Thousands of demonstrators on third day of Central Darfur sit-in

Thousands of residents and displaced people took part in the third day of the sit-in for security in Nierteti, Central Darfur. The sit-in started with a mass protest on Sunday against the ongoing insecurity in the region.

The demonstrators in front of the locality offices demand a stop to the daily attacks on people, disarmament of the militias, and the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of violence.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA – the driving force behind the revolution that started in Sudan in December 2018) launched the hashtag “We are all Nierteti” on Facebook and Twitter in support of the protesters in the town.

In a statement on Tuesday, the SPA stated that the protestors have “legitimate demands”. The SPA described the Nierteti sit-in “as a new tributary that flows into the course of the battle of our people and its proven peaceful tools to claim their rights, stop the war, and end policies of marginalisation, violations of human rights, and the use of arms”. It called on the transitional authorities to protect the peaceful revolutionaries and their sit-in.

The SPA also called on the authorities to protect the right of the protestors in Nierteti to demonstrate. The demands of the demonstrators must be met immediately. The leadership of the locality and its security committee must be dismissed, crimes must be investigated, and perpetrators must be held accountable.

The professionals association stressed that the voice of the protesters at the Nierteti sit-in must reach the negotiators at the Sudanese peace talks between the government and the armed rebel movements “to accelerate comprehensive solutions and put an end to the injustice”.

In a statement on Monday, the Darfur Bar Association called the demands of the sit-in “legitimate and fair”. The Darfur lawyers criticised the delay in purging the locality authorities of Nierteti from affiliates of the deposed regime. “The failure to do so will deliver wrong messages to the people, that the revolution governments at central and state level are not serious, which undermines the credibility of those in charge of state affairs.”

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