SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sudan declares health emergency to combat coronavirus

17/3/2020: Radio Dabanga - Sudan declares health emergency to combat coronavirus

 Radio Dabanga reports that Sudan’s Security and Defence Council chaired by the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdelfattah El Burhan, declared a state of health emergency to counter the emerging coronavirus.

 Spokesman of the Sovereign Council, Mohamed El Faki, announced that a higher committee was formed to adopt measures required to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sudan. El Faki said the committee issued a decision to close all airports, ports, and land crossings, with the exception of trips that carry aid and technical and humanitarian support, and scheduled air cargo flights.

 He stressed that the committee has adopted all necessary measures to receive citizens stranded at land crossings, and to prepare places for them to spend the quarantine period.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: World Politics Review - Why Sudan’s Democratic Transition Depends on Stability in Darfur

17/3/2020: World Politics Review - Why Sudan’s Democratic Transition Depends on Stability in Darfur, by Wibke Hansen and Volker Perthes

 Wibke Hansen, the lead analyst at the Center for International Peace and Volker Perthes, the director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, call on the UN Security Council to extend a residual peacekeeping presence in Jebel Marra in Darfur.

 Arguing that Sudan’s democratic transition requires a commitment to upholding security in Darfur, Hansen and Perthes note the sentiments of citizens of Jebel Marra region, who “underlined that [political changes in Khartoum] had not yet reached them,” as they are dealing with the same armed actors as before Omar al-Bashir’s ouster.