♦ This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan’s highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
♦ Crackdown on press: Sudan security seizes 16 print-runs in one week
December 6 – 2016 KHARTOUM On Friday, officers of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated all copies of El Sayha and El Watan daily newspapers from the printing press. This brings the number of print-runs seized last week to 16. Allegedly their coverage of the civil disobedience actions against the new far-reaching austerity measures in the Sudanese capital, which lasted three days, is the reason for the confiscations. During the weekend, three newspapers were gagged, while today El Midan was confiscated again. El Midan was one of the two independent newspapers that decided not to print last Thursday because it expected a confiscation. Three newspapers were gagged that day.
Last Wednesday, a number of newsrooms and reporters went on strike against the repeated confiscation of newspapers. Also participants of the National Dialogue in Sudan have condemned the increased curbing of the press.
The editor-in-chief of El Watan reported huge financial losses incurred by the repeated confiscations. He demanded from the NISS “to officially file a complaint against the newspaper in case they are affected by any publication”. An active opponent of the repeated newspaper confiscations is Faisal El Bagir, the Coordinator-General of the Journalists' Association for Human Rights (JAHR). “The actions carried out by the NISS confirm that the Sudanese press is still performing well and is representing a source of concern to the authorities,” he told Radio Dabanga.
♦ Pharmacists strike in Sudan capital, two detained
December 1 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Sudanese Central Pharmacists Committee (CPC) organised a protest today in Khartoum against the soaring medicine prices in the country. In a press statement last week, the CPC reported that 57 pharmacies in the Sudanese capital kept their doors closed for three hours on Thursday morning while a number of pharmacists staged a sit-in in front of the National Medicines and Toxins Council, demanding the cancellation of the austerity measures taken by the government last month.
A large force of police and security agents surrounded the office of the Committee in the early morning, in an attempt to prevent the pharmacists to continue with their action. They detained two CPC members.
In mid-November, two weeks after the government liberalised the fuel and electricity tariffs, the Central Bank of Sudan cancelled the subsidised US Dollar rate of SDG7,5 for the import of medicines. The new Dollar rate rose to SDG17,50, causing medicines prices to double or more.
More than 400 pharmacies in Khartoum closed their doors in protest on 19 November, and in several Sudanese towns people took to the streets to demonstrate against the sky-rocketing prices. Later the federal Minister of Health announced a reduction of the prices of life-saving medicines, but prices of other medicines and basic goods continued to soar.
More highlights from Radio Dabanga:
'40 politicians, activists detained': Sudan opposition
December 6 – 2016 KHARTOUM Approximately 40 people have been detained since the Sudanese government announced the liberalisation of the fuel market and other austerity measures one month ago, according to …
Arrest and abductions in Tabit and Nyala, Darfur
December 2 – 2016 TABIT / NYALA The Sudanese security service arrested a student at the market in Tabit, North Darfur. Militiamen abducted a shop owner from the market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Wednesday…
Sudan Supreme Court overturns student's death penalty
December 2 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of Darfuri student Mohamed Abdallah Baggari for manslaughter and abolished the death penalty to which he was sentenced in November…
Court annuls license revocation of Sudan Writers' Union
December 2 – 2016 KHARTOUM An administrative court of appeal in Khartoum decided to annul the decision to revoke the license of the Sudanese Writers' Union, and ordered the security apparatus to return its property as…
Army officer sentenced to death for rape in South Darfur
December 1 – 2016 NYALA The South Darfur Special Crimes Court sentenced an army officer to death on Tuesday. After the accused was found guilty of raping a girl in the South Darfur capital of Nyala, judge Mohamed El…
Riot police ends women protest on Khartoum street
November 30 – 2016 KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN A protest by women activists was dispersed by policemen in Khartoum on Tuesday afternoon, while women members of the National Umma Party ended their hunger strike in Omdurman…
Baby dies of diarrhoea infection in Port Sudan
November 30 – 2016 PORT SUDAN A baby girl died of acuty watery diarrhoea in Port Sudan on Monday. There are twelve infected cases in the capital city of Red Sea state…
This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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