8 October 2013 - Global civil so ciety alliance, CIVICUS strongly condemns the government of Sudan’s brutal response to on-going protests in the country.
“The government’s violent repression of demonstrations represents the most severe crackdown on independent dissent since the protest movement began in 2011,” said Tor Hodenfield, Policy and Advocacy Officer at CIVICUS. “The international community, especially the African Union, must not wait passively for the situation to further deteriorate before taking action,” said Hodenfield.
According to the Sudanese authorities, 34 people have died and 700 others have been arrested during the most recent wave of protests which began on 22 September in the greater Khartoum area. However, Sudanese civil society groups and diplomats have put the death toll at at least 200, citing the government’s indiscriminate and excessive use of excessive force, including live ammunition, to disperse protestors.
Originally provoked by the government’s decision to lift fuel subsidies, the protests have escalated into wider calls for the resignation of the President Al Bashir and the formation of a transitional government. Demonstrations have also spread to other regions across Sudan, including Ahfad University in Omdurman City, where the government fired teargas to disperse 150 and 200 female student protestors on October 1st.
In an apparent attempt to silence independent reporting of the protests, the government has severely escalated its punitive campaign to silence critical media and civil society groups. At least five domestic newspapers, including Al-Intibaha, Al-Watan and Al-Sudani, have been confiscated or forcibly suspended since the protests began. Pan-Arab satellite channels Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia have also been forced to close after security officials raided both offices in Khartoum on September 27th.
Scores of civil society activists and journalists have also been detained under Sudan’s 2010 National Security Act, which permits detention for up to four and a half months without judicial scrutiny. On September 23 and 30, Sudan’s notorious National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) detained without charge a number of representatives of the youth movement “Sudan Change Now.” At least four journalists, including Al Masa TV reporter, Solafa Abu and Al Hurra correspondent, Ameer Hassan, have reportedly also been arrested or summoned for questioning since the outset of the protests.
“Since 2011, the government has reflexively responded to peaceful protestors by undertaking mass arrests of demonstrators, journalists and civil society activists. The government must immediately change course and initiate a substantive dialogue with civil society to find a peaceful resolution to the protracted conflict,” said Hodenfield.
CIVICUS calls on the government of Sudan to:
- End the use of excessive force against protesters and stop the use of live ammunition against demonstrators.
- Ensure that all cases of injury and death caused to protestors by security forces are subjected to mandatory and transparent investigation by an independent commission.
- Halt all unwarranted censorship of international and national media by immediately reinstating media outlets forcibly suspended.
- Release all civil society activists, protestors and journalists under the National Security Act and ensure that due process guarantees are afforded to all detained persons.