UNAMID dispatches assessment mission to Deleij, Central Darfur following communal clashes (13.06.2019)

Zalingei, 13 June 2019 – Following recent reports of fatalities and injuries in Deleij village, Central Darfur, the African Union – United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) on 11 June, dispatched an integrated assessment mission to the area to verify these reports.

The mission met with the affected persons and local authorities who confirmed that 17 people had been killed, 15 others injured with more than 100 houses burnt. This occurred during heated clashes between nomads and residents apparently angered by the increase in commodity prices at the local market.

UNAMID Joint Special Representative/Joint Chief Mediator (JSR/JCM), Jeremiah Mamabolo said that the Mission is deeply concerned about these developments, especially the loss of lives.

“UNAMID appeals to all involved in these clashes to show restraint and opt for peaceful means to resolve differences. This is the only course of action that can satisfy the interest of the people of Darfur at this delicate time,” JSR Mamabolo emphasized.

JSR Mamabolo further extended his sincere condolences and hope for recovery to all the affected people in Deleij village.

UNAMID will intensify its confidence – building measures in the affected area to promote inter-communal dialogue and share concerns raised by Deleij residents with the UN humanitarian community.

Deleij village, located in Wadi Salih locality, Central Darfur has 25,000 households, totaling around 150,000 residents.

Sudan: UN human rights experts call for independent investigation into violations (12.06.2019)

GENEVA (12 June 2019) – UN experts said today they were seriously concerned that Sudan was sliding into a “human rights abyss”, urging the Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigation into violations against peaceful protesters since the start of the year.

“Given the scale and seriousness of the reported human rights violations and the need to act quickly to prevent further escalation, we call on the Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigation into the human rights violations in Sudan and to actively monitor developments on the ground,” said the experts appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The UN experts expressed alarm at reports of numerous deaths and injuries since 3 June 2019 as a result of the use of excessive force and violence by State Security Forces, and in particular the Rapid Support Forces, against peaceful demonstrators.

“One of a State’s most fundamental duties is to protect life,” they said. “In pursuing ordinary law enforcement operations, using force that may cost the life of a person cannot be justified. International law only allows Security officers to use lethal force as a last resort in order to protect themselves or others from death or serious injury.

“We urge the authorities to ensure that security forces handle protests in line with the country’s international human rights obligations and to carry out independent and thorough investigations.”

Women have been at the forefront of the peaceful protests in the country in recent weeks and months and have been among the first victims of the violence, including sexual violence, the experts said, adding that dozens of women human rights defenders had been arbitrarily held in an attempt to intimidate them. While some have been released, information received suggests several remain in police custody and are in need of medical attention.

The Sudanese authorities’ failure to respect and protect their citizens’ rights to freedom of association and peacefully assembly, to express their opinions and to make peaceful demands on their Government was also a matter of grave concern, the experts said. The experts called on authorities to reconnect the internet network after it was shut down at the start of June 2019.

“Freedom of expression and assembly is essential so that the legitimate concerns of the people can be heard and their needs, including their human rights, addressed,” they said. “The demonstrators have been calling for democratic change, including the hand-over of power to civilians by the Transitional Military Council (TMC).

“We call upon the Transitional Military Council to respect and protect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to address the underlying causes for the demonstrations. As instructed by the African Union, the TMC must promptly hand over power to a civilian authority. This will avoid further precipitating Sudan into a human rights abyss.”

The experts expressed concerns about reports that three opposition leaders from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM/N Malik Agar faction) were allegedly deported from Sudan at the weekend. The men were arbitrarily arrested by the National Intelligence and Security Services last week.

Sudan: 30 civil society organisations call for urgent UN Security Council action to prevent further bloodshed in Sudan (11.06.2019)

Sudan: Civil Unrest – Flash Update No. 4 (10.06.2019)

Sudan: Civil Unrest – Flash Update No. 2 (08.06.2019)

Sudanese Professionals Association: Cautionary Statement (08.06.2019)

We have received several reports about the continued campaign of the Military Coup Council in arresting political activists and protesters. The militias of ‘the security committee’ of the old regime, RSF and Janjaweed brigades have detained a number of political leaders and threatened them with assassination, in addition to the forced disappearance of a large number of revolutionaries whose fate remains unknown. This violent campaign of the criminal militias has also reached a number of employees of banks, electricity companies, airports, civil aviation, and other vital sectors with pursuits, arrests, and threats, in an attempt to break the planned civil disobedience and the general political strike through which all sectors of the Sudanese people have come together to overthrow the Military Coup Council and transfer power to a civil transitional authority in accordance with the Declaration of Freedom and Change (DFC).

In continuation of the methods of intimidation, terrorism, and spreading disinformation, it has come to our knowledge that filthy schemes are being planned by the Military Coup Council to stage violent incidents and attacks on citizens’ properties, in order to attribute it to the revolutionaries and to the DFC forces. It is a sick and desperate attempt to shake the unity of the Sudanese people and their unwavering commitment to tools of nonviolent resistance that are ultimately manifested in the complete civil disobedience and the general political strike.

In the face of these catastrophic and repressive developments, we call upon the workers in all institutions and facilities, in the public and private sectors, to engage and strictly adhere to the tools of civil disobedience and the general political strike, to cherish the blood of the martyrs and protect the lives of their colleagues and with loyalty and respect for their continued struggle. We also appeal to all regional and international institutions, especially those related to banks and financial and economic transactions, not to deal with the oppressive authority that is occupying the country, to demand a stop to the bloodshed and assassinations faced by political leaders and activists, while fully holding the coup council and its militias responsible for any attack or arrest.

Finally, we salute the commitment and dedication of the revolutionary people of Sudan, and we affirm that we are anticipating all possibilities and are working to combat them for as long as it takes, until the dawn of salvation, and we are sure it is nigh.

We call on all activists, neighbourhood resistance committees, and strike committees to raise the level of readiness and order among them, take all precautions and be prepared to face these campaigns with the necessary peacefulness, awareness, and caution.

Sudanese Professionals’ Association
8 June 2019

Sudanese Professionals Association: A Call to our Sudanese People in the Diaspora (08.06.2019)

As a continuation of your various and strong roles in supporting the revolution, and in concurrence with the civil disobedience, we ask you to boycott all embassies and Military Council representation posts outside Sudan, and to avoid any dealings that could provide funds to the Coup Council.

We also request that you do not transfer any money through banks or any establishment that could go to the funds of the regime.

We stand united, firm, and strong, inside and outside Sudan, until all our demands are met, and our civil disobedience is successful.

SPA Media Team
8th of June, 2019

Statement of the Chairperson on Sudan following visit by IGAD Chair (08.06.2019)

8 June 2019, Addis Abeba: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat welcomes the visit to Khartoum by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and current Chairman of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD),Dr Abiy Ahmed, and the constructive meetings he held with the parties in the crisis in Sudan on Friday, 8 June 2019.

The Chairperson further wishes to express his deep appreciation for the close collaboration between IGAD and the AU Special Envoy Prof Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt and the Special Representative for Sudan Ambassador Mohamed Belaiche for their joint efforts in bringing parties to urgently resume negotiations.

In this regard, the Chairperson notes with satisfaction that the cooperation between IGAD and the AUC is firmly in line with the AU Peace and Security Council decision of 6 June 2019, and further reinforces the AU-led facilitation process to ensure that Africa continues to speak with one voice in its efforts to support the Sudanese people resolve the crisis in Sudan.

The Chairperson encourages the parties to undertake all the necessary political and security measures required to pave the way for a rapid resumption of negotiations to achieve a consensual agreement for transition towards civilian-led rule.

The Chairperson further stresses the need for all foreign actors to refrain from interference, and support the African Union efforts to support a Sudanese-led and and owned process that respects the will and aspirations of the people of Sudan, the region and the Continent.

Sudan: The TMC cannot be trusted – Two more FFC leaders was arrested yesterday!

The Transitional Military Council is really insane thinking of their strategy going into negotiations and mediation with the Forces of Freedom and Change Delaration (FFC), as if they ever was serious about anything else than using the guns on innocent civilians. The TMC should show serious finesse and gratitude for being in power, instead of their crimes against humanity and vindictive actions.

The TMC is really stalling their plans for a negotiations or talks with the FFC. As there are reports of two more leaders arrested after the meeting at the Ethiopian Embassy in Khartoum.

These being the SPLM-N leaders Ismail Jallab and Mubarak Ardol. Therefore, three SPLM-N leaders are in detention and one from the SPA. This shows the intention of the TMC. The TMC are really not serious.

With the reports of these actions done to the FFC. The TMC is clearly not planning for real talks. They are just doing it for photo-ops and getting headlines. Hoping it will die down and drown like the bodies have done in river Nile. Because, the TMC is a military movement, they are using the arms as their tool to finish things up and not even thinking of talking.

The TMC is not to be trusted, not to be legitimate body, as it is an military junta and outfit, which is only there to try take the power of the state without legitimacy. The TMC will not give up to a civilian ruler, because that means they have to give way. That is why they are arresting the FFC, the SPA and SPLM-N leaders.

This is a real sign and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali is on a loose goose hunt. There is no way at this junction he will not get anything. Not if they are contemplating real talks with serious measures for the future. Everything else is just lie, a manufactured story, as if the TMC would be a serious governing body, they would have acted differently and not arrested the counter-parts in the process. Especially not directly after the mediation meeting, which three leaders of the FFC has been detained since.

The TMC is trying to intimidate, to challenge and getting anyone with submission by arms and by taking the leaders of the people away. This is who they are and they are not even hiding it. Peace.

Sudanese Professionals Association – Statement: No Talks before Criminals are Brought to Account (07.06.2019)

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) today will not go back to the negotiation table with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) until those responsible for last week’s barbaric attacks on demonstrators at the Army HQ are brought to justice.

Following up on our announcement of yesterday, we stand firm in our rejection of any proposed resumption of direct negotiations with the Military Council. While we appreciate the mediation of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, H.E. Abiy Ahmad, we need to emphasize that for such an effort to be successful, the following measures must be immediately met:

*Setup an internationally recognized independent investigation panel, with international panel to probe into the criminal attacks on protesters near the Army HQ in Khartoum and other sit-in camps across the country, as well as all crimes committed since April 11, and bring perpetrators and those who issued the orders to fair trial.

*Put an end to the systematic killing and torturing of peaceful citizens by the Janjaweed militias and withdraw those forces out of cities, towns, and villages.

*Free all political detainees and prisoners of war and put an end to the ongoing arrest campaign against citizens, particularly those working in strategic sectors such as banking, utilities and aviation, as well political activists and revolutionaries.

*Restore public freedoms and cease all violations of the rights of expression and association.

*Lift the ban on the internet service, imposed by the coup junta to cover up for their atrocious crimes in the streets of cities and villages.

*The ultimate aim of any mediation effort should be to facilitate the transfer of power to a transitional civilian authority in line with the Freedom and Change Declaration.

*Our immediate focus now is on ensuring the success of our all-out civil disobedience and open political strike.

SPA

07 June 2019