations met by a deadly crackdown by security forces, resulting in at least a dozen people killed and scores wounded.

After armed troops were sent to crush protesters, street demonstrations have faded, although the situation remains volatile.

World powers demanded a swift return to civilian rule, and made punitive aid cuts that will hit hard in a country already mired in a dire economic crisis.

Last week, Burhan, a veteran general who served under Bashir's three-decades long iron fisted rule, vowed to form another civilian government.

Yet the two sides remain far apart.

"The civilians feel burnt by what their military partners did on October 25th," and will have "a high expectation" of guarantees to trust the military again, said Jeffrey Feltman, the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa.

Both sides, however, are going to need to work together, Feltman added.

"One's not going to be able to sideline the military, just as the military should not be trying to sideline civilians as they are now."

He told reporters the US has been in touch with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to discuss Sudan's crisis.

The main civilian bloc, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) which led anti-Bashir protests, had just before the coup divided into two opposing factions, with a splinter group supporting the military.

The mainstream FFC remains committed to civilian rule. It says civilian leaders -- including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest -- must be freed before negotiations can progress.

"We insisted on the release of civilian detainees and resumption of the power-sharing deal as a prerequisite for talks," said Kamal Ismail, an FFC leader, after meetings with African Union officials.

"We believe these are not conditions. They are simply our rights."

The AU last week suspended Sudan's membership "until the effective restoration of the civilian-led transitional authority", and a team from the bloc's Peace and Security Council is expected in Khartoum on Wednesday.

United Nations officials and Western diplomats have called for the return of the government.

"We're engaging with all Sudanese across a very broad political spectrum," said Volker Perthes, UN special representative to Sudan, said Monday.

Neighbouring South Sudan, which contributes significantly to Khartoum through fees for sending its oil to export through a pipeline in Sudan, sent presidential adviser Tut Gatluak to try to help broker talks.

"We seek to bring all sides to hold a comprehensive dialogue on all issues," Gatluak said.

Other senior Sudanese mediators have held two meetings with Burhan on behalf of the FFC.

"He listened to the demands, and said he would take them into consideration," one mediator said on condition of anonymity.

However, the mediator warned they did not expect a resolution any time soon.

"We don't expect the military to heed these demands on the first attempt," he added, citing "ongoing tensions and the lack of trust."

PHOTO: A man walks past gas cylinders in Sudan's capital Khartoum on November 2, 2021 as talks to broker peace between rival factions continue Photo: AFP / Ashraf SHAZLY

IMAGE: Key economic indicators for Sudan. AFP / Jonathan WALTER

PHOTO: AFP / - Sudanese anti-coup protesters gathered in their thousands on October 30, 2021 to express their support for the country's democratic transition 

PHOTO: AFP / ASHRAF SHAZLY: Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, seen here in August 2020, has been pressing for the United States to delist his nation as a state sponsor of terrorism 

Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

View original:  https://www.ibtimes.com/sudan-mediators-hit-hurdles-after-coup-3329722

Sudan's patchy telecoms - Khartoum airport open

Full copy of news report by Radio Dabanga.org

Dated Monday 1 November 2021 

Internet blackout continues, mobile phone service restored in Sudan

(Khartoum) - The week-long internet blackout imposed in Sudan after the military coup last Monday continues, with very little internet traffic possible. Telecommunications services began to be restored after a break that lasted for more than a day during to the October 30 Marches of Millions.

Sources told Radio Dabanga that phone calls continued to be difficult despite the restoration of some services on Sunday afternoon. They also complained about the continuing internet blackout.

The US Embassy in Khartoum confirmed in a report yesterday that the Salanco satellite internet network for Internet & Surveillance is still working, while the Maxnet wireless broadband service provider has been cut.

Khartoum International Airport reopened on Wednesday, and some airlines resumed flights during the weekend.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/internet-blackout-continues-mobile-phone-service-restored-in-sudan

Sudan: Hamdok says solution hinges on return of govt

NOTE from Sudan Watch editor:  Although there is a lack of news about Sudan’s cabinet ministers, their current whereabouts and how well they are being treated, it is clear that the UN Security Council and many ambassadors and diplomats round the world are following events closely and doing everything possible to ensure Mr Hamdok and his detained ministers and politicians are being kept safe and well.

Shortly after the military coup, a news report stated that a cabinet minister had been arrested at home during the night and taken to an unnamed location still wearing his night clothes. 

The following copy of a news report by AFP says PM Hamdok is quoted as saying "the release of the cabinet ministers and the full reinstatement of the government could pave the way to a solution”. The source of the quote is the Facebook page of Sudan’s information ministry.

The report reveals that the coup leader Gen Burhan said the detainees were being kept in "a decent place" and that those facing charges "will be moved to where the accused are usually taken while the rest will be released."

I have no verifiable news about current internet access in Sudan, cut off by the junta during the coup.

Here is a full copy of a news report written by Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Published at France24 dot com

Dated Monday, 1 November 2021, 9:23 pm

Sudan's ousted PM says solution hinges on return of govt: ministry

Sudan's ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said Monday [Nov 1] the reinstatement of his government, dissolved in a military coup, could pave the way to a solution in the country, the information ministry said.

Hamdok spoke during a meeting at his home, where he is under effective house arrest, with the ambassadors of the United States, Britain and Norway, the ministry which remains loyal to the prime minister said.

On October 25, Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the cabinet as well as the ruling joint military-civilian Sovereign Council which had been heading Sudan's transition towards full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

In a move widely condemned internationally, Burhan declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan's civilian leadership, including Hamdok and members of his government.

Hamdok, an international economist, was later released and placed effectively under house arrest.

The ousted prime minister "insisted on the legitimacy of his government and transitional institutions", the information ministry said on its Facebook page.

He added that "the release of the cabinet ministers and the full reinstatement of the government could pave the way to a solution," the ministry said.

Hamdok, according to the statement, demanded that the situation in Sudan return to what it was before the coup, refusing to negotiate with the military rulers.

The statement added that the three ambassadors also informed Hamdok that the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, would arrive at dawn Tuesday in Khartoum "to pursue efforts to ease the crisis".

'Dangerous legal situation'

Earlier Monday [Nov 1] a Sudanese lawyer representing the detained civilian leaders said their whereabouts is unknown and that they are in a "dangerous legal situation".

Kamal al-Gizouli is the lead defence lawyer on a team of attorneys which has come forward to represent them with the backing of their families.

Gizouli said his team went to an agency "where they were believed to have been held but we found that they were not there."

Gizouli expressed concern about the well-being of the detainees and called on those holding them to reveal their location.

"These detainees are in the most dangerous legal situation" since nothing was known about their case nor who was heading the investigation, he added.

Little is known about the whereabout of his cabinet and the members of the council that had been tasked with paving the way to full civilian rule.

Burhan had since August 2019 chaired the council, working alongside Hamdok's government under a power-sharing deal that outlined the post-Bashir transition.

The arrangement came under strain, however, as splits deepened between the civilians and the military.

Jonas Horner, senior analyst for Sudan at International Crisis Group think tank, speaking to AFP earlier Monday, said Hamdok will "find that his political cache has been boosted" by recent events, "and that he is in fact strengthened from what was a relatively weak position previously."

Horner cited, for example, Hamdok's "principled stance" prior to the putsch in refusing to dissolve his government.

In a news conference last week, Burhan defended the military's takeover, saying it was "not a coup" but a move to "rectify the course of the transition".

The general also said the detainees were being kept in "a decent place" and that those facing charges "will be moved to where the accused are usually taken while the rest will be released."

Sudanese and international efforts have been made to mediate a way out of the crisis since the coup.

"We call on all sides mediating to resolve the crisis to demand that the whereabouts of these ministers and politicians be known," said Gizouli.

On Sunday, the UN special representative to Sudan, Volker Perthes, said options for mediation have been discussed with Hamdok and other Sudanese stakeholders.

Photo and caption: Sudan's ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, pictured in September 2021, has been effectively under house arrest since the military coup (AFP/-)

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View original: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211101-sudan-s-ousted-pm-says-solution-hinges-on-return-of-govt-ministry

UK seeks urgent session of top UN rights body on Sudan

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: The penholder for 2021 in the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Sudan is the UK. Also, the US is the penholder for 2021 in the UNSC on South Sudan, Sudan/South Sudan, Sudan sanctions and South Sudan sanctions.  Source: List* of 2021 UN Security Council Chairs of Subsidiary Bodies and Penholders.

Over eighteen years have passed since I began this blog, Sudan Watch. In 2003 I couldn't find a map of Darfur on the internet. Today, when I look at these photos showing protests in Khartoum, many of the protestors look younger than this blog. All they've known is war. They deserve their voices to be heard and their protests to be heeded. They are the future.

The world wide web, invented and freely given to the world by Englishman Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has enabled the world to watch Sudan and South Sudan and to donate its hard earned cash to help to bring peace and prosperity to the two countries. God help anyone who does anything to harm Sudan’s prime minister Hamdok or his family or colleagues. The world will go mad.

Billions of people around the world wish that music could unite us all to make world peace. Everyone knows love is the most important thing. God bless all Sudanese people and bring them love and peace.

* https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/working_methods_penholders_chairs.pdf

Here is a full copy of a news report by Reuters

Reporting by STEPHANIE NEBEHAY; editing by GILES ELGOOD

Dated Monday, 1 November 2021 3:50 PM GMT UK

Britain seeks urgent session of top UN rights body on Sudan

Photo and caption: Protesters carry a banner and national flags as they march against the Sudanese military's recent seizure of power and ousting of the civilian government, in the streets of the capital Khartoum, Sudan October 30, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin

Photo and caption: Protesters gesture and shout slogans as they demonstrate against the Sudanese military's recent seizure of power and ousting of the civilian government, in the capital Khartoum, Sudan October 30, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin/File Photo

GENEVA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday that it had requested that the U.N. Human Rights Council convene an emergency session on Sudan following last week's military coup.

The request was sent to the president of the 47-member Geneva forum on behalf of 18 member states, more than the one-third required to convene a special session. It was backed by 30 countries with observer status, including the United States.

"The actions of the Sudanese military are a betrayal of the revolution, the transition & the hopes of the Sudanese people," Simon Manley, Britain's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said in a tweet.

Last week, Sudan's military took power in a coup, detaining civilian officials and politicians, and promising to establish a new government of technocrats. The coup has been met with opposition and street demonstrations over the last week.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Giles Elgood

View original:  https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/britain-seeks-urgent-session-top-un-rights-body-sudan-2021-11-01/