Al Bashir: ‘There is a problem, but not of size reflected by media’

President Omar Al Bashir said he briefed Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al Sisi on the developments in the situation in Sudan, pointing out that certain parties he did not name, are trying to clone the Arab Spring in his country.

Al Bashir, who arrived in Cairo as part of a one-day visit, said there are “negative organisations” currently working to destabilise the region. After meeting with Al Sisi to discuss deepening relations and improving economic ties, the two leaders gave a joint televised address to underline their continuing cooperation.

Al Sisi said he was eager to maintain the close historical ties between the two countries.

The Sudanese president explained that he briefed his Egyptian counterpart on developments of the situation in Sudan, stating: “There is a problem, but not the size reflected by the media.”

Al Bashir went on to say that “there is an attempt to clone the Arab Spring in Sudan with the same attitudes and slogans, but the Sudanese people are conscious enough to thwart the opportunity for anyone who is trying to destabilise.”

Video footage to be reviewed

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is set to review video footage of popular demonstrations calling for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his regime to step down, during which demonstrators have been shot with live rounds, dispersed with tear gas, and detained for using their mobile phones.

NISS official, Maj Gen Ibrahim Mirghani, announced on Sunday that all video clips of the demonstrations will be reviewed to ascertain if the bullets were fired at the demonstrators.

The security official accused the opposition in Sudan and foreign and internal actors of working to incite the demonstrations, using lies and promoting misleading or fabricated images throughout the recent protests.

Fact-finding committee

This follows a statement made on December 31 by President Omar Al Bashir that Minister of Justice, Mohamed Salem, would form a fact-finding committee on recent events in the country.

A statement made by the Sudan Democracy First Group (SDFG) on 20th January called into question the legitimacy of a government commission to investigate and assess losses of what it has called the encroachment and destruction of public properties during the first two days of the demonstrations. The statement called for “an independent international enquiry commission to investigate these latest crimes, in close cooperation with Sudanese human rights organisations, associations of Sudanese lawyers, Sudanese judges and civil society organisations.”

The SDFG also stated that “the Sudanese people do not trust these government commissions and/or the integrity of the judiciary system and the public prosecution.”

Egyptian solidarity with Sudan uprising

47 prominent Egyptian figures from various ideological, cultural, and political backgrounds have affirmed their support for Sudanese anti-regime demonstrations and rights of freedom, peace, and justice. The signatories of the "Solidarity Appeal with the Sudanese People's Intifada" have called upon all the popular and democratic forces in Egypt to express their solidarity with the Sudanese people's movement. The group is made up of professors, journalists, lawyers, poets, artists, and writers.

They have called upon officials in Egypt “to strongly express their commitment to the principles of the relations imposed by history on the Egyptian people's attitude toward the Sudanese people and their right to determine their destiny and choices regardless of official relations.”