♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Khartoum strikes with #Sudan_Civil_Disobedience

November 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM The civil disobedience campaign in Khartoum entered its final day on Tuesday, with four newspapers not allowed to appear in the kiosks. These days it were not mass rallies but unusually quiet streets in the Sudanese capital that demonstrated the people's discontent with the austerity measures that were taken this month.

Parents refused to send their children to school and many people stayed away from work, journalists told Radio Dabanga. The Commissioner of Khartoum denied there was a popular response to the calls for civil disobedience, which resounded on social media with the hashtag #Sudan_Civil_Disobedience. On Sunday a student was detained by a security officer in plainclothes when he filmed a street near the Obeid Khatim road, but he managed to post the footage. No other detentions of civilians were reported during the disobedience campaign.

While the second morning witnessed the return of traffic to the main streets and markets, some shops kept their doors closed. A journalist said that security agents had ordered groceries and butchers to open. On the campaign's third and final day, the copies of four newspapers, including El Jareeda and El Ayam that were also confiscated on the first day, were seized by the security service – for reporting on the  three-day strike.

The austerity measures have caused transportation tariffs and the prices of basic commodities, in particular medicines, to double. The Sudanese Pound has reached its predicted lows, trading at SDG20 for 1 US Dollar. Last week dozens of youths staged a protest in front of the Faculty of Medicine of Khartoum University, leading to the arrest of four students. Also secondary school students in the capital went out to demonstrate on Thursday.

♦ Darfur Ministry calls for tips about UNHCR abduction

November 29 – 2016 EL GENEINA / NYALA The Ministry of Information in West Darfur announced it has taken all necessary security arrangements to gain access to the hijackers of the two employees of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who were kidnapped with their Sudanese driver from El Geneina on Sunday evening.

Information Minister Mustafa Abdullah Jarelnabi called on the residents of the state to provide the police and security authorities with any information that could help them to find and free the hostages, and arrest the perpetrators.

A group of gunmen driving a vehicle kidnapped the three workers, two Nepalese staff and the Sudanese driver, in the centre of El Geneina. “At 6.30pm, they intercepted the car that was transporting the foreign staffers from the office to their home, not far from the El Geneina Grand Mosque. They took them at gunpoint to an unknown destination,” a source told Radio Dabanga that day. UNHCR replied to Radio Dabanga on Monday morning that it cannot say anything about the incident at this moment.

On Thursday evening, gunmen kidnapped and robbed four Sudanese staff members of the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The abduction took place when the employees were on their way to the mission's headquarters. They were released a few hours later.

More news from Radio Dabanga:

Crackdown on SCP: Two more members arrested

November 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM Two more prominent members of the Sudanese Congress Party have been arrested by the National Intelligence and Security Service, to join the more than twenty arrested party leaders and members – including the SCP…

SLM dissidents join Sudan's National Dialogue

November 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM The dissidents of the rebel SLM-AW who recently signed a peace agreement for western Jebel Marra have also put their signature on the National Dialogue document in Khartoum. Abu Jamal Khalil Bakr and Mid El Amin…

SPLM-N: ‘Sudan's armed forces violate ceasefire in South Kordofan’

November 27 – 2016 UM DORAIN The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) accuses Khartoum of violating its ceasefire in South Kordofan, as government forces attacked parts of Um Dorain locality with heavy artillery last week. SPLM-N spokesman…

Increase in arrivals by sea to Italy from Sudan

November 27 – 2016 KHARTOUM According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of arrivals by sea to Italy from Sudan during January-August this year increased compared to the same period of 2015. During the same period, the number of…

Man dies during interrogation at Sudan security office

November 25 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service handed a family in Khartoum the body of their son, who was detained at Khartoum airport upon his return from Israel three days ago. The NISS informed the family…

Boy killed, brothers attacked in West Darfur

November 25 – 2016 KEREINIK A basic school pupil was killed on the way to work near Ardamata camp for displaced people on Thursday. The displaced Mohammed Abdullah Saadallah, a schoolboy and his two brothers were on their way from Ardamata camp to Azirni…

‘Arrest of Sudanese doctors won’t resolve crisis’: Doctor

November 24 – 2016 KHARTOUM A Sudanese doctor, released with 10 others after three weeks in detention by the security services, has pointed out that arresting doctors will not resolve the health crisis in the country. Speaking to Radio Dabanga on…

This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here