♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Darfur camp protest against presidential visit turns deadly

September 26 – 2017 NYALA At least five people died in protests against a visit of the Sudanese president near Kalma camp in South Darfur on Friday. Sudanese security forces reportedly are searching for suspects and preventing free movement of people to and from the camp. In a statement today the United States Embassy in Khartoum expressed its concern and said that “security forces must respond with restraint when dealing with protests, even if provoked”.

The deadly incident occurred on Friday morning, the day of the visit of President Omar Al Bashir, which coincided with the fourth day of peaceful demonstrations against his arrival by the displaced people. Sudanese forces violently dispersed the demonstrators near the location of the presidential roadshow. Smoke from these clashes can be seen in the background of photos which Radio Dabanga received through WhatsApp.

Hours later the Kalma camp coordinator reported a casualty number of five people, and that 26 sustained injuries. Medical staff of the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) assisted with the treatment of the wounded.

Before the peaceful demonstrations started, on Tuesday, representatives of South Darfur camps had officially requested Unamid to protect them from violence during the planned protests. A refugee association and several politicians have condemned a Unamid statement following the incidents, calling it “biased”.

Today the Geneva-based Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre reported that the casualty number has risen to nine people. Sudanese security forces are ‘conducting searches and arrest operations against individuals suspected of playing a role in organising the public protests’, the civil society organisation reported.

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♦ Sudanese oppose death penalty on student, take to the streets

September 25 – 2017 KHARTOUM Hundreds of students and members of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) demonstrated near the Criminal Court of Khartoum North on Sunday against the death sentence on Darfuri student Asim Omar. According to the party, the evidence against him was forged.

Judge Abdeen Dahi issued the death sentence against the Khartoum University student, who is a member of the SCP, after he was convicted of murder on 29 August. The police in Khartoum North fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, mainly students and SCP members. In downtown Khartoum, people expressed their condemnation against the sentence as well (see video). Dozens of them were detained by security forces, according to the SCP.

Asim Omar was held by officers of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on 2 May last year in front of the University of Khartoum, when he joined a demonstration against the plans to sell the university buildings. After a period of incommunicado detention, Omar was handed over to the police who informed him that he had been charged with causing serious harm. “But they did not inform him about the injured person, nor about the circumstances or causes of the injury,” the SCP said in a statement.

The Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC) lamented in a report that “political assassinations and violence against university students in Sudan have reached epidemic proportions”.

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