Day: February 2, 2023

Police in El Fasher seized 500 cartons of stimulant pills, the opioid tramadol, illegal medical supplies, in addition to large amounts of cosmetics in the North Darfur capital yesterday.

At a press conference following the seizure, North Darfur’s Police Chief Nasreldin called on the Police Director General in Khartoum to deploy more police in North Darfur due to “the seriousness of the current drug situation”.

The El Fasher police chief also highlighted the need for more vehicles and work aids, to be able to properly stem the increase of drug smuggling.

Acting governor, Nimir Abdelrahman, praised the efforts to combat smuggling, and called on the federal Ministry of Interior Affairs “to provide the necessary assistance to the forces so that they can play their role in fighting the outlaws”.

Abdelrahman also urged the ministry “to place North Darfur among its priorities, due to the state’s openness to neighbouring countries, especially Libya”.

The Khartoum state Security Coordination Committee has decided to increase and intensify patrols to combat drug abuse, which has increased significantly in past years.

An exclusive Radio Dabanga feature last year points out that Sudan, in particular its capital, has been witnessing growing drug abuse in the past decade, with an explosive but under-reported increase in the past few years.

Source: Radio Dabanga

A large group of lawyers carried out a solidarity demonstration in front of the Ombadda Court in Omdurman yesterday, following reports of one of their colleagues being beaten by a policeman in a courtroom on Monday.

The assault on the lawyer took place during a trial session in the Ombadda Court, when the judge reportedly ordered a policeman to beat him. Lawyer Nahed Sultan told Radio Dabanga from the sit-in, that “this is a criminal offence that requires accountability”.

The participants in the vigil denounced the assault and chanted slogans such as “you beat a lawyer, you beat the nation” and “yes, yes to the law”.

In a memorandum submitted to the Senior Public Prosecutor, the lawyers stated that they will continue the sit-in “until the judge and the policeman are brought to a fair criminal trial”.

Central Darfur

A police officer allegedly assaulted the principal of a primary school in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, on Wednesday, before threatening to shoot him dead.

Seifeldin Haroun, spokesperson for the Central Darfur Teachers’ Committee, told Radio Dabanga that a police officer beat Abdelhabib Nourein, Principal of the Manara Primary School in Zalingei on Wednesday morning, after the school director punished students, including the officer’s son, for being late.

Haroun stated that the officer “beat and kicked the principal in front of the school students before he pulled out a pistol and threatened to kill him”.

The Teachers’ Committee lodged a complaint against the officer at the Zalingei Police Station. The Central Darfur Ministry of Education and Guidance condemned the incident in the strongest terms. In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said it would take the necessary legal measures against the policeman.

Source: Radio Dabanga

A journalist at Sudan’s El Jareeda newspaper, Safaa El Fahal, has received threats from an extremist Islamic group via Facebook, after she wrote a column on military training taking place in Quran schools.

El Fahal told Radio Dabanga that she had covered the story of a woman who told her that women and girls were receiving military training in Quran schools.

In a message via Messenger, a person who stated that he belongs to the Missionary Movement for Preaching and Fighting, declared her an infidel and threatened to “seize and slaughter her”, adding that she ‘had better repent before we get you”.

The journalist filed a report with the Informatics Prosecution, asking for the identity of the person who threatened her to be revealed.

Press freedom

Last year, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the October 25 coup, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) lamented that the press and media in Sudan have faced unprecedented targeting since the October 2021 coup, and that that the press and media in Sudan have been facing “a terrible regression in terms of press freedom”.

“Sudanese authorities continue to harass and make it difficult for journalists to do their work in Sudan,” said the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) in a statement in September. The organisation explained that “reform does not mean duplicating policies of the former regime, but rather creating a strategic reform process.”

Sudan is ranked 151 out of 180 in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, and is ranked as 29 out of 100, i.e. ‘Not Free’, in Freedom House’s Internet Freedom Index. “Anti-journalist predators enjoy total impunity and are protected by the authorities,” according to Reporters Without Borders. On its website, the organisation states that “journalists are working in a worsening climate of violence” since the military coup d’état of October 25, 2021.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North faction under the leadership of Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar), announced their boycott of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) conference which began in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday, due to the selection of participants in the workshop.

Spokesperson for the *SPLM-N Agar, Saad Mohamed Abdallah, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that they reject “the attempt to flood the peace agreement with a political agenda, because the invitations were directed improperly”.

Abdallah explained that the JPA, signed by the Sudanese government, the Sudan Revolutionary Front alliance of 13 rebel groups in Juba on October 3, 2020, includes mechanisms for its review and possible amendments.

The rebel spokesperson warned of “the dire consequences of not implementing the JPA” and appealed to the international community “to support the implementation of all protocols of the agreement”.

He accused unnamed parties of seeking to dominate Sudan’s political process.

Abdallah further emphasised the cohesion of the members of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, “despite differences in views regarding participation in the JPA conference”.

Separate workshop

Agar reported that the South Sudanese mediation team has invited all the 14 signatories to the JPA, including the government to a two-part workshop in Juba in February.

“The Juba workshop consists of two meetings. The first, for the mediators, is scheduled for 10 to 13 February, and the second, for the signatories, from 15 to 18 February,” he said. “The outcomes of the workshop will be announced in the presence of the presidents of the two countries.”

He explained that the South Sudanese mediation team is “the only body that can bring the peace parties together. The FFC alliance does not have the right to do so because it is not a government agency”.

Cairo inter-Sudanese workshop

The SPLM-N Agar will not take part in the inter-Sudanese dialogue organised by Egypt this week.

Mustafa Tambour, a former member of the holdout Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW), explained that the importance of the Cairo workshop lies in “bringing together different political forces”.

He stated Egypt has the best chance of mediating between the Sudanese parties and managing a comprehensive Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, “given its strategic relations with Sudan”.

Much like Agar, Tambour played down the importance of the conference on the JPA, that started in Khartoum on Tuesday. Stating that, “it does not have any value because the participating parties have nothing to do with the JPA and are not interested in discussing it”.

*In March 2017, the SPLM-N split into two factions, after Nuba rebel leader Abdelaziz El Hilu resigned. The faction headed by Malik Agar is stationed in Blue Nile region. The SPLM-N El Hilu continued, with most of the SPLM-N combatants, fighting the government of Al Bashir from the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, and separately joined peace talks in Juba, which stalled. The two factions fought heavy battles after the split. The SPLM-N El Hilu that also has supporters in Blue Nile region, claims that the SPLM-N Agar “does not control any territory” in South Kordofan or Blue Nile region.

August 2022, the SPLM-N Agar announced a new split in its ranks. In a joint statement, Malik Agar and his deputy Yasir Arman announced that during a meeting organised by rebel leader El Hadi Idris in Khartoum they “amicably” agreed to split. They made it clear that the two sides of the dispute had concluded that the issues in dispute were too fundamental to continue their cooperation.

Source: Radio Dabanga