SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Arman warns against banned NCP’s attempts to recover power in Sudan

10/4/2022: Sudan Tribune - Arman warns against banned NCP’s attempts to recover power in Sudan

 

Sudan Tribune report that Yasir Arman, a leading member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the armed Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)  warned that the former ruling Islamist National Congress Party (NCP) is seeking to exploit the isolation experienced by the coup leaders to control the army and state again.

 

“The return of the National Congress Party necessarily means the return of wars later, repression and looting of resources,” Arman added, before appealing to the revolution’s forces to make concessions to each other rather than to their opponents, as he said, and to agree on a unified and comprehensive platform for the transitional period.

 

After the coup, Al-Burhan appointed Islamists to Sudan’s state organs including the presidency, intelligence and security services, foreign ministry and judiciary, with Islamists who were dismissed from the civil service and public institutions reinstated, while Islamist businessmen recovered their companies and assets.

SUDAN POLITICAL ALERT: Reporters Without Borders - Sudan : Press freedom still in transition a year after Omar al-Bashir’s removal

10/4/2020: Reporters Without Borders - Sudan : Press freedom still in transition a year after Omar al-Bashir’s removal

 Reporters Without Borders (RWB) urges Sudan’s transitional government to accelerate press freedom, with news control being exercised “more insidiously,” despite the decline of systematic media harassment.

 RWB cite the case of Lubna Abdella, dismissed by al-Sudan al-Dawlia after an investigative story about corruption within the human rights commission.

 Hassan Ahmed Berkia, a member of the Sudanese Journalists Network (SJN), said: “most of the 18 daily newspapers that cover politics continue to be affiliated or close to supporters of the former regime and economic conditions prevent the arrival of new actors.”

 RWB add that the former regime’s interests are defended online by a “Cyber Jihadist Unit,” a troll army created by the intelligence services to spy on the opposition and journalists.

 RSF add that the government has not consulted media outlets and the journalists’ organisations that were most critical of the former regime in the drafting of press freedom legislation.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sudan officials nearly killed in West Kordofan, activist held in Blue Nile

10/4/2020: Radio Dabanga - Sudan officials nearly killed in West Kordofan, activist held in Blue Nile

Radio Dabanga reports that armed men attempted to shoot two members of the Anti-Corruption Committee dead in West Kordofan.

 A vehicle that was carrying Hussein Bakkar, secretary of the Arab Socialist Baath Party in West Kordofan, and lawyer Ibrahim El-Ahmar, both members of the Empowerment Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee, was shot at.

 The Ba’ath Party called the attack “a political assassination, aiming to eliminate West Kordofan state leaders as part of a plan to launch a counter-revolution against change” in the country, holding the General Intelligence Service (GIS) “fully responsible for this crime’s security, social, and political repercussions”, and urged the West Kordofan authorities “to take all measures to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Guardian - My cousin has been killed in Sudan's protests. His death must not be in vain

10/4/19: Guardian – My cousin has been killed in Sudan’s protests. His death must not be in vain, by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Reflecting on the death of her cousin Ma’ab Hanif, who was shot during the protests, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, an Australia-based social advocate, questions what role the Sudanese diaspora can play in the fight against the Sudanese regime.

 Despite yearning to participate in the protests, she questions whether it is “necessarily [her] place,” arguing “it’s perhaps easier to get caught up in the romantic notion of revolution.”

Thus, Abdel-Magied has “like many others in the Sudanese diaspora,” settled for playing a part by amplifying the voices of those on the ground, concluding that while it does not feel enough, all that matters is that Al Bashir steps down.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: New York Times - 'It's Going To Be the Image Of The Revolution'

10/04/19: New York Times – ‘It’s Going To Be the Image Of The Revolution’, by Vanessa Friedman

 Vanessa Friedman’s feature looks at the significance of the photo of “the woman in the white thoub,” which Sudanese-American anti-racism educator Hind Makki said “[is] going to be the image of the revolution.”

 Makki argued that part of the picture’s power derived from the symbolism inherent in the shot, with the earrings symbolising femininity and the white toub reflecting a connection between young Sudanese women to elder Sudanese women who dressed similarly when demonstrating against previous military dictatorships.

 Makki also said that the white toub has been “a democratic garment,” noting that it was worn by many involved in a recent sit-in at Ahfad University for Women/

 The article also notes the comments of Arthur Assaf, a historian at Cambridge University in Britain, who tweeted that the photo is “incredibly frustrating. But it is also very useful.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Guardian - Sudanese woman talks about protest photo that went viral

10/04/19: Guardian – Sudanese woman talks about protest photo that went viral, by Zeinab Mohammed Salih

 The Guardian reports comments from 22-year old architecture student Alaa Salah, “the young woman in a photo that has come to symbolise the protest movement in Sudan.”

 Salah told the Guardian she was happy the image had been viewed so widely, and she is quoted to say “since the beginning of the uprising I have been…participating in the demonstrations because my parents raised me to love our home.”

 Salah said she does not come from a political background, and took to the streets to fight for a better Sudan, adding that: “our country is above any political parties and any sectarian divisions.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: CNN - The 22-year-old activist in that iconic photo says she chanted from atop a car to declare, 'Sudan is for all'

10/04/19: CNN – The 22-year-old activist in that iconic photo says she chanted from atop a car to declare, ‘Sudan is for all’, by Gianluca Mezziofiore and Tamara Qiblawi

In comments to CNN, Alaa Salah said “we need international support, for people to be aware of what’s happening and to understand our demands.” Salah said she wanted to “get (on the car) and speak to the people…speak against racism and tribalism in all its forms,” adding that she wanted wanted to speak on the behalf of the youth, and “come out and say that Sudan is for all.”

 Salah said she would get more excited every time people responded with 'Thawra' ('Revolution'), and that “white robe is a symbol of strength, purity and courage…the women have a big role in these protests."

SUDAN POLITICAL ALERT: UK, US and Norway Troika statement on the current unrest in Sudan

10/4/19: UK, US and Norway Troika statement on the current unrest in Sudan

 The UK, US and Norway call on Sudanese authorities to release all political detainees, stop the use of violence against peaceful protesters, remove all restrictions to freedoms, lift the state of emergency and allow for a credible political dialogue.

 The Troika statement stated that the time has come for Sudan to respond to popular demands for a transition to an inclusive and legitimate political system “in a serious and credible way,” warning that failing to do so risks greater instability.

 The statement concludes by urging both the Sudanese authorities, and the opposition, to “embrace their responsibilities.”