SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - Sudan peace talks offer little hope for protesters in Darfur

30/7/2020: Reuters - Sudan peace talks offer little hope for protesters in Darfur, by Nafisa Eltahir and Khalid Abdelaziz 

 Reuters’ feature piece on the deteriorating security situation in Darfur examines the prospects of peace.

 Reuters note that while Prime Minister Hamdok and the rebel groups say a peace deal would be necessary in ending the turmoil, “donor funding needed to implement the deal is not guaranteed,” with Sudan also facing a “battered” economy.

 Analysts also question whether a deal will provide security, as the rebels and militias are fragmented and competing over resources, “often along tribal lines with no clear leadership,” and the Janjaweed are not deterred by peace talks.

 Indeed, the International Crisis Group’s Jonas Horner says militias are “scrambling to secure their gains now that al-Bashir has gone,” with Suleiman, a protester in Niertiti in central Darfur saying “they want to keep the same privileges.”

 

Furthermore, Manzoul Assal, professor at the University of Khartoum, says “neither the rebels nor UN peacekeepers have been able to protect civilians.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: New York Times - The Dictator Who Waged War on Darfur Is Gone, but the Killing Goes On

30/7/2020: New York Times - The Dictator Who Waged War on Darfur Is Gone, but the Killing Goes On, by Declan Walsh

 Declan Walsh’s feature piece provides insights on the spike of violence in Darfur. Walsh notes that the Sudanese military faces accusations of negligence and complicity, with Adam Mohamed, a senior leader of Darfur’s displaced community saying “they do nothing [in front of janjaweed attacks]”

 On the Fata Borno attack, Cameron Hudson said: “it’s just another Tuesday in Darfur, you realise that not much has changed since the revolution.”

 Walsh adds that foreign officials are reluctant to blame Sudan’s government for trouble in Darfur, citing a “narrative” framing the violence “as a seasonal dispute between herders and pastoralists.” However, internal UN reports revealed that Sudanese troops were not protecting the Darfur displaced.

 Researcher Jerome Tubiana said that, for Darfuris, the enemy is “the centre of Sudan”. El-Sadig Hassan, secretary-general of the Darfur Bar Association, calls for a peacekeeping mission after the UN leaves Darfur.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: The Hill - Sudan faces an inflection point — and needs US leadership

30/7/19: The Hill - Sudan faces an inflection point — and needs US leadership, by Kate Almquist Knopf and Payton Knopf

 Kate Knopf, the director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and Payton Knopf, an adviser to the Africa Program at the US Institute of Peace, call for the US to lead Sudan’s democratic transition with two interlinked courses of action, warning that Sudanese state failure would be the largest in modern history.

 Firstly, the Knopfs call for the US to equalise the balance of power between the junta and civilian reformers by threatening the junta with international isolation unless it cedes power.

 Secondly, the Knopfs call for the US to build international consensus around a transparent economic bailout conditioned on the pursuit of a civilian-led administration which includes: an economic sector uncoupled for the security apparatus, independent judiciaries, protection of minorities and expanded civic freedom.

 The Knopfs call for the package to be transparent so that the junta takes responsibility for continued economic failure.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Council On Foreign Relations – Sudan’s Fragile Transition

30/7/19: Council On Foreign Relations – Sudan’s Fragile Transition, by Michelle Gavin

 Michelle Gavin, a senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, calls for the US to commit “real resources” towards “compelling” progress on Sudan’s democratic transition, arguing that lasting Sudanese stability requires structural reform and response to popular demands for a new basis of political legitimacy.

 Gavin argues that the international community must incentivise a Sudanese democratic transition by making a Sudanese economic lifeline contingent upon democratic progress, noting that the security service elites who ousted former president Omar Al Bashir were motivated to do so by his inability to serve their economic interests.

 Gavin cites the Saudi-Emirati tolerance of repression to conclude that the US should not rely on Saudi-Emirati money to incentivise democratic progress.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: New York Times - Killing of Student Protesters in Sudan Sets Off New Unrest, and Worry

30/7/19: New York Times - Killing of Student Protesters in Sudan Sets Off New Unrest, and Worry, by Nada Rashwan

 The New York Times reports that thousands of student protesters took to the streets across Sudan, demanding an end to the “blood bath”, after four teenage demonstrators and an adult were killed by security forces in El Obeid.

 Videos posted on social media showed students across Sudan chanting “no education” until the violence ends. Classes have been suspended across the country, and an evening curfew was imposed in El-Obeid and surrounding North Kordofan state.

 The governor of North Kordofan, Gen. Al Sadiq Al Tayeb Abdallah, said the protest in El-Obeid had been “infiltrated” by people who vandalized the offices of two banks.

 Protest leaders called for the governor to be removed and questioned over the killings. They also blamed Himedit’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, and the Sudanese Professionals Association said “the military council has gotten addicted to shedding the blood of citizens and to committing massacres.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudan talks cancelled as army ruler condemns teenagers killing

30/7/19: Multiple sources - Sudan talks cancelled as army ruler condemns teenagers killing

 Sudanese protest leaders, the Forces of Freedom and Change, have cancelled planned talks with the Sudanese ruling generals as they visited El-Obeid, where at least five school children were shot dead.

 The FFC accused the Rapid Support Forces of shooting dead the teenagers at a rally against shortages of bread and fuel.

 The killings came as protest leaders were to hold talks with the generals on Tuesday (30 July) on the remaining aspects of installing civilian rule after the two sides inked a power-sharing deal earlier this month.

 Meanwhile, Abdelfattah Al Burhan, the head of Sudan’s ruling military council said there must be immediate accountability over the killings.

 The governor of North Kordofan state, General Al-Sadiq al-Tayeb Abdallah, said “infiltrators” had diverted a peaceful demonstration from its course and attacked a bank branch and tried to attack another.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudanese rally against deadly crackdown on student protest

30/7/19: Multiple sources - Sudanese rally against deadly crackdown on student protest

 Thousands of Sudanese students joined protests across Sudan, in condemnation of the fatal dispersal of a demonstration on Monday (29 July), that left four high school students dead.

 The killings reignited tensions between the pro-democracy movement and the military council. The marches were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association. The Sudanese teacher’s committee, which is part of the SPA, called for suspending classes nationwide until the formation of a civilian government.

 Meanwhile, authorities in Kassala suspended classes “until further notice.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters – Saudi Arabia deposits $250 million into central bank of Sudan

30/7/19: Reuters – Saudi Arabia deposits $250 million into central bank of Sudan

 Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia has deposited $250 million into the central bank of Sudan to support its financial position, the Saudi Finance Ministry said in a statement.

 The financial grant is part of a package with the United Arab Emirates worth $500 million announced in April. Both countries pledged an overall $3 billion in aid, with the rest going towards fuel, wheat and medicine.