Sudan Call alliance: ‘Stop killing peaceful demonstrators’

The Sudan Call alliance of opposition parties and armed movements has called on the Sudan government to halt the killing of innocent civilians after reports that at dozens of people have been killed since street protests broke out across Sudan last week.

In a press statement on Sunday in his capacity as Sudan Call Secretary of External Affairs, deputy head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) Yasir Arman points out that “from December 19 2018, a continuous, wider, peaceful protest has been waged by the Sudanese people in more than 15 cities and urban areas.

“As a result of the acute economic and political crisis that affected millions of deprived Sudanese, a new social group is actively involved in demanding their economic and political rights through peaceful demonstrations, which is qualitatively different from what has taken place in the last three decades.”

Arman continues: “The dictatorship is bankrupt and weak and the regime is on the verge of collapse through massive, sustainable, peaceful pressure.”

Live bullets

The Sudan Call statement points out that “the regime’s security agencies used live bullets against peaceful demonstrators, especially in Attubra, Gadarif, Khartoum, and other places. More than 30 civilians were killed and dozens are wounded. This great, peaceful, mass movement raised the aspirations of the Sudanese people to achieve a genuine peace, democratic transformation, and a new social political dispensation.”

Arman underlines that the internet and social media have been closed down in Sudan “in order for the regime to continue its killing of the innocent peaceful demonstrators away from the eyes and ears of the outside world”.

Lack of international news coverage

Arman laments the absence of more international news coverage: “The people of Sudan are being left alone. There is almost complete silence with the exception of a few voices speaking out against the dictatorship’s killing of the peaceful demonstrators and civilians.

This painful silence will encourage the brutal Sudan regime, headed by the genocidal president who is wanted by the ICC, especially in the coming critical three days.

Appeal to friends of Sudan

We appeal to the friends of Sudan, human rights organizations, the US Congress, the European Parliament, the Canadian and British Parliaments, the UN Human Rights Council, the African Union, international governments and the Special Envoys, especially the TROIKA, France and Germany, to speak out as silence is encouraging the Sudan regime to commit more crimes. It is critical to stop the killing of the people of Sudan and to recognize their right to change.

The Sudanese people are optimistic and at long last, they have seen a light at the end of the tunnel to end wars, bring democracy and the rule of law, and to get free from a brutal system headed by the only current African president wanted by the ICC. This noble cause should be supported, Arman’s statement concludes.