♦ This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan’s news highlights from Darfur and Sudan
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's news highlights from Darfur and Sudan
♦ Protest update: Security forces shoot to break up sit-in at Sudan army HQ
April 9 – 2019 KHARTOUM / SUDAN Sudanese security forces have tried to break up a sit-in by several thousands of protesters in front of the Sudanese army's (SAF) General Command in Khartoum, with soldiers exchanging gunfire with the security troops to protect the demonstrators. The confirmed number of dead in the capital city has amounted to at least seven people, including a soldier, according to a Sudanese doctors' committee and the Ministry of Information.
Witnesses and activists said on Monday that soldiers guarding the compound had come out to protect the demonstrators, firing warning shots in the air and forcing the retreat of the security forces. While the SAF has made no clear statement about their position in the civil protests, the signatories of the Declaration of Freedom and Change (the groups spearheading the demonstrations) praised the position of the army and calls for its support to topple the regime and replace it with a transitional government.
Demonstrations calling for the fall of Sudanese President Al Bashir and his regime also took place throughout Sudan on Sunday in solidarity with thousands who have been holding the sit-in in Khartoum.
♦ Crackdown on press: Al Jazeera arrests, newspapers banned
April 9 – 2019 KHARTOUM Sudan's security service has banned three newspapers from publication and arrested an editor-in-chief and several journalists. International journalists are targeted, too: security officers stormed an Al Jazeera office, arrested correspondents and confiscated their cameras.
In a new move to censor information about the ongoing demonstrations in Sudan, the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) banned the publication of El Baath, El Mijhar and El Jareeda newspapers without providing the reasons. El Jareeda and El Watan newspapers were also barred from distribution on Saturday. They arrested the editor-in-chief of El Sayha newspaper, Abu Obeida Abdallah, from the newspaper's office.
NISS officers stormed the office of the Qatari and international news channel Al Jazeera in Khartoum and arrested five correspondents, seizing a number of cameras and phones.
In addition, work permits from Osama Sayed and Ahmed El Riheid, correspondents for Al Jazeera, photographer Badawi Bashi, and and El Arabiya correspondent were withdrawn.
More news from Radio Dabanga:
Boy killed in protest in North Kordofan, others wounded
April 9 – 2019 EL OBEID A secondary school student was killed in Sunday's protests in the capital of North Kordofan, sparking a protest march in anger. At least one person, a basic school pupil, was wounded…
Internet disruption watcher: Social media, apps blocked during weekend
April 9 – 2019 KHARTOUM An international observatory of internet disruptions, NetBlocks, has confirmed that on Sunday, popular social media and messaging platforms were blocked by Sudanese,,,
Sudan uprising: Senators ask US Secretary of State for clarity on Sudan policy
April 7 – 2019 WASHINGTON Seven US Senators have appealed to the US State Department to clarify its position on the removal of Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism following the way the…
Sudan: Largest demos in living memory – vigils continue into the night
April 6 – 2019 SUDAN Today’s mass demonstrations have drawn the largest crowds since the Sudan Uprising began in December. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have taken to the streets across…
Food, sugar prices soar in Sudan as Ramadan approaches
April 5 – 2019 KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN / WADI EL OSHAR / MURNEI Prices of essential food and consumer goods have risen as the holy month of fasting, Ramadan, approaches. Especially sugar prices…
Sudan's Emergency Courts sentence demonstrators, minors
April 4 – 2019 KHARTOUM The Emergency Courts established in Sudan under the legal provisions of the State of Emergency, continue to hand-down prison sentences to demonstrators and activists. The…
Emergency clampdown: 38 imprisoned in West Kordofan
April 4 – 2019 ABU ZABAD A joint force of Sudanese army troops, police, and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has arrested more people from Abu Zabad in West Kordofan under…
Darfur rebels: ‘Militia attack repulsed in Jebel Marra’
April 3 – 2019 SABOUN EL FAGUR The mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement headed by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) claims to have repulsed an attack by members of the main government militia…
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