Central Darfur mobilises security ahead of ‘mass protests’

Authorities in Central Darfur have mobilised the security and police forces of the capital Zalingei and surrounding villages, in anticipation of possible “mass protests” scheduled for Friday. Citizens across Sudan have been staging protests for the past two weeks demanding the fall of the regime. Unrest began when President Omar Al Bashir announced he was lifting fuel subsidies in Sudan, which led to rising prices in the country. Residents of Zalingei disclosed they will also demonstrate against the deterioration of the security situation, against the security forces’ continuous persecution of citizens, and the cordoning-off of mosques to prevent people from rallying. One of the protest organisers told Radio Dabanga slogans such as “We went onto the streets against those who burned our country” and “Return, return, October, the National Congress Party is going to Kobar (prison)”, will be chanted on Friday. The Spokesman of the National Congress Party in Central Darfur, Mohamed Abakir Hassan Hamadein, told Radio Dabanga the party does not reject peaceful demonstrations, as long as citizens “follow the rules, and first and foremost apply for permission to demonstrate”. However, he said, the state has not received any applications thus far. Hamadein added that authorities “know about a number of bandits and vandals” among the demonstrators. The state government and its agencies, currently on standby, have taken this information into account to secure each public and private institution in Zalingei. ‘Below zero’ Sheikh Matar Younis Ali Hussein, Professor of interpretation of the Koran at the Grand Mosque of Zalingei, said the security situation in Central Darfur is “below zero”. He was referring to the kidnapping of two elders and a prominent trader in broad daylight, in front of security services members, that took place over the past week. The victims, he said, are Mohamed Saboun, and Mohamed Ahmed Abdallah, also known as Wad Rajab. Merchants of Zalingei have since begun striking and the city’s market has been closed. Wad Rajab has not yet been released. Sheikh Hussein further disclosed that security service motorcyclists persecute citizens “everywhere, under the pretext that they are suspected of having committed crimes”. They also reportedly surround mosques, especially on Fridays, carrying machine guns and vehicles mounted with heavy weapons. “Elements of the security forces should stand for the issues and concerns of the people and not of the ruling National Congress Party,” he said.Hussein appealed to the armed forces and the police not to use weapons on citizens, as “they also belong to the people, as much as their mothers, sisters, relatives, and sons”.‘To the streets’Abdelwahid Mohamed Ahmed el Nour, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement and Vice President of the Sudan Revolutionary Front made an appeal via Radio Dabanga to all Sudanese, and to Darfuris in particular, to demonstrate everywhere on Friday, as a public tribute to the memory of our martyrs and the continuity of our revolution until victory and the radical change of the regime in Khartoum Abdelwahid also called on “those people being exploited by the NCP to stand with their families and direct their weapons against the NCP and not against their parents”. Speaking to Radio Dabanga from the field in South Kordofan, Mohamed el Bileil Eisa Zayid, Vice President of the Justice and Equality Movement and Movement’s Secretary for the Kordofan region, called on the people of Kordofan, in the cities of Barra, el Rahad, el Obeid, el Nahoud, Babanusa, el Fula, Hamrat el Sheikh, and elsewhere “to leave the conflicts in the Kordofan states behind them and move quickly to claim their rights in development and power, against the regime of the NCP”. He appealed to them “to support their brethren” who went out in demonstrations in various other cities and villages in Sudan’s refusing the price hikes, which burrowed across the state. He said that their right to the oil, which amounts to two per cent, is enough for the reconstruction of the Kordofan states and more. He pointed out that “the Kordofan states did not reap any benefit from the regime of the NCP, in spite of the oil, livestock, gum arabic, and peanuts from Kordofan”. He appealed to all people of Kordofan to join demonstrations to topple the regime in Khartoum.File photo Radio Dabanga (protests in Khartoum)Related: ‘Prominent Central Darfur businessman’ abducted in Zalingei (8 October 2013)Demonstrations against price hikes in seven Central Darfur camps (8 October 2013)