Students break down walls of re-opened faculty in Khartoum

Angry students broke-down walls at the Shambat Agricultural Complex and another faculty at the University of Khartoum on Saturday, in protest against the dismissal of students one year ago.

According to a police report, a group of students broke-down the walls that divide the Faculty of Agriculture from the Faculty of Forestry and broke the doors of the Student Welfare Fund. They reportedly also broke doors of a nearby mosque where they were called for prayer at about 12p.m.

The violence follows the opening of the complex, which includes four faculties, a week ago. Agricultural studies in the Shambat Complex were suspended for nearly a year starting January 2017.

The deputy dean of student affairs, Dr. Mohamed Zakariya, said that a number of students held a speech and demanded the return of students who were dismissed because of their disruption of study in January 2016.

During his speech he confirmed that the dismissed students face charges after investigations. Speaking to local newspapers, Zakariya said that a number of students then stormed the headquarters of the university at about 12a.m. on Saturday. “They broke the walls with the help of students from the University of Sudan, who were being hosted in their dormitories.”

Dismissed

Darfuri students Abdelmalik El Tijani Mukhtar, Yousef Mohamed Ibrahim, Idris Abdelkarim Gani, Mousa Mohamed Suleiman, and Imam Abdelhafiz Gesoum, all studying at Shambat Agricultural Complex, were dismissed on 15 January after their alleged involvement in protests against the sale of the university buildings in central Khartoum.

In November, the Supreme Court in Khartoum ruled that the dismissal of five students by the University of Khartoum in January is “null and void” and it annulled the university’s decision.