SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: European Council on Foreign Relations - Sudan peace agreement: What it really means for the country’s transition

2/9/2020: European Council on Foreign Relations - Sudan peace agreement: What it really means for the country’s transition, by Theodore Murphy

 Theodore Murphy, the director of the Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), calls for Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to make leadership of the Juba peace process a “personal priority” in order to win back the support of the Sudanese protest movement.

 Murphy argues that the key to securing the civilian character of Sudan’s democratic transition is address the major paradox of the protest movement - that it is the most representational political force, yet unwilling to engage in party politics. However, the constitutional conference envisaged by the agreement presents an opportunity to incorporate the protest movement into a “renewed national compact.”

 Thus, Murphy calls for Sudan’s international partners to provide a “clear, unified position supporting Sudanese-led efforts and allowing Sudanese to prioritise the national constitutional conference as a prerequisite to strengthening the national political foundation upon which all subsequent reforms will need to rest.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Voice of America – Sudan Holdout Group: Peace Deal Fails to Address Conflict’s Root Causes

2/9/2020: Voice of America – Sudan Holdout Group: Peace Deal Fails to Address Conflict’s Root Causes, by Nabeel Hajo

 VOA’s feature piece interviewed Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) leader Abdelwahid al-Nur, who called the Juba peace agreement is “nothing more than a plan to distribute wealth and government positions [which does not] address the underlying reasons for Sudan’s conflicts.”

 Al-Nur said the agreement is “business as usual,” citing “47 [previous peace agreements since Omar al-Bashir came to power which were not implemented] because they did not address the root causes of the problem.”

 According to al-Nur, people become rebels due to major issues preventing peace including: the lack of equality citizenship rights, “no distribution of wealth, no equal development, no equality between black and Arab and Muslim and Christian.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Government forces shoot Port Sudan resident dead

2/9/2020: Radio Dabanga - Government forces shoot Port Sudan resident dead

 Radio Dabanga reports that a man was killed, 17 civilians wounded, and a further eight members of the military forces wounded, in clashes between government forces and residents of Filib district in Port Sudan.

 The Resistance Committee of Filib said when joint force of army troops and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) searched the district for weapons, they beat up and detained people, accusing them of violating the curfew. When people attempted to stop them taking the detainees with them, the troops shot at them.

 The Filib Resistance Committee condemned the violence and holds the Red Sea state government and security committee “fully responsible for the martyr killed and the wounded”.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Guardian - Sudanese campaigners 'rename' streets after protesters killed in uprising

2/9/19: Guardian - Sudanese campaigners 'rename' streets after protesters killed in uprising, by Zeinab Mohammed Salih

 The Guardian reports that Sudanese campaigners are unofficially renaming public spaces and roads in Khartoum after those killed in the uprising against Omar Al Bashir.

 A main road in Khartoum is under discussion to be renamed either Martyrs’ Road, or Kandaka Road, for the female protesters of the uprising.

 “Changing the names of the streets means documenting our revolution. People will keep remembering the martyrs for thousands of years,” said Mohamed Hannen, from the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA). “We are also changing the … ideology and building a new Sudan with new names of the streets.” he added.

 A main road in Bahry, formerly named after the Bashir regime, has been renamed after Mohammed Hashim Mattar – who’s death saw the #BlueForSudan campaign. Other martyrs such as Waleed Abdurahman, Mahjoun Altaj and Mohammed Dodo have also been commemorated similarly.

 The SPA said it supported the initiative after discussions with neighbourhood committees.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune – Sudan’s FFC leaders cancel public meeting in North Darfur after hostile protest

2/9/19: Sudan Tribune – Sudan’s FFC leaders cancel public meeting in North Darfur after hostile protest

 Sudan Tribune reports that a group of youth in El-Fasher in Darfur have prevented a public meeting organised by the Forces of Freedom and Change – in protest of the FFC’s rejection of the demands made by Darfuri rebels for peace to be prioritised in Sudan’s transition.

 A high-profile FFC delegation that included Mohamed Nagi Alasam of the Sudanese Professionals Association planned to address El-Fasher as part of a national tour to mobilize popular support for the upcoming government.

 However, a group of youth – reportedly sympathisers of Sudanese rebels - held banners against the Sudan’s transitional documents, chanted  "No, no for marginalization" and "Where is peace? where is the revolution?,” and threw stones at the delegation when Alasam took the floor to make a speech.

 Sudanese rebel groups have accused the FFC of being the second incarnation of Al Bashir’s regime.