Darfur displaced call for nation-wide protest during election

The Coordination Office of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association has called for a nation-wide boycott of the general election scheduled for 13-15 April.

“We call on all the Sudanese not to cast their vote next week, and to stage mass demonstrations instead, in protest against the rigged election and the brutal regime in Khartoum,” Yagoub Mohamed Abdallah, head of the Coordination Office told Radio Dabanga.

He stressed that the Darfur displaced and refugees are all convinced that unless the regime is overthrown, there will be no stability in Sudan.

“Toppling the National Congress Party government is simply our duty. We have to stop the ongoing attacks, aerial bombardments, and rapes in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile.”

‘Third intifada’

The head of the National Umma Party, El Sadig El Mahdi, also stressed the need for a popular uprising, which, he said, is “the only option left against the tyranny in Sudan”.  

In a statement on Tuesday, El Mahdi accused the Sudanese government of reneging from its prior consent to participate in the preparatory National Dialogue meeting with opposition forces in Addis Ababa on 29 March. He attributed the government's changed position to the momentum it gained by joining the Saudi alliance against Houthi rebels in Yemen on 25 March.

“By refusing to attend the pre-dialogue meeting in the Ethiopian capital, the regime has left us no other option than a broad mobilisation for the Leave! Campaign, and launch a third Sudanese intifada,” El Mahdi said.

Sudan witnessed two popular uprisings after its independence on 1 January 1956. A professional unions’ strike, throughout Sudan, led to the dissolution of Gen. Ibrahim Abboud’s military rule in October 1964. More than a decade later, in March 1985, people took to the streets in protest against the policies of President Jaafar Nimeiri. His regime was ousted on 5 April.