Protest against miners’ dependence on Sudan’s North Kordofan

Hundreds of citizens of Sodari locality in North Kordofan went to the streets of Sodari village for a massive peaceful demonstration on Tuesday, in which they demand the authorities to provide residents with basic services such as water, electricity, and education. The demonstrators also demanded that the mining operations in the area are no longer in the hands of the locality authorities, but owned by the mining companies themselves. One of the activists, Mastour Ahmed Mohamed, explained to Radio Dabanga that the mines offer jobs to a lot of Sodari residents. The miners, however, are not satisfied with the Sodari authorities owning the operations. “The locality takes away a large amount of money from these companies, and does not use this to improve the lives of the miners or provides citizens with basic services.” Ahmed Mohamed added that water in Sodari has been cut-off for a long time. The demonstrators also demanded from the authorities to sack the North Kordofan Governor Ahmed Haroun, as well as Sodari locality’s representative in the parliament and in the council legislation, because neither “has solved the problems of the basic services for citizens”. Demonstrators arrestedThe police have arrested several demonstrators, and took them immediately to court, two hours after the peaceful demonstration. The court in Sodari convicted three demonstrators, all belonging to the local Sudanese Congress Party, to six months in prison on Tuesday: Mohamed Nour Terab (Chairman of the local party); Abdel Baga Abdallah (Secretary General); and Ahmed Majid Ahmed (party member). Finally, Ali Ahmed Fati Mohamed (local party member) has been convicted to four months. File photo: Gold mining (archive)