♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact digest of this week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan.
A compact digest of this week's most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.
The West Darfur Doctors Committee said in a statement that, despite peace slowly returning to the city, the violence has expanded into the Murnei and Goker areas. New bodies have already been found in these areas and they expect more bodies and injured people to be recovered in the coming days.
The committee also explained that they face a shortage of medical personnel and that blood bank stocks are slowly depleting. They also highlighted that the two Kerending camps in El Geneina locality had been looted and that thousands of displaced people are now homeless and lack water, food, and medicine.
The Head of State Security in West Darfur, Maj Gen Osman Haj Mala, said that the events started after a small fight in which a Masalit tribesman stabbed a man from an “Arab tribe” near the Kerending camps. The Darfur Bar Association confirms these events.
Women’s rights defender faces one year in prison
January 14 – 2021 KHARTOUM A human rights and women’s rights defender faces one year of imprisonment over a Facebook video, in which she reported on an incident of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and police officers harassing several women for trying to access to a petrol station.
“Sudanese authorities should urgently drop all charges and effectively investigate the allegations of ill-treatment against female human rights defender Ms. Waad Bahjat”, said the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies in a statement.
As a blogger, Bahjat writes and publishes about Sudanese women’s rights. She is also a member of a Resistance Committee in Ombadda that is active in Omdurman and frequently organises peaceful demonstrations promoting civil rights in Sudan. She was arrested and detained in November last year.
Relations between Sudan and Ethiopia remain tense
January 19 – 2021 EL GEDAREF / KHARTOUM Relations between Sudan and Ethiopia remain tense as attacks by Ethiopian militiamen in eastern Sudan have become commonplace and negotiations on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam continue to face difficulties.
Forces break up Khartoum protest against illegal detention centres
January 18 – 2021 KHARTOUM Protests in central Khartoum against detention centres of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the security apparatus were stopped by “an excessive use of tear gas” by police, one of the protestors told Radio Dabanga.
Sudan and South Sudan sign oil production agreement
January 17 – 2021 KHARTOUM / JUBA In a statement to the press at Khartoum Airport after his return from Juba, the undersecretary at the Ministry of Energy, Hamid Suleiman, announced the signing of a number of agreements with his counterpart in South Sudan.
Four COVID-19 cases confirmed in El Gedaref refugee camp
January 17 – 2021 UM RAKOUBA / KHARTOUM Four COVID-19 cases were confirmed and are in isolation in the Um Rakouba refugee camp in eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref on Tuesday. 63 close contacts have been identified and quarantined.
Violent incidents continue as Darfur court accused of ‘double standards’
January 17 – 2021 ZALINGEI / MISTEREI / TABIT / SARAFAYA / ABU HAMED Two people were killed and four injured in a number of violent incidents last week, and nine displaced people were imprisoned for involvement in violent protests in Central Darfur last year.
Household purchasing power continues to weaken
January 16 – 2021 KHARTOUM While the government is involved with the normalisation of relations with the international community, following USA’s lifting of its economic sanctions against Sudan in December last year, the household purchasing power continues to weaken.
Revolutionary Front tours country to promote Peace Agreement
January 15 – 2021 KHARTOUM / SHEIKAN Delegations of the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance, which signed the Juba Peace Agreement with the government on October 3 last year, are touring the country.
Doctor warns of lack of COVID-19 resources
January 14 – 2021 KHARTOUM In a press conference, Dr Bandar Nouri, a member of the Socialist Doctors Association, spoke of the rise in COVID-19 infections, high death rates, regional disparities, and concerns about the lack of health care facilities and protection for medical staff.
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