‘Darfuri students not able to continue studies in Sudan’s capital’

The violent campaign by militant student members of the Sudanese ruling party against Darfuri students in various universities in Khartoum has raised broad concern.

The students have been threatened after the head of the National Islamist Students Movement (NISM) was killed during clashes at Sharg El Nil University in Khartoum last Wednesday.

A Darfuri student told Radio Dabanga the next day that about 150 militant students of the National Congress Party (NCP) stormed the Sharg El Nil campus on Wednesday. Backed by university guards, they molested members of the Darfur Students Association who were having a meeting. “They attacked us with metal bars, crutches, and machetes. Dozens of students were wounded, seven of them seriously. One of the assailants, Mohamed Awad El Karim, Secretary-General of the National Islamist Students Movement, was killed.”

The Islamist Students Movement is the student wing of the NCP.

Demonstrations at El Azhari University in Khartoum North against the clashes on Wednesday were dispersed with tear gas.

‘Not many options left’

Speaking to Radio Dabanga from Khartoum, a Darfuri student told about the difficult conditions he and his fellow students are currently living in. “The hate campaign against us is widening. Islamist students are threatening to get rid of us, and many Darfuri students are living in constant fear and anxiety.”

He added that the Darfuri students who sustained injuries during the attacks last week did not dare to go to a hospital for treatment. “As they fear the intervention of security agents stationed at the hospitals, they are being treated in the dormitories, or when they are lucky at their homes.

“There not many options left for us. It is extremely difficult to continue studying in these circumstances. Most probably, we will have to quit our studies officially.”

He lauded the social media campaign set up by Sudanese activists in solidarity with the Darfuri students.

Targeted

In a statement on Sunday, the Darfur Students Association (DSA) expressed its concern about the possibility for Darfuri students to continue their studies in Khartoum. “Darfuri students these days are facing clear and direct targeting by the Sudanese government, the Presidency, the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), the government of Khartoum state, and NCP students.

“The Darfuri students have always shown their tolerance and have been living peacefully in Khartoum. Together with people from all directions of the country, they are striving for the rule of law. They declare their solidarity with all political, social and civil forces for a better reality.”

The DSA stressed that the Darfuri students will not keep silent about the campaign against them and their relatives. “The fate of the students from Darfur will not be like the fate of the South Sudanese students, as the regime is wanting.” The Association further offered their condolences to the relatives of the killed Islamist student, “and all the students have been killed by the regime”.

Dialogue

The Student Secretariat of the National Umma Party also condemned the “systematic violence against Darfuri students”. In a statement on Sunday, it holds the students of the NCP responsible for instigating the “brutal campaign”, and criticised the “silence of the universities’ managements” concerning the attacks.

El Saihoun Initiative has launched a counter-campaign to stop the violence among university students, and called for a dialogue. The Islamist NGO urged all political parties and civil society forces to intervene and end the violence, by condemning the political polarisation and the hate campaigns at the universities, “to save the blood of Sudanese students, and enable coming generations to study”.  

The organisation stressed that “dialogue, reconciliation, and peaceful coexistence” is the only way to resolve the violent conflicts.

Escalation

Human rights lawyer Saleh Mahmoud warned for an escalation of the “systematically targeting by the NISS of Darfuri students”.

The lawyer told Radio Dabanga that the “expansion of this phenomenon is now threatening the social stability in the country, as the violence instigated by the regime will generate counter-attacks.” He holds the government accountable for the violence.

Militia

The secretary-general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Yasir Arman, accused the NCP of violently attempting to silence the “winds of change” among the Sudanese after the rigged elections.

“The Khartoum regime is targeting the Darfuri students first to break their will, and with this the other students will be silenced,” he told Radio Dabanga. “and with them the entire population. The issue is not an internal students matter, but concerns the whole country.”

He said that the violence against the students has entered a new phase, similar to the military campaign of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by the NISS, against civilians in Darfur and South Kordofan. “The regime is forcing NCP students to break with the Sudanese tradition of peaceful dialogues and discussions at the universities, by pushing them to attack their fellow students from Darfur.”

Arman called upon “all Sudanese to reject this aggressive and criminal division of Sudanese students on the basis of their ethnic or regional origin”. He further appealed to “national and regional student associations to address the violence on shared platforms, with the support of political forces and civil society organisations”.