North Kordofan: Sacked Water Corp workers demand reinstatement

Workers who were dismissed from the Water Corporation in North Kordofan by the former governor, Ahmed Haroun, have raised a memorandum to the new acting governor demanding that they be reinstated, and that Haroun be held legally accountable.

El Tahir Abdelrahman, one of the 497 who were dismissed, said that the former governor dismissed them from service unlawfully and unjustly without compensating them like the rest of the workers according to the Labour Law.

He said that they submitted a memorandum to acting governor, Maj Gen El Mardi Siddig, on Wednesday last week demanding that they be returned to service and compensated for the number of months they have stayed away from service, in addition to a complaint they filed against the director of the state service who caused their dismissal, demanding he be brought to civil and criminal justice.

As reported previously by Radio Dabanga, the acting governor of North Kordofan has issued decisions whereby he responded to the demands of the Forces of Freedom and Change.

Lawyer Osman Hasan said that the forces of Freedom and Change (FCC) in the state held a meeting with the governor, Maj Gen El Mardi Siddig, in the capital El Obeid on Sunday that resulted in several decisions, including the suspension of fees for the Renaissance Water Basin of North Kordofan immediately, the dissolution of the state media committee and popular committees at the state level, and freezing of the trade unions in the state. The unions used to be established and controlled by the state government.

The acting governor of North Kordofan also issued a decision to freeze the collection of fees for the planned Renaissance Water Basin.

Sit-ins

The sit-in in front of the Fifth Infantry Division in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, in support of the sit-in in Khartoum is continuing.

FFC lawyer Osman Hasan told Radio Dabanga that the spirit of revolution is still burning and that the people of the city took part in mass demonstrations on Sunday who marched from various districts to the city market in support of the sit-in.

Osman pointed to the continuation of the sit-in before the Fifth Infantry Division to achieve the full demands of the revolutionaries.

The FFC in Berber locality in River Nile state announced carrying out a sit-in in support of the revolution near the locality’s offices on Tuesday.

Abdelazim El Badawi, leading FFC member in Berber told Radio Dabanga that the sit-in contains conversations, orientations, poetry and revolutionary singing to protect the demands they had previously submitted to the representative of the Military Council as well as to protect the revolution and prevent its theft on Tuesday at 12:00 pm until sunset. He appealed to the forces of Freedom and Change in Berber locality and the masses, especially the youth to arrive and participate in the sit-in.

On Sunday, the revolutionaries of Abu Hamed in Northern State closed the locality buildings and the office of the Zakat [Muslim alms] Chamber and announced their sit-in in front of the locality until the fulfilment of their full demands.

The forces of Freedom and Change submitted a memorandum to the acting governor of the state, in which they called for the prosecution of the leaders of the National Congress Party, the removal of toxic waste buried in the locality, the review of the contracts for the construction of the dam in the area, the review of the compensation of the displaced and others affected by the dam, the seizure of property of the Zadna International Investment company and confiscation of its lands, the improvement of basic services, review of the file of the Merowe Resort and returning it to the locality benefit.

The march of the revolutionaries of El Sufi in White Nile state which included a number of FFC youth submitted a memorandum to the locality official demanding solution for high cost of living and the surge of price and weight of bread, fuel and cooking gas, as well as demanding the dissolution of the Popular Committees and the formation of committees to monitor the dismantling of the Popular Committees. They also called for dissolving the grassroots Zakat committees, pointing out that the Muslim alms do not reach its beneficiaries through these committees.