SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa – SUDAN PUBLIC ORDER LAW IS STILL INTACT

15/8/2021: Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa – SUDAN PUBLIC ORDER LAW IS STILL INTACT

After singer Marwa al-Dawliyah said she was assaulted and sexually harassed by 13 policemen from the “Community Security division”, which was known as the “Public Order division” during the former regime, SIHA called upon the government to repeal laws that hinder violence victims from accessing justice, enact laws to protect women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence (S/GBV), especially during detention, interrogation, and imprisonment, alongside providing access to medical and psychosocial support for S/GBV survivors by supporting and establishing licensed mental health institutions and building strong and effective referral systems.

SIHA accused the government of lacking political will to address violence against women and girls beyond tokenism, emphasising that “women and girls will still be exposed to such human rights violations perpetrated by state representatives” unless the government commits to “repealing oppressive and discriminatory laws and avail the necessary instruments and resources to end S/GBV crimes in Sudan”.

[TRANSLATED] SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Al-Jareeda – Sudan’s sovereignty is [up for grabs]

15/8/2020: Al-Jareeda – Sudan’s sovereignty is [up for grabs], by Hanadi Siddig

Journalist Hanadi Siddiq calls for Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to educate Sudanese citizens about events in Port Sudan, warning that eastern Sudan may “turn into another Darfur.”

 Siddiq attributes the violence in Port Sudan to the “hands of foreign intelligence services,” adding that Hamdok’s government has failed to address a root cause of the conflict – that “most foreigners who live in eastern Sudan by granted citizenship by al-Bashir’s regime.”

 Siddiq further suggests that officials within Sudan’s security apparatus are aware of this, and are implementing the agenda of foreign intelligence services through their relations with selected tribes that are fuelling the conflict.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Open Democracy – In this new Sudan, will the elite protesters stand up for suffering in Darfur?

15/8/19: Open Democracy – In this new Sudan, will the elite protesters stand up for suffering in Darfur?, by Rebecca Tinsley

 Rebecca Tinsley, who founded Waging Peace, an NGO supporting human rights in Sudan, addresses worries that the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), will continue the neglect and marginalisation of Sudan’s non-Arab communities, amid the power-sharing agreement.

Tinsley notes that the FFC-military power-sharing deal omitted the Sudan Revolutionary Front’s agreement with the FFC that peace in Sudan’s peripheries should be prioritised, “[breeding] suspicion that the provincials were being sidelined once more.”

 Niemat Ahmadi of the Darfur Women’s Action Group said: “elites in Khartoum are still repeating the exclusive approach that has divided the people of Sudan…and led to genocide in Darfur.”

 Waging Peace’s Maddy Crowther argued: “the agreement between the civilian and military delegations is welcome, [but] there is a danger it just becomes power-sharing between Nile elites.”

 However, Sudan expert Gill Lusk attributed the FFC’s lack of focus on marginalised areas to weak political strategy skills, rather than indifference.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudan’s perilous journey towards a better state

15/8/19: Financial Times – Sudan’s perilous journey towards a better state

 Financial Times editorial board call for the Forces of Freedom and Change and the international community to play their part in a full democratic transition in Sudan, which would set an “important” precedent for Africa.

 The FT call for the FFC to guarantee the representation of women, youth and persecuted minorities from places like Darfur, and that the FFC should be wary of a resurgence of Islamist forces, and that it should appoint competent technocrats to restore Sudan’s economy.

 While Sudan’s “deeply untrustworthy” military rulers, in particular Himedti, may impede the democratic transition, the FT call for those with influence among the international community to “make clear they are watching,” citing the African Union’s mediating role and the US’ pressure on Saudi Arabia and the UAE to tone-down their support for Himedti, to note the international community’s “reasonable job” thus far.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudan opposition to nominate economist Abdalla Hamdok for prime minister

15/8/19: Multiple sources - Sudan opposition to nominate economist Abdalla Hamdok for prime minister

• Reuters, by Khalid Abdelaziz

• AFP

 Sudan’s main opposition alliance, the Forces of Freedom and Change, will nominate Abdalla Hamdok, an economist who has served in international institutions, to be prime minister in the country’s transitional government.

 The appointment of the prime minister is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 20 August.

 Hamdok was last working as Deputy Executive Secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, and has held positions at the International Labor Organization and the African Development Bank.

 He served as an official in Sudan’s Ministry of Finance in the 1980s, before the military coup that put Omar Al Bashir in power.

 Last year, Al Bashir nominated Hamdok as finance minister in a bid to tackle Sudan’s economic crisis, but Hamdok turned the opportunity down.