Tuesday, June 25, 2019

4 SUDAN FILMS: TMC RSF Janjaweed, bodies in Nile, Hemedti & secret hit squads

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I saw the following film in a tweet I found online last night. I cannot verify the source or footage nor pass it by. Please excuse me if it is fake. To me it looks real.

I have seen the film several times, each time I studied it in detail. I imagined being in the position of the people filmed sitting on the ground, looking up at the (words fail me how to describe them) so-called men in combat uniforms, acting erratic, crazy and self-important. Who are these people, where are they from? Are they drugged, former child soldiers?

Look at the fear on the captives' faces, they look deflated and exhausted. I dread to think what they have seen for their faces and body language to look as they do in the film. Actors can't act in this way.

I find the film shocking and haunting. Anyone watching it who fails to be able to empathise with anyone involved in this film is desensitised to the atrocities committed in Sudan and South Sudan.

Who are the captives in this film? They look like they've been through war. Are they protestors? Rebels? Ex soldiers? They seem shocked, one is lifting a hand to signal a peace sign. Who is caring for them? Where are they now? Do they have family? Are dead bodies of protestors in background?

I must publish this film now in case it disappears before being seen by people in positions of power who could help. The film makes you smell and taste cruelty, the air, mood, fear, despair.
To see the above tweet and film click here:
https://twitter.com/00AliSalah/status/1136721954885517313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 

 Sudan Watch Ed: Here are some links showing what people are tweeting, please be cautious and mindful, beware of propaganda before deciding to tweet or re-tweet, many people's lives and livelihoods are at stake: #Sudan  #SudanUpraising   #السودان #العصيان_المدني_الشامل  #Internet_Blackout_In_Sudan  #IAmTheSudanRevolution 
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 UPDATE 3: Tue 25 June 2019 18:00 GMT UK

 SOME ANSWERS IN THESE 3 IMPORTANT FILMS

1. FROM UK CHANNEL4 NEWS 24 JUNE 2019
"Sudan's 'strongman' fighting protestors"
To see the Channel 4 News film on YouTube click here: https://youtu.be/WbhzzOzWtzM
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2. FROM UK SKY NEWS 22 JUNE 2019
"Hotspots: Inside Sudan and Syria"
To see the Sky News film on YouTube click here: https://youtu.be/yy5jCE58z_o

Published at YouTube on 22 Jun 2019
Sky's Stuart Ramsay and Alex Crawford send a special report from the revolution in Sudan and the last stronghold of the Islamic State in Syria.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more videos: 
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skynews 
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skynews
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skynews
For more content go to http://news.sky.com and download our apps: 
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3. FROM UK BBC NEWS 13 FEBRUARY 2019:
"Sudan’s Secret Hit Squads Used to Attack Protests" - BBC Africa Eye documentary
To see the BBC film on YouTube click here: https://youtu.be/AuNDd_pteRQ

 BBC News Africa
Published at YouTube on 13 Feb 2019
These are images Sudan’s government does not want you to see: teams of masked, plainclothes agents chasing down protesters, beating them, and dragging them off to secret detention centres in Khartoum.

Who are these hit squads? Where are these detention centres? And what happens inside their walls?

BBC Africa Eye has analysed dozens of dramatic videos filmed during the recent uprising, and spoken with witnesses who have survived torture at the hands of the Bashir regime. Some of these protesters tell us about a secret and widely feared holding facility – The Fridge – where the cold is used an instrument of torture.

Investigation led by:
Benjamin Strick
Abdulmoniem Suleiman
Klaas Van Dijken 
Aliaume Leroy  

Produced and Edited by:
Suzanne Vanhooymissen 
Tom Flannery 
Daniel Adamson  

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FILM: RSF beat old man for being on street in Sudan

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I cannot verify the following tweet or the film footage. As the internet is still down in Sudan, I feel compelled to share and document some images claiming to be from Sudan. Many people, especially young folk, are taking time and effort, using great creativity and ingenuity in finding ways to get their message out. If genuine, they are courageously and bravely telling the world what is going on in Sudan. I came across this Twitter page and tweet while trawling through many others. I do not know the source. Please excuse me if any images I post are faked. God help these people.
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Monday, June 24, 2019

PHOTO TWEET: Corpse thrown in Nile Sudan... #BlueForSudan... #IAmTheSudanRevolution

To see the above tweet click here: https://twitter.com/YemMELMO/status/1140620822257840128

#BlueForSudan - click here:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlueForSudan&src=tyah

 #IAmTheSudanRevolution - click here:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23iamthesudanrevolution&src=typd
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BBC Arabic reporter Mohamed Osman in Khartoum confirms that the internet remains blocked despite Sunday's court order

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor:
On Sunday 23 June 2019 this blog Sudan Watch, authored in England, UK and hosted by Google, received some visitors located in Sudan for the first time since 3 June. 

However, a news report published by the BBC yesterday (Mon 24 June) says: 

"A lawyer in Sudan has told the BBC that the internet has been restored after a three-week shutdown - but only for him. 

Abdel-Adheem Hassan on Sunday won a lawsuit against telecoms operator Zain Sudan over the blackout ordered by Sudan's military rulers. 

However, he says his victory is only benefitting him so far as he filed the case in a personal capacity. 

Mr Hassan said he is currently the only civilian in the country able to access the internet without resorting to complicated hacks. 

He said he is going back to court on Tuesday [25 June] to win the right for more Sudanese people. 

"We have a court session tomorrow and another one the day after tomorrow. Hopefully one million people will gain internet access by the end of the week," Mr Hassan added. 

 BBC Arabic reporter Mohamed Osman in Khartoum confirms that the internet remains blocked despite 
Sunday's court order.
To read full story click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48744853
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Sudan internet shutdown has a projected cost of more than $1 billion, and will continue for three months

Article from The Washington Post.com
By CLAIRE PARKER Friday 21 June 2019 at 4:32 PM

Sudan’s military has shut down the Internet to crush a popular revolt. Here’s how it could backfire.

Some extracts from the article:
NetBlocks, an organization that tracks Internet freedom around the world, described the blackout as a “near-total restriction on the flow of information in and out of Sudan for a significant portion of the population.”
[Copy of a tweet by NetBlocks.org date stamped 6 June 2019]
Intibaha newspaper says Sudan internet blackout has a projected cost of more than $1 billion, and will continue for three months
[Copy of a tweet by Yousra Elbagir date stamped 20 June 2019]
To read the original article click here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2f2019%2f06%2f21%2fsudans-military-has-shut-down-internet-crush-popular-revolt-heres-how-it-could-backfire%2f%3f&utm_term=.60b78f83c3c1
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Sunday, June 23, 2019

TMC VP Hemeti's Janjaweed killed and burned in Darfur, Sudan. Now Darfur has come to Khartoum

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Here is another interesting article from The New York Times by Declan Walsh 16 June 2019. Yellow highlighting is mine, for future reference.

Sudan Ousted a Brutal Dictator. His Successor Was His Enforcer.

Photo: Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, also known as Hemeti, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries that carried out the violent dispersal of protesters on June 3. Credit Declan Walsh/The New York Times

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Once a camel trader who led a militia accused of genocidal violence in Darfur, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan now sits at the pinnacle of power in Sudan, overlooking the scorched streets from his wood-paneled office high up in the military’s towering headquarters.

From his office in the capital, Khartoum, he can see the site where his unit, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, cleared thousands of pro-democracy protesters in a storm of violence that began on June 3.

The heavily armed troops burned tents, raped women and killed dozens of people, some dumped in the Nile, according to numerous accounts from protesters and witnesses.

The blood bath consolidated the vertiginous rise of General Hamdan, widely known as Hemeti, who by most reckonings is now the de facto ruler of Sudan. To many Sudanese he is proof of a depressing reality: Although they ousted one dictator in April, the brutal system he left behind is determined to guard its power.

“We thought this might happen,” said Alaa Salah, 22, the woman dressed in white who led chants from atop a car and brought the world’s attention to Sudan’s revolution. “For years Hemeti killed and burned in Darfur. Now Darfur has come to Khartoum.”
Photo: Alaa Salah during a protest against then-President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in April. Credit Lana H. Haroun

For years, General Hamdan was an enforcer for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the brutal dictator who led Sudan for 30 years. When protesters filled the streets in April, roaring for Mr. al-Bashir’s ouster, the military toppled him.

General Hamdan, claiming to support the revolution, abandoned his patron.

But when the protesters refused to disperse, demanding an immediate transition to civilian rule, the generals refused to budge. With power-sharing talks stalled on June 3, the Rapid Support Forces began their crackdown.

Sudanese doctors put the toll at 118 dead.

With international pressure building, General Hamdan, 45, wants to present himself as Sudan’s savior, not its destroyer.

“If I did not come to this position, the country would be lost,” he told The New York Times in a rare interview with a Western journalist.

But he declined to answer direct questions about accusations that his troops committed atrocities, citing a continuing investigation that, he said, will publicize its findings in the coming days.

“I’m not escaping the questions,” he said. “I’m just waiting for the investigation.”

As he spoke on Thursday, a newly appointed American envoy to Sudan was arriving in Khartoum to press the military to stop attacking civilians.

A day earlier, the United Nations Security Council formally condemned the violence.

The American envoy, Donald Booth, a former ambassador to Sudan, also called for an independent investigation into the June 3 killings, a military withdrawal from Khartoum and an end to the internet blackout that has severed Sudan’s links to the outside world.

General Hamdan, for his part, said his troops had been goaded into action by what he called “unspeakable provocations.”

“One protester pulled out this,” he said, pointing to his crotch, “and waved it at our soldiers. Our vehicle was torn apart in front of us, and they filmed it live. There were many provocations.”

A lanky man with a primary school education, four wives and no formal military training, General Hamdan is enjoying the trappings of his new position.
Photo: Most of the Sudanese fighters in Yemen belong to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a tribal militia previously known as the Janjaweed. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

At his office in the military headquarters, courtiers, advisers and waiters swarmed around him. Golden swords and military medals, awarded to past military leaders, filled the cabinet outside his door.

His fighters lounged in khaki-colored battle wagons at the gates, showing off the weaponry that underpins his authority. Some cleared piles of paving stones from the deserted streets outside, effacing the traces of the exuberant protest that a few short weeks ago enraptured the country.

Sudan is formally under the rule of Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, an older army officer who heads the Military Transitional Council that seized power from Mr. al-Bashir on April 11. But few doubt that, with Khartoum in his grip, General Hamdan is the true power.

Since the rampage on June 3, angry residents have started to refer to General Hamdan’s men as “the Janjaweed,” after the notorious Arab militias that terrorized ethnic African communities in Darfur in the 2000s. The term offends General Hamdan, who rose to prominence by commanding one such militia.

“Janjaweed means a bandit who robs you on the road,” he said. “It’s just propaganda from the opposition.”

It’s certainly true that, under his control, the Rapid Support Forces has evolved into far more than a gun-toting rabble.

With 50,000 fighters by some estimates, the force has been deployed to quash insurgencies across Sudan and to fight for pay in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition.

War has made General Hamdan rich, with interests in gold mining, construction and even a limousine hire company. His patrons include Mohammed bin Salman, the hawkish crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
Photo: An activist speaking to a crowd at the site of the sit-in in front of Sudan’s military headquarters in April. Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Longstanding fears about the dominance of his group, which Mr. al-Bashir groomed for years as a sort of praetorian force, are being realized.

“Army generals and Darfur Arab leaders had repeatedly warned the Bashir regime that the militias were a time bomb,” said Jérôme Tubiana, a researcher and journalist who has covered conflicts in Chad and Sudan for more than 20 years. “Now here we are, and it may be too late to step back.”

For now, the Rapid Support Forces watch over Khartoum like hawks. 

Armed pickup trucks sit on intersections and bridges, or snarl the sandy streets with long convoys manned by fighters brandishing sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Others work from offices. At a five-story villa in the upscale neighborhood of al-Manshiya on the banks of the Blue Nile, uniformed officers sit in air-conditioned offices with computers and printers.

On every floor, the elevator opens to large posters that show a smiling General Hamdan embracing the poor, opening schools or meeting tribal leaders. Surveillance cameras dot the ceilings.

Faced with a barrage of international condemnation, those officers are trying to shape an explanation for the violence on June 3, portraying the raid as a moral crusade against degenerate, armed pro-democracy protesters.

In one office, Gen. Nooreldeen Ahmed, a former Sudanese diplomat, heads the force’s human rights unit. A timetable of lectures on human rights for soldiers sat on his desk. A sign on the office next door read: “Child Protection Unit.”

In the past, the Rapid Support Forces have faced accusations of recruiting child soldiers to fight in Yemen. General Ahmed dismissed such claims and accounts of atrocities by soldiers during the June 3 operation as “fake news.”
Photo: A soldier passes by revolutionary graffiti at the now-empty protest site. Credit Declan Walsh/The New York Times

Their purported proof was available downstairs, where an intelligence officer piled items that he said were confiscated from protesters onto a table: a sword, an old pistol, batons, half-empty bottles of Sudanese moonshine, hashish and a fistful of condoms.

He then summoned five barefoot men in dirty clothes and with downcast eyes to the room — a few of the 300 people they said they had arrested. He did not permit questions.

Sudanese news channels, now under strict military control, pump out a stream of such propaganda every day. Protesters, who relied on the internet to mobilize opinion against Mr. al-Bashir, say they have videos and images that document army killings and beatings. But with the internet shut down, they cannot distribute them.

Dr. Sulaima Sharif, head of the Ahfad Trauma Center in Khartoum, said her staff has treated dozens of traumatized women who were beaten or abused by the Support Forces this month. At least 15 said they had been raped, she said, and many more had been beaten on the genitals by stick-wielding soldiers while in military detention.

The true number of rape victims is likely much higher, she added, because of stigma and cultural sensitivities.

Like many strongmen, General Hamdan claims his ominous reputation is overblown. “People say Hemeti is too powerful and evil,” he said. “But it’s just scaremongering. My power comes from the Sudanese people.”

Still, there are signs that his dominance of Khartoum has stoked resentment and anger inside the regular army, where some officers view him as an impudent upstart.

Those tensions exploded into the open on Thursday, when a spokesman for the Transitional Military Council said it had foiled an apparent takeover plot led by army officers this past week. But dislodging General Hamdan would be difficult, requiring the army to start a civil war on the streets of Khartoum, said a Western official in Khartoum who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the military situation. That seems unlikely for now, he said.

At the top ranks, generals of all stripes are joined by powerful, shared economic interests.

Under Mr. al-Bashir, General Hamdan and the army generals became business tycoons who cornered entire sections of the economy, said Suliman Baldo of the Enough Project, which seeks to end atrocities in African conflict zones.

“This is not just about power; it’s about money,” he said. “Army commanders and Hemeti are up to their necks in corrupt proceeds — that’s why they have zero tolerance for civilian rule in Sudan.”

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VIDEO: RSF leader and TMC VP, Hemeti threatens dismissal of anyone who participates in a general strike and civil disobedience

 HERE is a tweet, posted with a film clip, by Sudanese Translators for Change STC at its Twitter page @SudaneseTc [ https://twitter.com/SudaneseTc ]. If the film footage is genuine, it shows how Hemeti speaks and dictates to crowds. Note, Hemeti is also known as Hemedti or Himedti.
SOURCE: "Sudanese Translators for Change STC @SudaneseTc [ https://twitter.com/SudaneseTc ] "A body of professional activists on the ground and in the diaspora dedicated to transmitting the latest updates on Sudan. Email us at: sudanesetc@gmail.com"
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VIDEO: Himetti, leader of Janjaweed militia -  
HERE is a copy of a tweet, posted with a film clip with English subtitles of a speech showing, quote:
Himetti, leader of janjaweed militia: 
-Thanking countries Saudi, UAE and Egypt
-Has 30K soldiers in Yemen (Using children /reports) 
-"Protecting" europe, arresting millions of illegal migrants in Sudan (referring to Kh process)
 
The tweet, date stamped 23 June 2019, claims to be by Ali Salih @00AliSalah [ https://twitter.com/00AliSalah ] whose Twitter page bio says: Through chaos as it swirls.. | part-time freedom fighter amid the meaninglessness. حرية | سلام | عدالة
Location Khartoum
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ali.salah.ds
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Saturday, June 22, 2019

UK Ambassador in Khartoum Irfan Siddiq confirms internet has been out in Sudan since 03 June 2019

THE internet has been shutdown in Sudan since 3 June 2019. The shutdown by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) in Sudan is costing people and businesses millions of dollars, according to local newspapers.

Unusually, this site Sudan Watch has not received any visitors located in or around Sudan and South Sudan since 3 June.

Here is a copy of a 5 June 2019 tweet by Mr Irfan Siddiq, the British Ambassador in Khartoum, Sudan confirming the internet has been out in Sudan since 3 June:
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Letter from Sudan

As part of the BBC’s series of letters from African journalists, journalist Ms Zeinab Mohammed Salih describes what life is like without the internet for Sudan's revolutionaries. 

Here is a copy of Zeinab's letter published at BBC News online on 17 June 2019, followed by film footage showing BBC Africa editor Mr Fergal Keane in Sudan's capital Khartoum speaking to some people who witnessed the terrible violence in Khartoum. 

Sudan's revolutionaries offline but not silenced
By Zeinab Mohammed Salih (pictured)
Many Sudanese are still in shock after the crackdown by security forces who brutally broke up the crowds at the sit-in outside the military headquarters on 3 June.

The opposition says more than 100 people were killed in the capital, Khartoum, that day - and doctors say 40 of those who died were dumped into the River Nile.

In the wake of the massacre the internet was shut down by ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC), which said it was necessary in the interests of "national security".

In the heady days of the mass protests that prompted the military's ousting of Omar al-Bashir as president - nearly everyone in Khartoum was glued to their phone.

The main body organising the demonstrations - the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) - would make its announcement via its Facebook page, which has more than 800,000 followers.

Thousands used Twitter and Facebook to galvanise their efforts to demand a return to civilian rule.
Image copyright AFP/BBC

Now that the sit-in site - which covered a vast area from the military's HQ to the campus of University of Khartoum and north to the River Nile - is in ashes, there is an overwhelming feeling of isolation.

Not only are the demonstrators no longer able to gather, but they have found it difficult to communicate and share their disappointment, frustration and anger at the turn of events.

'Costing millions'

It also leaves them isolated from the rest of the world - and in the days after the crackdown those in the diaspora were desperate to contact friends and family.

The internet shutdown is costing businesses millions of dollars, according to the local newspapers, something the country can ill afford given that it was the economic problems that first kick-started the protests in December.

For me as a journalist, it has made my working life very difficult. At first I had to send stories to London via text - and these would not always be delivered.

This was until a friend told me about a hotel in downtown Khartoum with a good landline internet connection.

But reaching the hotel is also not easy.

Most roads in Khartoum have been blocked by barricades erected by activists angered by the killings - and people, especially in the first days after the crackdown, had to walk everywhere.

Eerily this was done in complete silence - and in stark contrast to the noise that emanated for two months from the sit-in site.

A few offices also have landline internet connections and my sister walked for three hours to get to hers in Khartoum east to check an urgent email from a US university where she is hoping to study.

Those forced to walk have been seen carrying knives and sticks, especially in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, to protect themselves.

The SPA has now started to send out text messages to mobilise people but not everyone is signed up to these - I have yet to receive any - and some fear that texts are tracked by the authorities.

Most people prefer to turn to old-fashioned phone calls to pass on information.

I have spoken to more friends and contacts in the last few weeks than I have done in a year.

There is still a worry that these conversations may be tracked but it is felt that not everything can be monitored.

Word of mouth

Without the internet, many pro-democracy activists are also cut off from news that they trust.
Image copyright AFP/BBC. Image caption: There is tight security in some areas of the capital

State TV is largely ignored as it the mouthpiece of the military junta.

The Saudi channel Al-Hadath is probably the most watched television station - even though the Saudis are seen as backers of the TMC, it has wide coverage of events in Sudan

And the protest movement is slowly re-galvanising itself - by word of mouth.

Protests are beginning to be held at night in suburbs across the capital and in neighbouring cities.

As more people hear about them, the bigger they become - though witnesses say they are kept to smaller streets because of the presence of the security forces on the main roads.

Nonetheless it shows the resilience of the demonstrators - and their hope that their demands will eventually bear fruit.
Media caption
The BBC's Africa editor Mr Fergal Keane spoke to some of those who witnessed the violence in Khartoum.

To read the original article click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48640939
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