1,000 Darfuri students resign en masse from university in White Nile state
About 1,000 students at the University of Bakht El Rida in El Duweim in White Nile state submitted collective resignations from the university in protest against “the security services and the university administration’s racial targeting of Darfuri students,” of whom 13 have been dismissed and nine others arrested on accusation of murder.
About 1,000 students at the University of Bakht El Rida in El Duweim in White Nile state submitted collective resignations from the university in protest against “the security services and the university administration’s racial targeting of Darfuri students,” of whom 13 have been dismissed and nine others arrested on accusation of murder.
Yesterday a student told Radio Dabanga that all the Darfuri students at Bakht El Rida University submitted mass resignations to the deans of their faculties and left the university.
He explained that “the administration of the university routinely accuses the people of Darfur of everything happening at the university and in turn incites their fellow students against them”.
He stressed that the students will only return to the university if the dismissed students are reinstated, and the detained students released or brought to fair trial. They also demand “a stop to the systematic targeting of Darfuri students and the incitement against them”.
Sources told Radio Dabanga that on Tuesday the students left El Duweim and refused to continue at the university “because of the racist policies and a protest against the repression against them for years by the security services and the police with the knowledge and consent of the university administration”.
Bus station
He said hundreds of students went to the bus station at the El Soug El Shaabi in El Duweim to find a way to get to the national capital of Khartoum, but the security services issued instructions to the owners of buses not to transport the Darfuri students.
He pointed out that many of the students then began to walk on foot in the direction of Khartoum.
Excessive force
Sudanese authorities are accused of frequently using excessive force against students. A report by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) points to a police raid of a student residence at Bakht El Rida University on 9 May, and the dispersion of a public forum at the El Zaeem El Azhari University in Khartoum North by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and a student militia six days later.
“The attacks on the students are extremely disruptive and raise serious concerns regarding the students’ safe access to higher education,” the Centre states.
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