Protests against Darfur violence in Khartoum, Hanover, The Hague

Darfur students of various universities in Khartoum demonstrated today in protest against the recent violence against civilians in Nierteti and El Geneina in Sudan’s western region. Sudanese living in Germany and the Netherlands protested the attacks as well.

The demonstrators in Khartoum chanted slogans ‘No Killing’, ‘No Displacement’, and ‘Down, down with the rule of Al Bashir’.

The students marched from the El Nilein University to the Ministry of Justice, where they handed a memorandum demanding the formation of an independent investigation commission of inquiry into the incidents, and the perpetrators of the attacks in South Darfur’s Nierteti and in El Geneina locality in West Darfur be brought to justice.

They also demanded the release of Darfur students Adam Hajar and Hamid Eisa, chairman and deputy secretary-general of the Darfur Students Association at the Holy Koran University. The two students were detained by security agents last year.

A student leader told Radio Dabanga that the police dispersed the protesters “in a brutal way. Many students fainted because of the exaggerated use of tear gas.”

He added that Omda Bosh, Secretary-General of the Darfur Students Association at the University of Sudan was arrested.

On 1 January, an army force, driving four Land Cruisers, stormed Nierteti and opened fire, reportedly in response to the killing of one of the army personnel by unknown assailants in the town two days before.

A basic schoolgirl and a secondary school student were both killed. 16 other people, including women and children, were injured in the gunfire. 19 more people were reportedly either stabbed or beaten with rifle butts, and four Nierteti policemen suffered various injuries.

In West Darfur’s El Geneina locality, seven people were killed in a gunfight between policemen, security forces, and militiamen on Thursday. The violence was reportedly triggered by a cattle theft.

More protests

In Hanover in Germany, hundreds of Sudanese took to the streets on Saturday in solidarity with the victims of the attacks in South and West Darfur.

The demonstrators demanded a halt to “the ongoing genocide in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains [in South Kordofan], and Blue Nile”. They called for the fall of the Khartoum regime.

On Friday, Sudanese living in the Netherlands staged a demonstration in front of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 

They demanded the court “to expedite the arrest of President Omar Al Bashir and the others indicted [Sudanese officials] in order to end the ongoing genocidal killings in Sudan”.