Sudan uprising: Sit-ins continue in Khartoum, states

On Wednesday, the demonstrations in Sudan calling for the overthrow of the regime continued with the sit-in in front of the General Command of the Army in the capital Khartoum, this as well as in the states.

Yesterday Port Sudan in eastern Sudan witnessed a massive demonstration demanding the immediate step-down of Al Bashir and his regime from the rule of the country.

The protesters managed to reach the Marine Staff Command in Port Sudan and carried out a sit-in in front of its gate despite barricades set up by security forces.

The demonstrators described the march as the largest in Port Sudan since the beginning of the protests in December last year.

The security forces faced the demonstration of Port Sudan with excessive violence using sticks and tear gas, this in addition to the arrest of dozens.

However, the demonstrators, whose march was divided into two, managed to reach the army command and Port Sudan market amid the cheers of “One army, one people, not the army of Muslim Brotherhood.

Darfur

Youth, sheikhs and leaders of displaced people camps in Darfur stressed their unlimited support for the street movement and full solidarity with the revolutionaries on strike in front of the army general command in Khartoum until the regime would be toppled.

El Shafee Abdallah, a senior leader of the displaced camps in Central Darfur said: “Since the start of the march of April 6, all the displaced people in the various camps in Central Darfur have united under one banner, which is just fall, that’s all”.

He stressed the solidarity of all displaced people in the camps of the state in addition to Kalma camp with the declaration of the forces of freedom and change and their full readiness to continue the demonstrations until the regime would be toppled.

He appealed to the armed forces to fully align themselves with the Sudanese people.

He also appealed to the Sudanese people to support the protesters in front of the General Command by participating in the sit-in and providing food, medicine and water.

Khartoum

In Khartoum, Ahmed Haroun, the acting head of the ruling National Congress Party hinted to the expiration of the government’s patience about the protesters in front of in front of army commanders and the streets of Sudan.

Haroun, the former Wali (governor) of North Kordofan, who took over leadership of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) after Al Bashir stepped-down as party leader in March, has also been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur, was placed on the list as well.

Haroun told reporters after a meeting of the NCP leadership on Tuesday evening, “Our patience and wisdom is still ample, but continuing to test its dimensions is irrational.”

‘Direct threat’

Dr Suleiman Baldo, a prominent Sudanese scholar living in the USA and human rights and democracy activist described Haroun’s statements as a direct threat to use excessive force to break the sit-in and to attack the mass protests in Sudan.

He stressed that any attempt to stop the sit-in by force will lead to a massacre that will prove that Ahmed Haroun is bloody and the legitimacy of the claim to be held accountable before the International Criminal Court accompanied by President Al Bashir, against both of whom the ICC had issued arrest warrants.

Baldo said it was not surprising that such a threat of bloody repression was issued by Ahmed Haroun, who had already carried out such bloody repression in his coordination of the Janjaweed campaigns in Darfur and now wants to exercise it in Khartoum.

Haroun has been indicted by the ICC for 20 counts of crimes against humanity in Darfur between 2003-2004.

Uprising

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of Sudanese (some sources say hundreds of thousands) continued their sit-in for the fifth day in a row in front of the General Command of the Armed Forces in Khartoum, insisting on the unconditional step-down of Al Bashir and his regime, and the establishment of a transitional government, while people continued marching towards the General Command to aid and support the protestors and provide them with food, drinking water, medicines and mattresses.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Sudanese Professionals Association and the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change organised a rally to pray for the people killed during the protests in the sit-in field.

Football league season postponed

Sudanese clubs called on the Organising Committee of the Sudanese Football Federation to postpone the start of the Premier League from April 20 to a later date because of the suspension of the preparation of most clubs for the absence of players from the training and the participation of a large number of players in the demonstrations and popular movement in the country. The organising committee said it would not be able to delay the start of the league without the approval of the security apparatus.