Student unrest continues across Sudan

Demonstrations are continuing at Universities across Sudan, with students taking to the streets and campuses with various demands. Dozens of students have been injured and arrested.

On Wednesday a student from the Red Sea University told Radio Dabanga from Port Sudan that “12 students were arrested and dozens injured when the security services and police broke up a student demonstration in Jebeit city using excessive violence and tear gas”.

Wednesday also saw demonstrations at Nyala University in the capital of South Darfur for the third day in a row.

A student told Radio Dabanga that “hundreds of students demonstrated at the University of Nyala, demanding the allocation of a special tariff for students on public transport, and reduced prices of meals at the university complexes, provision of laboratories, and improvement of the university environment.”

He added that the security services and police surrounded the students in the boarding houses and prevented them from entering or leaving. More than 49 students were also arrested during a demonstration on Tuesday.

West Kordofan

On Tuesday security and police forces arrested three students of El Salam University in Babanusa in West Kordofan, and held them in detention. They included a woman student Awatif Mohammed Mus,a who was arrested from a hospital. The secretary-general of the Darfur Students Association and the head of the Jebel Marra Students Association were also taken into detention without charges, held for three hours and then released.

Khartoum

In Khartoum, the Committee of Solidarity with the martyrs of the student movement in various Sudanese universities revealed that 23 students from various Sudanese universities have been killed since the ‘Salvation Coup’ in 1989. The Committee said that the number of Darfur students who have been killed is highest in the states of El Gezira, North and South Kordofan, White Nile and Blue Nile.

At a press conference at the Communist Party headquarters on Monday, the Committee explained that "2013 saw the highest number violations and murders of students with five deaths, pointing out that 13 deaths were from gunshot wounds, while eight students died during torture".