SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Guardian - Halt plan to withdraw Sudan peacekeepers, UN urged

28/5/2020: Guardian - Halt plan to withdraw Sudan peacekeepers, UN urged, by Zeinab Mohamed Salih

 The Guardian report that activists are urging the UN and African Union to shelve plans to replace its peacekeeping mission with a UN “political mission”. 

 Al-Sadiq Ali Hassan, the secretary general of the Darfur Bar Association said, “the political mission won’t solve problems… there will be a huge gap for security chaos and I expect the situation will worsen.”

 Human Rights Watch’s Jehanne Henry added: “any UN mission should have the capacity to protect [at-risk] civilians… Darfur…has a long legacy of state-sponsored violence [leaving] civilians extremely distrustful of state forces.”

 Anonymous UN officials said that UN chief advisor Nicholas Haysom made extensive calls to Hamdok “using personal diplomacy” to lobby Hamdok to accept the mission, with Hamdok losing “a lot of credibility…because he hasn’t stood up for Darfurians and instead let Hemedti and the NCP [National Congress party] dictate Sudan’s response.”

The UN denied applying pressure.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Communication with Sudan main opposition alliance not suspended - council spokesman

28/5/19: Reuters – Communication with Sudan main opposition alliance not suspended – council spokesman

 In a short newsflash, Reuters reports that Sudan’s TMC said that communication with the main opposition alliance had not been suspended and that a joint committee was working towards an agreement, Al Hadath TV reported on Tuesday.

 TMC spokesman Shams El Din Kabbashi told Al Hadath that the TMC would not back down from what it had agreed with the opposition.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudan protesters begin 2-day strike to press ruling military

28/5/19: Multiple sources – Sudan protesters begin 2-day strike to press ruling military

• AP, by Omar Akour and Samy Magdy

• Reuters

Sudan’s protest leaders (the DFC) launched a two-day general strike on Tuesday to press the transitional military council to hand over power to a civilian-led authority

 Most staff in the medical sector, electricity offices and employees at the central bank as well as commercial banks observed the strike, but other sectors were only partially affected.

Many shops remained open, buses were still transporting residents, and Khartoum airport was operating normally, according to sources.

DFC representative Wagdy Saleh threatened escalation, including calls for an open strike and indefinite civil disobedience until power is handed to civilians.