East Darfur Governor pledges to secure agricultural season

Sit-ins demanding justice and better basic services continued in various parts of Sudan. The current spate of sit-ins began in Darfur in early July and has since spread across the country. A delegation headed by the Governor of East Darfur, Maj Gen El Muzamil Abubakar visited sit-ins in the state, where he pledged to secure the coming agricultural season.

The protest vigils in Ed Daein, Bahr El Arab, and Yasin in East Darfur entered their second week, demanding security in the regions, the provision of basic services, and the dismissal of officials connected with the former regime.

Governor Abubakar visited the sit-in in Yasin yesterday. The sit-in leadership told the governor that a large number of people in Yasin have not been able to start cultivating their lands for the current agricultural season. They threatened to move their protest to the state capital El Daein if their demands are not met.

The governor responded positively to the demands of the activists, and pledged to secure the current agricultural season, deploy more military forces and collect weapons in the area, dismiss the locality director, dissolve the Peace and Reconciliation Council established by the regime of ousted President Al Bashir, and return misappropriated lands to their owners.

Bahr El Arab

Abubakar also visited the sit-in in Bahr El Arab, which has also entered its second week. The protesters handed the governor a memorandum addressed to the Sudanese Prime Minister, requesting attention to the issues of nomads, such as clear agreements on pasture tracks, pastures, and settlements. They further demanded the formation of a land commission, a transitional justice committee, and the completion of governance structures.

The memorandum also demanded that the government address the dire living conditions in the country by controlling the prices of basic commodities, improving, and extending the roads in the region, and ensuring the continuous flow of fuel and flour, in particular during the rainy season.

Abubakar said in his address to the protesters that the federal government is working on the replacement of officials deployed by the Al Bashir regime, in particular the state governors.

Regarding the shortage of basic commodities in East Darfur, he said that the state government managed to provide foodstuffs, and increase the supply of petrol despite its tasks being limited to the provision of security and services.

He said he would have a meeting with the sit-in committee to hear their demands in detail.

‘Criminal infringement’

However, the governor cautioned that the authorities consider the sit-in in Ed Daein a “criminal infringement” as the protestors are obstructing the locality’s work.

White Nile

The sit-in of Ed Duweim in White Nile state in central Sudan entered its sixth day yesterday. The protestors demand the dismissal of 20 officials, including the locality director, the police chief, and the director of the Water, Electricity, and Land Authority.

They also demand the dissolution of phantom agricultural companies, the restructuring of the police and judicial bodies, and a review of the civil society organisations in White Nile state and legalisation of their work.

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