♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Two West Darfur teachers raped at gunpoint

February 5 – 2017 EL GENEINA Civil society groups in West Darfur have planned more demonstrations in the state capital on Sunday, to condemn the rape of two teachers at the premises of a school north of the town one week ago. Authorities confirm hard evidence has been found in possession of the two accused.

Activists and lawyers in El Geneina have raised a memorandum to the head the judiciary calling for the punishment of the perpetrators. As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, three young herders allegedly stormed the hostel of El Addar School, about ten kilometres north of the West Darfur capital El Geneina at 12 pm on Tuesday 31 January. The gunmen seized two of the teachers, dragged them to a piece of open ground, and repeatedly raped them.

Two suspects were arrested at one of the settlements northeast of El Addar, while a third suspect fled. That evening people in El Geneina took to the streets in a demonstration against the rapes. Dozens of family members of the two victims, teachers, and youth in El Addar held banners in front of the state Ministry of Education of West Darfur, a reporter at the scene told Dabanga.

Recently the Public Prosecutor for Darfur says that a total of 100 complaints were filed of rape of women and children in the region last year, of which 15 have gone to trial, including cases against soldiers and policemen. Accountability for sexual violence is rare in Sudan. A UN Secretary General’s report on conflict related to sexual violence found that “in 2014, 63 incidents reported to the police resulted in just two convictions.” Prosecutions are made even more difficult by the broad immunities granted to Sudan’s armed forces and government officials, which can only be lifted by the Ministry of the Interior or Justice.

♦ Doctors confirm deadly 'diarrhoea outbreak' is cholera

February 7 – 2017 PORT SUDAN Two new cases of cholera were admitted to the isolation room at Port Sudan Hospital, while a third person died of cholera in Toker in Red Sea state on Sunday. Three people died from cholera in the eastern Sudanese state last week. Doctors and an epidemiology specialist “are very convinced that it is cholera”, and not, as reported by federal and state governments, an epidemic of 'watery diarrhoea' across Sudan's eastern Red Sea and El Gedaref states which lasts nearly five months.

Medical expert Dr Ezzeldin Gamar, based in the U.K., told Radio Dabanga that all reports and symptoms of the outbreak point to the spread of cholera. “It seems a stigma for the government to mention it by its name. However raising the awareness among communities about preventing cholera is crucial to containing a cholera outbreak.”

The disease has continued to claim lives and the federal Health Ministry reported that last week that 333 people were suffering from the deadly disease in El Gedaref, Red Sea, and Khartoum.

In Red Sea, health centres including the Italian Health Centre for Children reportedly witnessed a drop in the number of new cases.
In Khartoum, health authorities have started with a campaign to spray against mosquitoes and flies, in the wake of the outbreak of the contagious disease in many parts of the capital. Hospitals in Khartoum North hospitals have received dozens of people suffering from watery diarrhoea from the Jeili, El Khojalab, and Kabashi suburbs.

The press department of the World Health Organization (WHO) did not yet respond to questions from Radio Dabanga last week. The latest cholera outbreak in Sudan was reported in the eastern state El Gedaref in 2007. South Sudan reportedly suffered from a cholera outbreak in 2015.

More highlights from Radio Dabanga:

Father of slain IS sympathiser rescues granddaughter from Libya

February 7 – 2017 KHARTOUM The father of a deceased Islamic State (IS) sympathiser returned to Sudan on Monday with his baby granddaughter, who was born in Libya. El Laithi Harith Yousif, the father of Aya…

EU Ambassadors to visit Darfur tomorrow

February 7 – 2017 KHARTOUM Today Ambassador Jean-Michel Dumond, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sudan, met with the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and announced that a delegation of sixteen European…

RSF: ‘Darfur free of rebels, except Jebel Marra top’

February 6 – 2017 KHARTOUM According to the spokesman of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Sudan’s security apparatus, Darfur has become almost free from insurgents. RSF spokesman…

US Embassy in Sudan to resume visa applications as Judge suspends Trump travel ban

February 5 – 2017 KHARTOUM The US Embassy in Khartoum has announced that it will resume processing of existing visa applications, and again schedule appointments for new ones, in response to a US Federal Court…

Sudan: Detained human rights champion resumes hunger strike

February 5 – 2017 KHARTOUM Human rights activist, Dr Mudawi Ibrahim, who has been in detention in Khartoum’s Kober prison since the beginning of December 2016, has resumed his hunger strike, demanding a response from…

North Darfur pupils rushed to hospital after vaccinations

February 3 – 2017 MELLIT Pupils of a primary school in Mellit locality who suddenly passed out and suffered from diarrhoea were rushed to the hospital on Wednesday. The children had been vaccinated against trachoma…

Tear gas attack at Sudan concert: Police suspect extremists

February 1 – 2017 NEW HALFA Sudanese police suspect Islamic extremists of carrying out an attack with two tear gas canisters at a concert in New Halfa in Kassala state. The attack occurred…

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