SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - Sudanese women at forefront of protests after years of oppression

30/4/19: Reuters – Sudanese women at forefront of protests after years of oppression, by Michael Georgy

 Michael Georgy's feature peace spoke to Sudanese women, "who suffered the most under [Omar Al] Bashir’s dictatorship...now a driving force at a sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense."

 Mervat Al Neel, one of two women on a 10-member negotiating committee, said that "women want to take charge," adding that the generals she is negotiating with are "here in a position of power because of [women].”

 Al Rashid Saeed, spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which organised the demonstrations, said that "women’s participation in the protests was a decisive factor in overthrowing Bashir."

 Activist Hadia Hassaballa said that “the primary problem with Bashir’s Islamic rule is that political Islam treats women as second-class citizens.”  Hassaballa also expressed dissatisfaction about the number of women represented in the negotiating committee, adding that it does not reflect the "reality of [women's] participation in the revolution and their numbers in the sit-in."