SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Sudan protesters resume talks with army over transition

3/7/19: Multiple sources – Sudan protesters resume talks with army over transition

AP

AFP

Reuters, by Khalid Abdelaziz

 Sudan’s military rulers and the main opposition alliance met at a Khartoum hotel on Wednesday to restart talks over who should lead Sudan toward elections.

The Declaration of Freedom and Change opposition alliance said the talks, launched in response to a call for negotiations from an Ethiopian mediator, should last three days. It also called on the government to release political prisoners.

There appeared to be progress towards that demand later after state TV reported that the military council had pardoned 235 detained members of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Darfuri rebel group.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - UN's Bachelet says Sudan protests biggest yet, time for transition

3/7/19: Reuters - UN's Bachelet says Sudan protests biggest yet, time for transition, by Tom Miles

Reuters reports that UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said that Sudanese authorities must ensure a swift transition to a civilian government, as desired by large segments of the population and the African Union.

 Bachelet also called on the Sudanese military council to lift restrictions on the internet and to investigate all allegations of excessive use of force, including reported attacks on hospitals by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and other security forces.

 She said that her offer to send a human rights monitoring team to investigate the June 3 massacre was ignored by Sudanese authorities.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Sudan's military rulers pardon 235 detained members of Darfur rebel group - state TV

3/7/19: Reuters - Sudan's military rulers pardon 235 detained members of Darfur rebel group - state TV

 Reuters reports that the head of Sudan’s ruling military council, Abdelfattah Al Burhan, pardoned 235 detained members Darfuri rebel group the Sudan Liberation Movement.

Al Burhan’s statement said the prisoners should be released immediately unless they are wanted in connection with other legal proceedings.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Columbia Journalism Review – CNN Public Editor: Where’s Sudan?

3/7/19: Columbia Journalism Review – CNN Public Editor: Where’s Sudan?, by Emily Tamkin

 Freelance foreign affairs reporter Emily Tamkin examines how CNN’s lack of Sudan coverage and the wider pattern of Sudan’s decreased news value.

 Tamkin asked Judd Devermont, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, whether Sudan was under-covered because it is African, Black, and Muslim. Devermont responded: “this part of the world right now is getting less attention than it usually does.”

 Alan Boswell, senior analyst for South Sudan at the International Crisis Group, attributed Sudan’s lack of coverage to “many newsrooms [covering] Sudan as an African story,” and that “nearly all media outlets devote far less resources to their African bureaus than their Middle East counterparts.”

 Devermont and Tamkin both noted that Gulf involvement in Sudan should increase Sudan’s news value, but Tamkin states that US President Donald Trump’s lack of focus on Africa “bodes ill for Sudan coverage,” as “news revolves around Trump.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - SPECIAL REPORT: Abandoned by the UAE, Sudan's Bashir was destined to fall

3/7/19: Reuters - SPECIAL REPORT-Abandoned by the UAE, Sudan's Bashir was destined to fall, by Khalid Abdelaziz, Michael Georgy, Maha El Dahan

 Reuters’ investigation revealed that Omar Al Bashir’s failure to fulfil his promise to the UAE that he will weed out Islamists led to the coup against him.

 In June 2017, Al Bashir sacked Taha Osman Al Hussein for taking Saudi citizenship, a “blow” to the UAE. Al Hussein, the director of his office, was tasked with handling Sudan’s relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Sudanese government ministers said “Hussein effectively controlled foreign policy.”

 Al Bashir’s refusal to join the Saudi-Emirati campaign against Qatar, or dismiss powerful Islamists meant that Saudi Arabia and the UAE did not send aid to Sudan as its economic crisis worsened at the end of 2018.

 The UAE and National Intelligence and Security Service chief Salah Gosh engaged with Sudanese rebels, dissidents and political opponents on post-Bashir plans. Al Bashir rejected a UAE-Gosh proposal for a “dignified” exit, after which Gosh orchestrated the coup.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Independent - Sudan's rising strongman has a fragile grip on the military – and a bloody civil war looms

3/7/19: Independent - Sudan's rising strongman has a fragile grip on the military – and a bloody civil war looms, by Ahmed Aboudouh

 The Independent’s consulting editor Ahmed Aboudouh warns that continued western tolerance of Himedti’s growing power may fuel a Sudanese civil war.

 Arguing that “betting on a strong man doesn’t always work,” Aboudouh highlights Saudi and UAE failure to comprehend a “fundamental difference” between their support for Al Sisi in Egypt and Himedti.

 Al Sisi built “a solid, deep consensus with the generals,” whereas Himedti “is reliant on a fragile system of mutual deterrence,” resulting in Himedti creating more intra-military enemies during his “ruthless” pursuit of power.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: AFP - Sudan in revolt is deja-vu for Egyptians driven out by repression

3/7/19: AFP - Sudan in revolt is deja-vu for Egyptians driven out by repression

 In a feature piece, AFP spoke to Egyptian Islamists exiled in Sudan after the President Abdelfattah Al Sisi coup, who drew similarities between their situation and that of Sudanese protesters.

 AFP notes that in contrast to Egypt, Sudan’s uprising is led by liberal movements and professional unions against an Islamist regime.

 Political analyst H.A. Hellyer said that while Sudan was initially a “safe-haven” for Egyptian Islamist dissidents, “the new Sudanese regime is currently reformulating its geopolitical position,” amid its alliance with anti-Islamist entities Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

 Egyptian Islamist exile Ahmed said that his friends have left Sudan for Turkey following the power change, although he personally avoids Sudanese political life. He said that “I feel like these people in the streets are a lot like us…the same dreams, the same ambitions, the same fears, the same desire for change, the same naivety too.”