Israel normalization deal finds fury and favor in Sudan

By Mohammed Amin in Khartoum

24 October 2020

Sudan on Friday become the third Arab country to normalize ties with Israel this year, following in the footsteps of its Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and creating huge splits among Sudan's political class and its people.

Announcement of the normalization came after Washington had removed Khartoum from the State Department's State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) list, imposed under the rule of the deposed president Omar Al-Bashir.

The agreement had been sealed in a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, and the chairman of Sudan's transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, senior US officials said.

It had been speculated that Sudan could make a deal with Israel in exchange for removal from the US terror designation and the major boost for the struggling Sudanese economy from US financial aid that would follow. However, Trump on Monday had said that Khartoum's removal would take place in exchange for a $335m payment to "US terror victims and families".

In a post to Twitter, the Sovereignty Council said the SST delisting marked "a historic day for Sudan and its glorious revolution". It did not immediately comment on its diplomatic agreement with Israel. 

Netanyahu welcomed the agreement with Sudan and what he called a rapidly expanding "circle of peace" and the start of a "new era".

Anger on the streets

On the streets of Khartoum, reactions were not quite as positive. 

Nazar Ahmed, 23, a member of the revolutionary committee in the city's Elgiraif district, told Middle East Eye that the conditions laid down by the US were "humiliating to the Sudanese revolutionists and the acceptance of Sudan's government was shameful".

Meanwhile, Hiba Osman, 21, from Khartoum, told MEE: "We have to look to the countries that normalized its ties with Israel and what benefits they got. Normalization with Israel is a big illusion sold by Trump to our government."

Speaking in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Palestine Liberation Organization official Wasel Abu Youssef said that the decision "will not shake the Palestinians' faith in their cause and in continuing their struggle".

"Sudan's joining others who normalized ties with the state of the Israeli occupation represents a new stab in the back of the Palestinian people and a betrayal of the just Palestinian cause," he said.

Khartoum, meanwhile, insisted that the deal was still provisional and needed the approval of the country's transitional parliament, led by Burhan.

Incentives for Sudan

According to a joint statement issued after a conference call between Trump, Netanyahu, Hamdok and Burhan, Israel and Sudan would focus on trade relations, led by the agricultural sector.

"The leaders agreed to the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel and to end the state of belligerence between their nations," the statement read.

"The leaders agreed to begin economic and trade relations, with an initial focus on agriculture. The leaders also agreed that delegations would meet in the coming weeks to negotiate agreements of cooperation in those areas as well as in agriculture technology, aviation, migration issues and other areas for the benefit of the two peoples."

The statement also outlined other incentives that had been offered to Khartoum in order to encourage it to sign the deal, with a report disclosing that Washington would pay $750m to Sudan to help salvage its collapsed economy and that aid packages would be provided for two years, including fuel, wheat and medicines.

"The United States will take steps to restore Sudan's sovereign immunity and to engage its international partners to reduce Sudan's debt burdens... The United States and Israel also commit to working with their partners to support the people of Sudan in strengthening their democracy, improving food security, countering terrorism and extremism and tapping into their economic potential."

The normalization agreement sparked fury on social media in Sudan.

Omar Sidahmad, a Sudanese activist, said the deal would strengthen the military's role in politics.

"This is not normalization, but rather an increase in the military junta's grip on executive power and a complete elimination of the civil state," he wrote on Facebook.

"Down with the occupation and those who normalize relations with the occupiers," Muzan Alneed, an activist, said. 

Mohamed Mahmoud, another activist, said the announcement of the deal with Israel was "tantamount to a declaration of war on the core value of all Sudanese revolutions, namely fighting the occupiers and invaders".

Politicians and academics split

Sudan's political parties and academics have been bitterly divided over the normalization move.

The center-left Sudanese Congress Party and the Sudanese National Alliance, together with the Sudan Liberation Movement rebel group, welcomed the deal. The moderate Islamic centrist National Umma Party (NUP) and the Sudanese Communist Party strongly rejected it.

The NUP, led by former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, threatened to stand against Hamdok's government, saying that "unless the government revises its position of normalization with Israel, we will withdraw our political support for it".

Sudanese scholar Suliman Baldo supported the move, saying that the Sudanese people had a right to be welcomed back into the international community.

"They have been eagerly waiting for this moment following a peaceful mass movement that ousted the brutal Bashir regime," he said. 

"The Sudanese people... suffered from the deposed regime's violent extremist actions that landed their nation on the US terror list. A democratic Sudan could be a bulwark of international peace and security in the region."

Magdi el-Gizouli, an academic at the Rift Valley Institute, strongly denounced the move.

"Khartoum has given a free gift to Trump in his election race, and it is a setback from Sudan's historical position of the 'three noes' from [the Khartoum resolution of] 1967 ['no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it']," he said.

Source: Middle East Eye.

Link: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-normalisation-deal-finds-fury-and-favour-sudan.

Russia to establish navy base in Sudan for at least 25 years

December 08, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has signed an agreement with Sudan to establish a navy base in the African nation for at least a quarter century, part of Moscow's efforts to expand its global reach. The deal published Tuesday on the official portal of government documents allows Russia to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The agreement lasts for 25 years and could be automatically extended for 10-year periods if none of the parties objects to it.

The document states that the Russian navy base should “help strengthen peace and stability in the region” and isn’t directed against any third parties. In exchange for Sudan's permission to set up the base, Russia will provide Sudan with weapons and military equipment.

The new agreement is part of Moscow's efforts to restore a regular naval presence in various parts of the globe. The Russian military footprint withered after the 1991 Soviet collapse amid economic woes and military funding shortages, but President Vladimir Putin has moved steadily to rebuild the nation's military might amid tensions with the West.

The Russian navy already has established a major presence in the Mediterranean, thanks to a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, currently the only such facility that Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, allowing President Bashar Assad’s government to reclaim control over most of the country following a devastating civil war. In 2017, Moscow struck a deal with Assad to extend its lease on Tartus for 49 years. After signing the agreement that allows Russia to keep up to 11 warships there, it has moved to modernize and expand the facility.

As part of Putin’s efforts to beef up the military, the Russian navy in recent years has revived the Soviet-era practice of constantly rotating its warships in the Mediterranean.

Sudan braces for up to 200,000 fleeing Ethiopia fighting

November 11, 2020

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain. Already at least 6,000 people have crossed the border, including some wounded in the fighting, and the flow is growing quickly.

Inside the Tigray region, long lines have appeared outside bread shops, and supply-laden trucks are stranded at its borders, the United Nations humanitarian chief in the country told The Associated Press in an interview.

“We want to have humanitarian access as soon as possible,” Sajjad Mohammad Sajid said. “Fuel and food are needed urgently.” Up to 2 million people in Tigray have a “very, very difficult time,” he said late Tuesday, including hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Communications remain almost completely severed with the Tigray region a week after Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a military offensive in response to an alleged attack by regional forces. He insists there will be no negotiations with a regional government he considers illegal until its ruling “clique” is arrested and its well-stocked arsenal is destroyed.

Reports grew of the targeting of ethnic Tigrayans across Ethiopia, the Tigray Communication Affairs Bureau said in a Facebook post. Abiy has warned against ethnic profiling. The administration of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, announced rallies in support of the federal government's measures there and in other cities in the Oromia and Amhara regions Thursday, along with a blood drive for the Ethiopian army.

Britain and the African Union have urged Abiy for an immediate de-escalation as the conflict threatens to destabilize the strategic but vulnerable Horn of Africa region. The United States did not immediately give details on any outreach.

The standoff leaves nearly 900 aid workers in the Tigray region from the U.N. and other groups struggling to contact the outside world with pleas for help. “Nine U.N. agencies, almost 20 NGOs, all depending on two offices” with the means to communicate, Sajid said.

In addition, more than 1,000 people of different nationalities are stuck in the region, he said. That includes tourists. Countries urgently are seeking their evacuation. With airports in Tigray closed, roads blocked, internet service cut off and even banks no longer operating, it “makes our life very difficult in terms of ensuring almost 2 million people receive humanitarian assistance,” Sajid said.

There is no sign of a lull in the fighting that has included multiple airstrikes by federal forces and hundreds of people reported dead on each side. “It looks like, unfortunately, this may not be something which can be resolved by any party in a week or two,” Sajid said. "It looks like it’s going to be a protracted conflict, which is a huge concern from the point of view of protection of civilians.”

Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigray’s regional government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, blame each other for starting the conflict. Each regards the other as illegal. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia's ruling coalition for years before Abiy came to office in 2018 but has since broken away while accusing the prime minister's administration of targeting and marginalizing its officials.

Ethiopia's air force chief, Maj. Gen. Yilma Merdasa, asserted to reporters that forces had destroyed weapons depots, gas stations and other targets with “supreme control of the skies.” He said the airstrikes would continue.

It remains difficult for diplomats, experts and others to verify either side’s claims about the fighting. And now some Ethiopian journalists are being arrested, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said, calling it a “worrying development.”

Experts have compared this to an inter-state conflict, with each side heavily armed and well-trained. The Tigray region has an estimated quarter-million various armed fighters, and of the Ethiopian military's six mechanized divisions, four are based in Tigray. That's a legacy of Ethiopia's long border war with Eritrea, which made peace after Abiy came to power but remains at bitter odds with the TPLF.

The Tigray president on Tuesday accused Eritrea of attacking his region at the request of Ethiopia, saying that "the war has now progressed to a different stage,” he said. Eritrean officials have not responded to requests for comment.

Under growing pressure, at least 6,000 Ethiopian refugees have crossed the now-closed border into Sudan, the state-run SUNA news agency there reported. The agency, citing unidentified officials, said that over 200,000 Ethiopians were expected to cross into Sudan in the coming days.

A Sudanese official urged U.N. agencies to speed up their response in the provinces of Kassala and Qadarif along the Ethiopian border. “More and more people, including wounded from the operations there, are still coming. The numbers are increasing rapidly. There are lots of children and women,” Al-Sir Khalid, the head of the refugee agency in Kassala, told the AP. “They are arriving very tired and exhausted. They are hungry and thirsty since they have walked long dispenses on rugged terrain."

Local authorities are overwhelmed and the situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly, he said.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

SPA opposes new Sudan parliamentary structure

November 7, 2020

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) revealed on Friday the new parliamentary structure under negotiation within the framework of the transitional phase led by the Sovereignty Council and the Ministerial Council, in which power is shared between the army and the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC).

In a statement posted on Facebook, the SPA indicated that it had received an invitation from the Central Council of the FFC to discuss the distribution of the parliamentary quota, explaining: “The new percentages (55 per cent for the FFC, 25 per cent for the Revolutionary Front and 20 per cent for the military component of the Council Sovereignty) contravene the constitutional document.”

The statement emphasized that these new ratios were set “after consultation between the FFC and the military components of the (transitional) Sovereignty Council,” stressing the SPA’s refusal of domination of the FFC’s Central Council over the discussions, which must be shared and collective.

The SPA believes that: “The new ratios will lead to the formation of an ineffective and quarrelsome parliament.”

The constitutional document signed on 17 August 2019, stipulated the formation of a parliament of 300 members. Thus, the FFC was granted two-thirds of the seats, and the rest were distributed to other forces that participated in the popular movement and did not sign the Declaration of Freedom.

On Thursday, the “resistance” committees in Sudan announced their refusal of the FFC’s invitation to discuss the formation of the Legislative Council.

The committees confirmed in a statement: “This call came after the internal arrangements for quotas and distribution of seats were already made, as what happened when forming the Political Councils, selecting the ministers and appointing the governors.”

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201107-spa-opposes-new-sudan-parliamentary-structure/.

Sudan closes border with Ethiopia amid Tigray clashes

November 6, 2020

Sudan’s eastern al-Qadarif state closed its border Friday with Ethiopia amid heightened tensions in the Tigray region, according to local media, Anadolu Agency reports.

Clashes are ongoing between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s ruling party.

Sudan’s army has deployed reinforcements at the border to stop any potential infiltration of fighters into the country.

Ethiopia has accused the TPLF of attacking a military camp in the region. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has ordered the army to counter the attack.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201106-sudan-closes-border-with-ethiopia-amid-tigray-clashes/.

Sudan separates religion from state ending 30 years of Islamic rule

September 7, 2020

Sudan’s transitional government has agreed a deal with rebel groups which ends 30 years of rule under Islamic law and Islam as the official state religion.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM–N), Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, signed the accord on Thursday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

“The state shall not establish an official religion,” says the agreement. “No citizen shall be discriminated against based on their religion. For Sudan to become a democratic country where the rights of all citizens are enshrined, the constitution should be based on the principle of ‘separation of religion and state’, in the absence of which the right to self-determination must be respected.”

The development comes several days after the government agreed a peace deal with a coalition of rebel groups in the Sudan Revolutionary Front in Juba, South Sudan. The final signing of the deal will be scheduled next month, when it is also hoped that the conflicts in the Darfur region and other parts of the country could also come to an end.

The steps taken by the Sudanese authorities are the latest the attempts to do away with three decades of Shari’ah law which was implemented under the rule of Omar Al-Bashir. He was ousted by the military last April following months of anti-government protests in the capital Khartoum. An interim constitution, which excluded any reference to the Shari’ah as the primary source of the law in Sudan was signed last August.

Al-Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup which was orchestrated by Hassan Al-Turabi, leader of the country’s main Islamist movement who helped oversee the strict implementation of Islamic law. Under the new leadership, Sudan is emerging from international isolation, having been on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993, with sanctions imposed until 2017.

It has been reported that, among other reforms, the US has conditioned Sudan’s removal from the list on its normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel. Despite opposition to normalization, it was revealed last month that Israel’s Mossad chief met with a top Sudanese official in the UAE.

While the reforms have been welcomed by human rights campaigners, the Epoch Times reports that they have been criticism publicly by Islamist parties in the country, including the Popular Congress Party (PCP). “It’s clear that this government, which is obeying the West, is going for full secularization of the country, which is against our values and religion,” insisted the PCP.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200907-sudan-separates-religion-from-state-ending-30-years-of-islamic-rule/.

ICC prosecutor urges Sudan to hand over ex-leader to court

June 10, 2020

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called the surrender of Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb to the war crimes tribunal “a pivotal development” for victims awaiting justice and urged Sudan to hand over former president Omar al-Bashir and two others wanted by the court.

Bensouda also called on Abdallah Banda, commander of the Justice and Equality rebel group in Sudan's western Darfur region who remains at large, to follow Kushayb and surrender to the ICC. The ICC said Kushayb, who is charged with 50 crimes against humanity and war crimes in the devastating conflict, surrendered to authorities in a remote corner of northern Central African Republic, near the country’s border with Sudan, and arrived at the court’s detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday evening.

Bensouda told the U.N. Security Council that she hopes Kushayb's surrender sends an unequivocal message that her office will not stop pursuing alleged perpetrators of the world’s worst crimes “no matter how long it takes or the obstacles placed in our path.”

The vast Darfur region was gripped by bloodshed in 2003 when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and neglect.

The government responded with a scorched-earth assault of aerial bombings and unleashed local nomadic Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

The Darfur conflict took place under the three-decade autocratic rule of al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide by the ICC for allegedly masterminding the campaign of attacks. Al-Bashir’s rule ended in April 2019 when the military ousted him after mass street protests by a pro-democracy movement which began in late 2018.

A power-sharing agreement signed in August 2019 between the military and protesters created a joint civilian-military transitional ruling “sovereign council,” but the civilians are struggling to assert authority in the face of the military’s power.

Bensouda said she placed a courtesy call to Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok about the surrender of Kushayb, a senior Janjaweed commander, and was encouraged by their “open and helpful conversation.”

“I remain hopeful that a new chapter of constructive ICC-Sudan engagement rooted in mutual respect and a genuine commitment to bringing justice for the victims of heinous crimes committed in Darfur may be on the horizon,” she said, stressing that a dialogue between her office and the government “is imperative.“

Bensouda noted that al-Bashir is serving a two-year sentence for a conviction relating to financial corruption and that Sudan’s public prosecutor has also reportedly announced additional charges relating to the 1989 coup that brought him to power. She said she is also aware of recent reports that the government anti-corruption body recently confiscated assets valued at $4 billion from al-Bashir, his family and associates.

Bensouda said two other suspects sought by the ICC are reportedly in government custody awaiting charges by the public prosecutor, Abdel Raheem Hussein and Ahmad Harun. She expressed concern at reports that both suspects are ill with the COVID-19 virus, saying “I trust that adequate measures are being taken by the authorities to attend to their health in detention.”

The prosecutor stressed that the 2005 Security Council resolution that referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC and subsequent orders from ICC judges state that “Sudan remains under an international legal duty to surrender all the suspects subject to an ICC arrest warrant to the court without delay.”

Kushayb will be the first Darfur suspect to be tried at the court, and Bensouda thanked all parties involved in his surrender especially the governments of Central African Republic, Chad, France and the Netherlands and the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic.

“A window of opportunity has been opened,” Bensouda said. “We must collectively seize it. Let us work together to finally bring justice to the victims of Darfur.” Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Omer Mohamed Siddig told the council the government read the ICC statement on the surrender of Kushayb, who fled Sudan and went into hiding in the Central African Republic. “Definitely, his trial will indeed be a remedy to the victims,” Siddig said.

But the ambassador gave no indication that the government will hand over the other suspects in its custody to the ICC, telling the council: “Al-Bashir and those implicated in Darfur crimes will face justice and be tried accordingly.”

After the meeting, the 10 Security Council members that are parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC welcomed the surrender, arrest and transfer of Kushayb to the tribunal, calling it “very significant development to advance justice for the victims in Darfur.”

Belgium, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Tunisia and the United Kingdom also renewed their resolve “to stand united against impunity.”

Sudan militia leader in custody on Darfur war crimes charges

June 09, 2020

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — In a significant breakthrough in the pursuit of justice for crimes in Darfur, Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb, who is charged with 50 crimes against humanity and war crimes in the devastating conflict, has been arrested more than 13 years after a warrant was issued for him and transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, authorities said Tuesday.

Kushayb surrendered to authorities in a remote corner of northern Central African Republic, near the country's border with Sudan, International Criminal Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said. He later added that Kushayb arrived at the ICC's detention center Tuesday evening.

In the Darfur conflict, rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

The government responded with a scorched-earth assault of aerial bombings and unleashed militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

The court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda said Kushayb’s surrender and transfer into the court’s custody nearly two decades after the Darfur conflict raged was “a powerful and somber reminder that the victims of atrocity crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan have waited too long to see justice done. The victims in the Darfur situation deserve to finally have their day in court.”

The ICC charged Sudan's ousted former president Omar al-Bashir with genocide for allegedly masterminding the campaign of attacks. Al-Bashir has not been turned over to the court to face trial. Kushayb's detention sets the stage for the court to hold its first trial focused on the Darfur conflict.

Brad Brooks-Rubin, managing director of The Sentry, a watchdog group co-founded by George Clooney, called Kushayb's detention “a modest triumph for the cause of accountability for atrocity crimes in Africa.”

"This represents a glimpse of hope for people in Darfur and around the world who desperately seek justice and security but are too often forgotten,” he said. According to the ICC's arrest warrant, Kushayb is accused of commanding thousands of Janjaweed militia back in 2003-2004 and acting as a go-between for the militia and Sudanese government. The ICC says he “personally participated in some of the attacks against civilians” and allegedly “enlisted fighters, armed, funded and provided food and other supplies to the Janjaweed militia under his command.”

Among offenses listed on his arrest warrant are murder, rape, persecution and pillage. No immediate date was set for Kushayb to appear before the court. At his initial appearance, judges will seek to confirm his identity and that he has read and understood the charges against him and his rights. The next stage will be a preliminary hearing, likely to be months from now, at which prosecutors will attempt to convince judges that their evidence is strong enough to merit putting Kushayb on trial. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

Central African Republic Attorney General Eric Didier Tambo confirmed to The Associated Press that Kushayb had been extradited to The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday after being brought to Bangui the day before. It was not immediately known how long he had been in Central African Republic.

Kushayb and al-Bashir evaded arrest on war crimes charges for more than a decade amid reluctance by other African nations to carry out arrest warrants. Al-Bashir, who is accused of crimes including genocide, traveled abroad freely and it was not until after he was deposed last year that Sudanese authorities agreed to extradite him to The Hague. However, the ex-president has not yet been turned over to the ICC.

Human Rights Watch welcomed Kushayb’s detention. “Today is a landmark day for justice for victims of atrocities committed across Darfur and their families,” said Elise Keppler, associate director of the group’s International Justice Program. “The world watched in horror as Sudan’s government carried out brutal attacks on Darfur civilians, killing, raping, burning and looting villages, starting in 2003. But after 13 years, justice has finally caught up with one major fugitive of the crimes.

Kushayb's arrest underscored the importance of the International Criminal Court, which has faced fierce criticism from the United States. “Justice is not always immediately possible, making the ICC’s role as a permanent court so critical,” she said. “ICC arrest warrants have no expiration date, but do rely on cooperation from states to be enforced.”

Mike Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this story.

Year on, Amnesty urges Sudan deliver on protesters' demands

December 19, 2019

CAIRO (AP) — Amnesty International on Thursday urged Sudan's new transitional government to deliver on the people’s demands for sweeping change as the country marked the first anniversary of mass protests that led to the ouster of former president and longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

A year ago, the first rally was held in Sudan to protest the soaring cost of bread, marking the beginning of a pro-democracy movement that convulsed the large African country. That led, in April, to the extraordinary toppling by the country's military of al-Bashir, and ultimately to the creation of a joint military-civilian Sovereign Council that has committed to rebuilding the country and promises elections in three years.

To mark the anniversary, activists have organized protests in cities across the country. “The transitional authorities must honor the commitments they made to restore the rule of law and protect human rights,” Seif Magango, Amnesty's deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes said in a statement. “The Sudanese people deserve nothing less.”

The global rights group said Sudan's new government has shown positive signs of progress during its fragile transition to democracy, citing the repeal of a decades-old Islamist moral policing law and dissolution of the former ruling party — moves that have helped the Sovereign Council distance itself from al-Bashir’s disgraced rule.

Over the weekend, a court in Sudan convicted al-Bashir of money laundering and corruption, sentencing him to two years in a minimum security lockup. The image of the former dictator in a defendant's cage “sent a strong message, on live TV for all of Sudan to see, that we are on the route toward justice,” said Sarah Abdel-Jaleel, a spokeswoman for the protest organizers.

But in the view of protesters, Abdel-Jaleel added, “al-Bashir has not been held to account.” The deposed ruler is under indictment by the International Criminal Court on far more serious charges of war crimes and genocide linked to his brutal suppression of the insurgency in the western province of Darfur in the early 2000s. The military has refused to extradite him to stand trial in The Hague.

Amnesty also called on the new government to hold security forces accountable for killing scores of people in their efforts to stifle protests against military rule, especially those behind a deadly crackdown on a huge sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, in June. Since last December, nearly 200 protesters have been killed.

The government recently appointed independent judges to oversee investigations into the killings, a major achievement for the protest movement. But even the most high-profile cases have shown no signs of official action, said Amnesty’s Sudan researcher Ahmed Elzobier. Families still find it very difficult to bring cases against security officers, he added.

Sudan is under heavy international and regional pressure to reform. With the economy on the brink, the new government has made it a mission to get Sudan removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism so that it can attract badly needed foreign aid.

Many pro-democracy protesters say the revolution remains unfinished. The poverty, high prices and resource shortages that catalyzed the original uprising continue to fuel frustration. “We’re looking at a deep state that for thirty years has been plagued by corruption and economic crisis,” said Abdel-Jaleel. “But if the nation is given an opportunity to achieve democracy and development and peace, that will be an achievement for the world, not just for Sudan.”

Sudanese rebels are fighting alongside Dignity Operation in Libya's Derna

June 17, 2018

Militants from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) headed by Minni Minnawi are fighting alongside Khalifa Haftar’s forces in the Libyan city of Derna, Sudanese news website Bajnews reported Saturday, confirming that a number of them were killed.

The news website quoted a cousin for one of the militants as saying that his relative was killed with other Sudanese rebels while fighting under Minnawi armed group to support Haftar's forces in Derna.

The website added that the family of the killed militant is currently receiving condolences on his death in Darfur.

The Sudanese Government has accused the armed rebel movements of fighting in Libya in exchange for military equipment and money; however, the SLM movement denied these allegations and confirmed their presence on Sudanese territory.

Source: The Libya Observer.
Link: https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/sudanese-rebels-are-fighting-alongside-dignity-operation-libya%E2%80%99s-derna.

Roads, trains to link Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia

January 31, 2018

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed to establish railways and roads to connect them to each other, Khartoum’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said yesterday.

The presidents of the three countries met on the sidelines of the 28th ordinary AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday where they “agreed to establish railways and roads connecting the three countries,” Ghandour said in a press statement.

They also agreed to establish a joint financial fund to support these projects, he added.

Remarking on the talks regarding Ethiopia’s dam, Ghandour said a joint political, security and technical committee which includes the ministers of foreign affairs and irrigation, as well as directors of the security and intelligence services from the three countries will be formed in order to provide technical studies for the heads of the three countries related to filling the dam’s lake and how it will operate in a way that does not affect Egypt and Sudan’s share of Nile water.

The Sudanese minister said that Khartoum and Cairo have also agreed to form a committee of foreign ministers and security and intelligence chiefs who will meet in Cairo during the next two weeks to discuss all outstanding issues.

“The presidents of the two countries stressed that the relationship between Egypt and Sudan is eternal and must be maintained,” he said.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180131-roads-trains-to-link-sudan-egypt-ethiopia/.

Ambassador: Turkey, Sudan agreements enter into force

January 16, 2018

Turkey’s Ambassador to Khartoum Irfan Neziroglu said yesterday that “the agreements signed between my country and Sudan have entered into force”.

Speaking to the Sudanese Media Center, the Turkish ambassador said as soon as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Sudan the agreements entered into force.

He stressed that his country “wants to rebuild and revitalize the island of Suakin”.

“We have already begun to do so by reconstructing four buildings on this island, including Al-Shafei Mosque, the customs building and other buildings,” he said.

He condemned statements which criticized Turkey’s role in Sudan saying: “I wonder when the presidents of other countries visit Sudan, why do they not get upset? Why were they upset when the Turkish president came?”

During his visit to Sudan in late December, Erdogan offered to reconstruct the island of Suakin. Egyptian and Gulf media have since said this is a threat to regional security.

The two countries signed 21 cooperation agreements in the fields of economy, tourism, infrastructure, military cooperation, agriculture and others during Erdogan’s visit.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180116-ambassador-turkey-sudan-agreements-enter-into-force/.

A Sudan-Turkey alliance promises a new direction for the Muslim world

December 27, 2017

The two-day visit to Khartoum by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to meet his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir this week, marks a new phase in the relationship between the two countries. It also appears to affirm that a consensus on the Palestinian issue may have been given a new lease of life.

The relationship between the two countries dates back 500 years when the Ottoman Emperor Sultan Selim I and his army — equipped with the latest technology of the day, bayonets of gunpowder — crushed the sword-wielding forces of the 300-year Mamluk dynasty, just outside the Syrian city of Aleppo on 24 August 1516. The victory marked the beginning of the Ottoman conquest of Arab lands and led to a period of Islamic world dominance. Inadvertently, it set the stage for yesterday’s historic meeting between the successor to the Ottomans and the inheritor of the ancient African Nilotic Kush civilization.

Clearly, the two men and nations have taken divergent paths when dealing with international and domestic issues, but today Sudan and Turkey appear to be more ideologically matched than at any time in the recent past, and their alliance may prove to be key in applying a new dimension to the Palestine-Israel crisis. More than one hundred years after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and almost 60 years after the independence of the Republic of Sudan, Erdogan and Al-Bashir shook hands firmly on the tarmac at Khartoum International Airport in the middle of guests and dignitaries eager to be part of the historic event.

Just two weeks-ago, the two men were also together in Istanbul with other heads of state at the extraordinary summit called by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to reject US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Fifty years ago, it was Omar Al-Bashir’s predecessors who presided over the Khartoum Summit convened by the Arab League in response to the crushing defeat of Arab armies at the hands of Israel in the Six-Day War. The 1967 summit passed a resolution proclaiming no to peace with the Zionists, no to recognizing the State of Israel and no to negotiations. Sudan’s official position since then has been in support of the Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, which proposes normalized relations with Israel in return for the complete withdrawal of occupation forces from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and most of East Jerusalem, along the 1949 Armistice Line, which was the de facto border in 1967.

Much has also changed on the Arab stance with regard to Palestine, but at Sunday’s news conference the message from Erdogan and Al-Bashir was again another series of emphatic “noes” that seems to represent the view of most other countries around the world: No to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; no to the movement of embassies; and no to the effective takeover of Islam’s third holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. Erdogan reflected — understandably with a sense of satisfaction — on last week’s non-binding UN General Assembly vote declaring Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to be null and void; the vote was 128 in favor of the resolution, with 35 abstentions and only 9 countries voting against. The issue, he said, is one which affects humanity, not just Muslims.

Sources have told MEMO that the two leaders share the view that the issue of Jerusalem could result in a closing of the damaging Sunni and Shia divide. The two leaders have good relations with Tehran. MEMO has been informed that they are persuaded by President Hassan Rouhani’s offer of unity on the Palestinian issue and intend to work towards achieving regional and world peace. The two sides understand that having a unified stance with Iran on the Palestine issue would put them on a collision course with the US insistence that Sunni states should view Tehran as an enemy and a threat to Israel’s interests.

Many people regard Erdogan and Al-Bashir with respect for their pro-Palestine rhetoric and believe that they hold the key to galvanizing global support for the cause. Sudan’s Islamic movement controls up to 80 per cent of the government and regards the question of Jerusalem as a “red line”, as do others. Prominent Muslim scholars refer to Erdogan in religious terms as a “reformer”, the likes of which are promised to appear every hundred years according to some Islamic traditions.

For the moment, though, the priorities of Erdogan and Al-Bashir are to boost bilateral trade, help Turkey establish a foothold in Africa and continue to help each other on domestic issues. Erdogan’s arrival at Khartoum Airport was preceded by that of 200 Turkish businessmen who have signed deals expected to boost the value of bilateral trade to over US$ 10 billion in the next ten years. Sudan is seen as a gateway to Africa helping Turkey to increase its diplomatic, military and economic presence across the continent. The strategy seems to be working; in 2005, Turkey had 12 embassies in African states, whereas it now has 39 major diplomatic missions.

For its part, Turkey has supported Sudan politically over the years in the efforts to get US sanctions lifted. The Turkish President and his government praised Sudan’s defense of the state after the attempted coup on 15 July 2016. Under Ankara’s direction, Sudan has closed schools once run by the FETO Gülen movement and helped to secure the arrest of Turkish nationals suspected of financing the movement’s coup attempt.

The two-day visit ended on note of great optimism, not least for the economic future of the two nations. It also sent out signals of strong leadership that will be central to the direction taken by the Palestinian issue and the Muslim world in general.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171227-a-sudan-turkey-alliance-promises-a-new-direction-for-the-muslim-world/.

Bashir promises supporters a new tribe-free Sudan

October 12, 2016

Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has promised his supporters what he called a “new Sudan without tribalism,” Anadolu has reported. He made the promise in a speech to thousands of his supporters in Green Square, Khartoum. They had gathered to declare their support for the recommendations of the National Dialogue, which was approved on Monday.

Removing the tribal checkbox on official papers is one of the highlights of the recommendations. The dialogue was boycotted by the main opposition factions. According to the president, “From now on, our identity is just Sudanese, with no tribal references as part of it.” He repeated his call to opponents to sign up to the National Dialogue.

Identity is one of the six themes covered by the dialogue sessions. Many Sudanese associate it with the country’s civil wars since its independence from British rule in 1956.

South Sudan, made up mainly of African groups with a majority of Christian and local religions in addition to a Muslim minority, was separated from the north — dominated by Muslim Arabs — in 2011. A national referendum agreed to a peace agreement signed in 2005 to bring an end to decades of devastating civil war.

Bashir launched an initiative for dialogue in early 2014, but its sessions only started this month. Opposition factions boycotted the initiative after Bashir rejected their conditions, especially the release of political detainees and convicts, the abolition of laws restricting freedoms, and an independent mechanism to manage the process, which was held under the president’s chairmanship.

Foreign mediation saw the signing of a road map resulting in negotiations between the government and rebel movements last August, before the talks were suspended for an indefinite period. In the past few days, government officials asserted that they would not get engaged in a new dialogue, and the opposition factions should sign-up only for the recommendations in order to be part of the implementation process. The opposition announced that it does not care about the recommendations and threatened to resort to a popular uprising.

On Tuesday, Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the leader of the National Party, the largest opposition party in the country, said that the opposition factions are “united in their position, and refuse to engage in the regime and its allies’ dialogue.” He stressed that the opposition is committed to a comprehensive dialogue through the road map and the supervision of the African Mechanism, led by the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161012-bashir-promises-supporters-a-new-tribe-free-sudan/.

Sudan to adopt Islamic constitution

By Michel Arseneault
13-10-2011

President Omar al-Bashir says Sudan will go ahead with plans to adopt an entirely Islamic constitution. Bashir had already said that Sudan would adopt an Islamic constitution if the south seceded. But many southerners had hoped he would not go ahead.

Bashir says that 98 per cent of the Sudanese population is Muslim, and that the new constitution should reflect this.

Speaking to students in Khartoum, he said the official religion would be Islam and that Islamic law would be the constitutional source of future legislation.

Under the comprehensive peace agreement signed between north and south, Sudan's constitution recognizes "the cultural and social diversity of the Sudanese people".

But many southerners say they no longer feel welcome in the north since the two separated in July.

The General Secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, says Sudan must recognize religious diversity. Reverend Ramadan Chan Liol adds that it should explicitly protect the non-Muslim minority in the north.

Reverend Chan Liol adds he was surprised to hear Bashir claim that 98 per cent of the population is Muslim because the Sudanese census does not ask citizens to state their religion.

Source: RFI.
Link: http://en.rfi.fr/africa/20111013-sudan-islam.

Sudan's al-Bashir, attending Rwanda summit, defies the ICC

July 16, 2016

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Rwanda on Saturday to attend a summit of African leaders, defying an international warrant for his arrest after public assurances from Rwandan leaders that he would not be arrested.

The African Union summit on Sunday is expected to discuss the continent's uneasy relationship with the International Criminal Court, which some say unfairly targets Africans. Ahead of the summit, some African countries renewed efforts to quit the ICC en masse despite the opposition of some countries like Botswana. Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast have been pushing back as well in recent days.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has led growing criticism of the ICC, calling it "useless" during his inauguration in May, an event that al-Bashir attended. Some countries want a separate African court with jurisdiction over rights abuses.

"Withdrawal from ICC is entirely within the sovereignty of a particular state," Joseph Chilengi, an AU official, told reporters Saturday. Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC for alleged atrocities in the country's Darfur region.

He should be at the ICC answering to charges that include genocide, "not persisting in this game of cat-and-mouse with the court," Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch said Saturday night. Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said this week that Rwanda would not arrest al-Bashir.

"Africa doesn't support criminals, but when justice is involved with a lot of politics we take a pause to separate the two," Mushikiwabo told reporters. The African Union summit also will discuss South Sudan, where clashing army factions raised concerns of a return to civil war. The chaos threatens a peace deal signed last August between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, who is attending the summit, has called for an arms embargo.

Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.

Khartoum calls on UN to bring opposition to negotiating table

June 11, 2016

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour has called on the UN to persuade armed opposition and political movements to accept a national agreement roadmap ahead of achieving comprehensive peace in the country, Quds Press reported on Friday.

“Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,” said the minister, “renewed the UN’s support to the African roadmap which was signed by the Sudanese government and the African mediation and praised Sudan’s role in achieving peace in South Sudan.”

Ghandour met with Ban in New York on Thursday, where he briefed the UN chief on the details of the national dialogue and the efforts being conducted to include the opposition. He thanked the UN for welcoming the acceptance by the Sudanese government of the African roadmap.

Meanwhile, Ban announced his support for the roadmap to achieve peace in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, and expressed his hope that all parties will take part in the national dialogue. The secretary general also called on the Sudanese government to remove all obstacles which face the joint peacekeeping mission – UNAMID – operating in Darfur.

However, Ghandour called on the UN to withdraw UNAMID based on the exit strategy for the international force, the meetings of the team tasked to follow up this issue and the prevailing peace in the area.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160611-khartoum-calls-on-un-to-bring-opposition-to-negotiating-table/.

Sudan: Students Torch Khartoum University Mosque

10 May 2016

Khartoum / Kosti — Unrest at the University of Khartoum continued at the weekend as students torched a building where others were staying after they were forced to move out their dormitories. Protesting students in White Nile state were dispersed by police and security agents.

On Sunday evening, student supporters of Sudan's ruling party burned the mosque of the Faculty of Education in the university in Omdurman. The property of students who were staying there after expulsion from the university's boarding houses was destroyed.

A witness told Radio Dabanga that the attacking students were backed by security agents, and beat the other students with sticks and machetes.

"The security service continued to lay siege on the buildings of the Faculty of Education until Monday morning," the witness said, adding that the university administration has decided to close the faculty indefinitely.

The University of Khartoum has been the scene of widespread student unrest for several weeks, and classes have been suspended. One of the main student grievances is a decision by the university administration to sell-off faculty buildings and move university facilities to the outskirts of Khartoum 'to make way for tourist attractions'.

Arrests

Mohamed El Tayeb El Gurashi is the father of one of the students who has been dismissed by the University of Khartoum and is now detained with eight other students. From the office of lawyer Nabil Adeeb's in Khartoum, he told Radio Dabanga that he holds the President and Chancellor of the University of Khartoum responsible for the students' safety.

"The arrest and dismissal of students is illegal," El Gurashi said, demanding the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to immediately release them. "All liberal students, political, civil and legal organisations have to put pressure on the regime in order to release them."

Last week, Nabil Adeeb's office was raided by NISS agents, who arrested several students who were suspended from Khartoum University as they consulted with their lawyer. The NISS has stressed that it "will not allow the transfer of conflict and violence to the capital Khartoum".

Two students were killed in separate incidents in April, at Omdurman's Ahlia University and at the University of Kordofan, in which government security forces and armed students used live ammunition to break up protests at the university campuses.

White Nile

A student strike at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Imam El Mahdi in Kosti, White Nile state, resulted in the serious injury of five students and detention of dozens of others on Sunday.

A student at the faculty told Radio Dabanga that NISS and police forces entered the campus to confront student protesters with beatings and teargas, which caused the injuries to five students. They were transferred to the hospital.

Some 40 others were detained by the NISS, and released on Monday. The agents chased students to their boarding houses and detained a number of them, several protesters told this station.

They said that the protesters will continue their strike from studying until all their demands are met. Since the beginning of April, the students have been demanding amendments to the regulations prepared by the university administration earlier last year.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201605101378.html.

Sudan: Student Protests Ripple Across Sudan

21 April 2016

Khartoum — Students at universities across Sudan have taken to the streets and campuses in protest against the murder of a student at the University of Kordofan on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, protests and demonstrations broke out at the universities of Khartoum, as well as several other universities including Port Sudan in Red Sea state, the University of Kordofan in El Obeyed, and the University of Dongola in the Northern State.

As reported by Radio Dabanga this week, Abu Bakr Hashim, who studied in the first level at the University of Kordofan Faculty of Engineering in El Obeid, was shot dead when students who support the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) fired at members of the United Students Opposition, who were on their way to deliver their student council election list to the university center.

Kordofan

A demonstration by Kordofan University students toured the streets of El Obeid City, monitored closely by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and police.

On Wednesday the Red Sea University students in Port Sudan condemned the killing of student Hashim of the University of Kordofan, and demanded the return of their own students union that has been stopped for years.

Red sea

A student from the Red Sea University told Radio Dabanga that the police broke up a peaceful demonstration at the city market by using batons and tear gas.

One student was seriously injured and taken to Port Sudan hospital for treatment. The police and NISS forces chased the students back to the university campus.

Also on Wednesday, the NISS detained four students from the front of a building complex at the University of Khartoum after beating them; thus bringing the number of student detainees to nine.

Khartoum

A student from the University of Khartoum told Radio Dabanga that the NISS gents attacked the students with batons after they held a vigil at University Avenue and the medical complex demanding the release of the detainees and refusing the sale or transfer of the university headquarters.

He explained that the NISS closed all entrances leading from dormitories to the university and have besieged the university buildings. The four new detainees include Saiyed Mohamed Zain and three other students whose names have not been identified.

White Nile State

A sit-in by sit -in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Imam El Mahdi in Kosti in White Nile State has entered its third week. The students are demanding amendments to the regulations prepared by the university administration earlier last year.

A student told Radio Dabanga the Governor of White Nile state visited the Faculty and asked them to end the sit-in, promising to resolve the problem.

He added that the students are demanding a timetable for the amendments to the regulations and the need to involve students in drafting the new regulations as stipulated in the Constitution of the university.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201604220407.html.

Sudan: Student Strike Into Third Day in Sudan's Capital

20 April 2016

Khartoum — The strike by the students of the University of Khartoum, in protest against a government decision to move faculties to the outskirts of the city, is now into its third consecutive day. All classes have been suspended as lecturers and professors have joined in solidarity with the students.

The strikers demand the release of the students who were detained during the demonstrations over the past week. They also continue to protest the sale of university premises, ostensibly "to make way for tourist attractions".

A student from the University of Khartoum told Radio Dabanga that classes have been halted at all the faculties because of the sit-in and explained that university professors have taken-up the strike in solidarity with the students.

The student added that on Tuesday, in the medical complex, students carried out a sit-in inside the compound buildings demanding the release of the detained students.

He said that on Monday, the security forces arrested students Sharafuldin Adam and Mohammed Saleh Abdul Raheem and took them to an unknown destination.

He added that the arrest of the students came against the backdrop of the Darfuri students association organizing of political gathering at the University of El Nilain to speak out about the current political situation in Darfur.

The Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) in Khartoum announced that the head of the party in Khartoum North Locality, Abdul Rahman Mahdi, was subjected to an attempted attack by an unidentified vehicle in Shambat on Monday evening. In a statement on Tuesday. The SCP explained that the attempted attack was by a truck without plates. The Party considered that as "representing a new phase in the authorities' confrontation with the opposition in the country".

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201604210467.html.