Journalist: ‘Khartoum now a military barracks’

A heavy military presence on all roads and squared in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, has “turned the city into a military barracks since Wednesday morning,” in anticipation of the November 17 anti-coup marches, Feisal El Bagir, General Coordinator of the Journalists Association for Human Rights (JAHR) has told Radio Dabanga.

El Bagir cautioned that goal of the ongoing blackout of communications, the internet, and text messages by the junta, “is to isolate the Sudan from the world,” and “to keep the general [international] media in darkness”.

He referred to the extensive use of live ammunition and tear gas on peaceful demonstrators, which is now known to have led to at least 15 deaths and hundreds of injuries, and said that the military forces attacked people even within their homes.

On the role of journalists, El Bagir said that the Joint Press groups Committee submitted a memorandum to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan on Tuesday, which included a monitoring of all violations.

He said that journalists in Sudan have raised the slogan ‘Resistance Journalism’ since the military coup, explaining that journalists are working in difficult conditions with the internet blackout, telephone communications and text messages cut off.

He referred to the active role of citizen journalists, praising people who challenge and circumvent the communications blackout through innovative ways.