SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Egyptian initiative to break Sudan political impasse

4/1/2023: Radio Dabanga - Egyptian initiative to break Sudan political impasse

Radio Dabanga report on the reactions of political analyst Bakri al-Jak to the “five important but thorny issues” that must be discussed before phase two of the framework agreement: justice, security sector reform, dismantling the former regime, the Juba Peace Agreement and eastern Sudan.

Al-Jak warned that the agreement may bring about “a lame government” instead of political stability.

On security sector reform, al-Jak said that the nature of the state has to be defined first, after which the role of the military and security institutions can be discussed, followed by a social contract and a joint vision for the future of Sudan.

Al-Jak also ruled out he implementation of the security arrangements stipulated in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement. “This agreement is not enforceable for reasons related to financial capabilities for demobilisation and the lack of an integrated political vision of the security arrangements,” he said.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Democratic Bloc welcomes Egyptian proposal for meeting with Sudan’s framework agreement signatories

4/1/2023: Sudan Tribune - Democratic Bloc welcomes Egyptian proposal for meeting with Sudan’s framework agreement signatories

Sudan Tribune report that an Egyptian proposal to hold a meeting between the signatories and non-signatories of the framework agreement was endorsed by Jibril Ibrahim - Sudan’s finance minister, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the deputy head of the pro-coup Democratic Bloc faction of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC-DB).

Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune that the Egyptian proposal is a valid alternative to the framework agreement. He criticised the framework agreement by saying that “it contains fundamental flaws and resulted from secret meetings that brought together two parties under international pressure.”

Ibrahim also objected to the powers the framework agreement grants to its signatories, warning that it would lead to a politicised judicial apparatus and that forming an internal security apparatus despite the reservations of the signatories about the General Intelligence Service would create a new security apparatus to recruit the “militias” of political parties.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sudan 2021 budget: More money for army, less for education and health care

4/1/2021: Radio Dabanga - Sudan 2021 budget: More money for army, less for education and health care

 Radio Dabanga report on the leaked 2021 National Budget which suggests that the Sudanese government plans to increase the budget for the military and security forces, while decreasing healthcare and education.

The Finance Ministry said the 2021 National Budget is “the result of wide consultations and meetings between economists and politicians from various backgrounds with finance officials, ministries, institutions, budget experts, and representatives of the Resistance Committees, the FFC, and the Peace Partners”.

 However, Dr Hasan Bashir, Economics Professor at al-Nilein University said he expects Sudanese to continue living in dire conditions in 2021, with the budget “showing an imbalance in the expenditure”, citing increased expenses for the ministries of Defence and Interior Affairs, and the Rapid Support Forces.

 Bashir considers it “a major problem” that revenues from companies owned by military forces are not mentioned in the 2021 National Budget.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Protest against 500 per cent increase of Sudan power fees

4/1/2021: Radio Dabanga - Protest against 500 per cent increase of Sudan power fees

 Radio Dabanga report that the Economic Committee of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) demand the immediate cancellation of the “unjustified” and “illegal” 500% increase of electricity tariffs, which aim to “lift electricity subsidies altogether”.

 The “inflated power fees will lead to an increase in the prices of many goods and services, and negatively affect agricultural and industrial production and exports,” the FFC warns, adding that “this large increase in the electricity fees is implemented illegally, as it is not included in the 2021 National Budget, that has not been passed yet.”

 The committee also objected to “contradictory figures” concerning electricity subsides, with different sums given in the Budget and by Ministry of Energy.

 It further considers the increase in the power tariffs a violation of the September 2020 National Economic Conference – which called for delaying lifting subsidies until necessary economic reforms including direct cash support are conducted.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AP – Sudanese activists say clashes kill 9 in eastern port city

4/1/2020: AP – Sudanese activists say clashes kill 9 in eastern port city, by Samy Magdy

AP reports that tribal clashes in Port Sudan killed at least nine people over the past two days, in another bout of violence that threatens to derail Sudanese peace talks.

According to the Sudan Doctors Committee, around 100 others were wounded in fighting the grew out of a fist-fight that ended with a person being stabbed to death.

Officials said security forces were deployed in the city to help contain the clashes between the Bani Amer tribe and the displaced Nuba tribe.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: AP – Sudan’s women pursue soccer dream, challenging conservatives

4/1/2020: AP – Sudan’s women pursue soccer dream, challenging conservatives, by Mariam Fam

AP’s feature piece covers the controversy around the development of women’s football in Sudan.

British academic Willow Berridge said the opposition to the women’s football league by ultraconservative Islamist preacher Abdelhay Yousif is “an effort to undermine the new government by stimulating a ‘moral panic’,” adding it is “partly [inspired by] his religious views, [but] predominantly a patriarchal form of gender politics”

Taghreed Awoda, a feminist and administrator with one of the women’s teams said the league dismantles many of the main pillars underpinning al-Bashir’s regime, although laws targeting women’s freedom “disproportionately targeted the poor and less educated, and anti-regime activists.:

Hala Al Karib, regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa said many laws discriminating against women remain in Sudan.

A Sudanese woman told AP that she would not allow her daughters to play sports in open areas, stressing the importance of moderate clothing.