♦ This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan’s news highlights from Darfur and Sudan
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's news highlights from Darfur and Sudan
♦ Al Bashir declares State of Emergency, restrictive orders, dissolves govt
February 26 – 2019 KHARTOUM Yesterday, the Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir issued four Emergency Orders that further restrict public and press freedoms such as gatherings, in addition to handling of foreign exchange and selling of fuel. The four emergency orders will also add penalties to anyone who violates them, in an attempt to halt the popular protests against the regime of Al Bashir that started in December.
The announcement follows Al Bashir’s declaration of a State of Emergency on Friday, in which he dissolved the national Council of Ministers, relieved the Walis (state governors) and dissolved state governments, appointing high-ranking police and military officers as the Walis.
According to the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Bintou Keita, who briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Darfur on Monday, the impact of the recent developments in Khartoum on the dynamics related to the peace process in Darfur “is yet to be assessed”.
In a reaction on the Emergency Orders, opposition and civil society groups say that Sudanese people intend to stand up for their human rights during large-scale demonstrations on Thursday February 28.
♦ Demands against Port Sudan privatisation grow
February 24 – 2019 PORT SUDAN Cargo port workers in Port Sudan gathered in front of the harbour's southern and northern ports in the past week, to escalate their demands against the privatisation agreement which the management has struck with a Philippine company. For several days they staged strikes to demand the cancellation of the privatisation contract signed with International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI).
“Hundreds of workers in the ports went out in a unified march that toured all sections of the ports,” an eyewitness told Radio Dabanga. Starting January, the strikes have paralysed the southern port. The Committee Against Privatisation and opponents fear that ICTSI will absorb over 1,000 jobs in the port and will drop the services that the port previously provided to port workers, including health centres and schools. The Ministry of Transport has confirmed that there will be no displacement or damage to the workers.
ICTSI was already granted management rights of the container terminal at the southern port for four years, however, many workers reject the new contract because they claim ICTSI has been operating there in previous years without making any developments.
More news from Radio Dabanga:
February 26 – 2019 KHARTOUM Two journalists are expected to appear in court today for news coverage of the protest actions in Khartoum. A newspaper editor-in-chief…
February 26 – 2019 NEW YORK The Darfur peace process has “once again” come to a standstill in the context of the ongoing demonstrations against the economic and political…
February 25 – 2019 KHARTOUM Banning and censorship of newspapers over the weekend signals that media is the “first to pay the price” for the State of Emergency in Sudan…
February 24 – 2019 KHARTOUM / WAD MADANI / EL GEZIRA The Sudanese Doctors’ Central Committee reported that 13 demonstrators in Khartoum and Wad Madani were injured during…
February 22 – 2019 TAWILA Nine women were wounded in an attack by armed men in separate incidents in Tawila locality on Thursday…
February 22 – 2019 JEBEL MARRA / CENTRAL DARFUR The Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) has reported an increase in the cases of pneumonia…
February 20 – 2019 SUDAN A number of districts of the Sudan capital Khartoum, and several other cites and towns across Sudan, witnessed evening demonstrations on Monday…
February 20 – 2019 KHARTOUM Dr Amin Omer, former assistant to the President of Sudan, the government’s chief negotiator for the Darfur peace talks, and prominent leader…
February 20 – 2019 KHARTOUM The Sudanese Journalists’ Network said that 79 journalists have been arrested since December, including some who have spent a month or more…
February 20 – 2019 ZALINGEI / TAWILA Militiamen of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) released 16 displaced people and 19 other members of the public who were taken hostage…
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