SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Armed groups attack Fata Borno protest camp in Darfur, kill 13

13/7/2020: Multiple sources - Armed groups attack Fata Borno protest camp in Darfur, kill 13

• AP, by Samy Magdy

• Radio Dabanga

 “Government-sanctioned armed groups” fatally dispersed the sit-in at Fata Borno camp for the displaced, in Kutum, North Darfur, killing at least 13 protesters and wounding 11 others according to AP sources.

 Radio Dabanga reported that militiamen riding on motorcycles torched Fata Borno camp markets. Radio Dabanga’s sources said that a force of peacekeepers from the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) reached the area but did not interfere.

 In addition, the displaced has warned North Darfur’s Security Committee of a pending attack, but were not protected.

 According to the security committee, the evening before the attack, Kutum protesters burned a police station. 

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sit-ins spread in Sudan

13/7/2020: Radio Dabanga - Sit-ins spread in Sudan

 Radio Dabanga report that new sit-ins have spread across Sudan, with protesters from west Sudan’s Darfur region to East Sudan’s Kassala, demanding security, rights, freedoms, justice, better living conditions. Protesters also expressed displeasure difficult agricultural conditions, the absence of roads, and the continued presence of officials affiliated to Omar al-Bashir’s ousted regime.

 The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) said the protests are “a model for the reconstruction of Sudan at local and national levels,” adding that peaceful sit-ins can be further developed through conferences, workshops, focus groups, interviews, and employing media to display issues.

 The DBA called for permanent dialogue mechanisms, engagement with the authorities in Khartoum and the states, and the development of medium to long-term strategic plans which outlines proposals for solutions, that are to be implemented by the authorities and those responsible for organising the sit-ins.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sudan Justice Minister clarifies repeal of strict laws

13/7/2020: Radio Dabanga - Sudan Justice Minister clarifies repeal of strict laws

 Radio Dabanga report on Justice Minister Nasreldin Abdelbari’s clarification of Sudan’s legal reforms.

 Abdelbari said the amendments are linked to “agreements made with the rebel movements during the peace talks in Juba,” calling on Sudanese people and political parties to broadly discuss “challenging” old laws.

 Abdelbari said that issues around the alcohol trade “will be left to discussions about Sudan’s future constitution,” pointing to the prospect of alcohol being restricted again “if that is what the Sudanese want.”

 Abdelbari said apostasy was abolished as a capital offence because “it threatens social peace,” and it has been replaced with another article that criminalises apostasy but demands that prosecutors protect those accused of apostasy.

 Abdelbari stressed “the urgent need to establish freedoms and ensure the Rule of Law without discrimination” in saying the amendments aim to align Sudan’s criminal laws with the 2019 Constitutional Declaration.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: New York Times - Sudan Will Scrap Alcohol and Apostasy Laws, and End Flogging

13/7/2020: New York Times - Sudan Will Scrap Alcohol and Apostasy Laws, and End Flogging, by Abdi Latif Dahir

 The New York Times (NYT) report that Sudan will allow non-Muslims to consume alcohol, “scrap its apostasy law” and abolish the use of public flogging as a punishment as the transitional government “eases decades of strict Islamist policies.”

 David Kiwuwa, director of the Centre for Advanced International Studies at the University of Nottingham said the repeal is “seen as broadening personal freedoms and is a sharp departure from the previous prohibitive regime.”

 Ahmed Soliman, a research fellow at British foreign-policy research institute Chatham House, said that while the transitional government has “demonstrated its intent to keep equal citizenship at the forefront of the political transition, including by addressing issues of gender and religious freedoms,” more needs to be done to change long-held cultural practices, citing “division” over the reforms and a “strong backlash by conservative religious and political figures who see the changes as an attack on Islam and morality.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sit-ins spread in Sudan

13/7/2020: Radio Dabanga - Sit-ins spread in Sudan

Radio Dabanga report that new sit-ins have spread across Sudan, with protesters from west Sudan’s Darfur region to East Sudan’s Kassala, demanding security, rights, freedoms, justice, better living conditions. Protesters also expressed displeasure difficult agricultural conditions, the absence of roads, and the continued presence of officials affiliated to Omar al-Bashir’s ousted regime.

 The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) said the protests are “a model for the reconstruction of Sudan at local and national levels,” adding that peaceful sit-ins can be further developed through conferences, workshops, focus groups, interviews, and employing media to display issues.

 The DBA called for permanent dialogue mechanisms, engagement with the authorities in Khartoum and the states, and the development of medium to long-term strategic plans which outlines proposals for solutions, that are to be implemented by the authorities and those responsible for organising the sit-ins.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudan activists call for ‘justice’ on the 40 day anniversary of the June 3 massacre

13/7/19: Multiple sources - Sudan activists call for ‘justice’ on the 40 day anniversary of the June 3 massacre

• Guardian, by Zeinab Mohammed Salih and Peter Beumont

• AP, by Samy Magdy and Fay Abuelgasim

• AFP

• Reuters, by Nadine Awadalla and Khalid Abdelaziz

 Tens of thousands of Sudanese flooded the streets of Khartoum and other cities to mark the 40th day since the June 3 massacre, in The “Justice First” marches called by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association.

 Tawasol Noury told the Guardian that she had marched to remind both Sudan’s military rulers and the leadership of the pro-democracy movement “about the blood of the martyrs,” adding that “we don’t want the Declaration of Freedom and Change to forget so we are here to remind them that justice for the martyrs hasn’t come yet.”

 Reuters witnessed 6 ehicles belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), each carrying about six men armed with assault rifles and sticks, driving as protesters chanted “Civilian!” at them.

 In Burri, they chanted “Blood for blood, even if (we get) civilian rule!”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Washington Post - After another attempted coup, what’s next for Sudan?

13/7/19: Washington Post - After another attempted coup, what’s next for Sudan?, by Richmond Danson

 Richmond Danson calls for Sudanese protesters to continue mobilising to prevent the military from dominating the power-sharing transition deal, of which “many potential pitfalls remain.”

 Danson predicts that the military will continue to exploit the absence of a shared ideological foundation within Sudan’s broad civilian opposition. Danson argues that military’s leadership of the sovereign council for the first 21 months “gives them a critical advantage,” as they can make laws to protect themselves, set a precedent for the civilian government to follow and delay the establishment of a legislative council that would prevent the adoption of rules favouring military candidates.

 Danson concludes by citing the establishment of an independent judiciary and the implementation of transitional justice as key indicators of whether the agreement will succeed.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: AFP - Sudan's desert nomads untouched by Bashir's downfall

13/7/19: AFP - Sudan's desert nomads untouched by Bashir's downfall

 AFP’s feature spoke to Sudanese Arab nomadic camel traders “oblivious” to Sudan’s uprising, as well as those who supported Omar Al Bashir’s war in Darfur.

 “We have all that we need in the desert… we don't care about politics. I don't even go to Khartoum.” said Ali Habiballah from El Molih, a vast swathe of desert about 100 kilometres west of Khartoum.

 "The Arabs would be happy if Bashir was still around… I want Bashir, our father, to be back " said Ali Salim Hamid, from North Kordofan.

 Hamid also denied the RSF’s role in the June 3 massacred and credited Himedti for protecting camel traders from thieves in the desert.

 Hamid said whoever forms the new administration in Sudan “is of little importance to us as long as it does not interfere in our business.”