---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 7:44 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Youth escalate calls for popular uprising To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Youth groups escalate calls for popular uprising March 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A clutch of Sudanese youth groups have stepped up calls for a popular uprising against the government of president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, one month after similar anti-government protests were quelled by security authorities. A group dubbed “Change Now” has circulated an e-mail urging men and women of Sudan to rise against the government. The group said it would participate in an anti-government protest planned for Tuesday, March 8. Mainstream opposition parties, including the National Umma Party and Popular Congress Party also said they would stage a protest on March 8. The wave of revolts currently sweeping over the Middle East inspired Sudanese youth to organize an online campaign and take to the streets on January 30. But the enthusiastic youth failed to generate mass appeal and the protests were crushed by security authorities which arrested dozens of activists. Another youth group calling itself “the Sudanese revolutionaries want to topple the regime” announced the start of a popular campaign to change the government of President Al-Bashir. The group said that the youth of Sudan are launching a campaign to topple the dictatorship of the National Congress Party. The group said that “the breeze of freedom has started to waft into Sudan from Egypt and Tunisia.” Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes in Darfur region, said he would not vie for the presidency after his current term ends in 2015. (ST) END1 2. HRW flays Sudan for abuses against protestors March 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The global watchdog Human Rights Watch has condemned Sudan for committing a wide array of abuses against anti-government protestors, demanding local authorities to refrain from such actions and release all remaining detainees. The New York-based rights watchdog said in a press release on Friday that agents of Sudan’s national intelligence and security services (NISS) had subjected a large number of youth protestors to severe physical and sexual abuse following anti-government protests in January and February. Small anti-government protests broke out in late January in the capital Khartoum and a few other towns in response to a campaign organized via the internet by youth groups inspired by the wave of revolts convulsing the Middle East. Sudanese anti-riot police supported by NISS agents used heavy force to break up the demonstrators, arresting more than 100 people on January 29, 30, and 31 in Khartoum and Omdurman alone, HRW said. HRW also said that NISS agents were implicated in the rape of the female activist Safia Ishaq who publicly told her a story in a Youtube video last month. “These heinous allegations clearly show that Sudan’s abusive national security apparatus is using torture and harassment to silence dissent,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. He called on the Sudanese authorities “to take immediate measures to stop torture, ill treatment, and harassment by the national security officials.” According to testimonies collected by HRW, the forms of abuses used by NISS agents ranged from beatings, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, death threats and threats of rape. HRW warned that at least 13 protesters, including four journalists, are still in detention at Bahri and “are at risk of similar ill-treatment.” In a related development, the UN’s independent expert on the human rights issues in Sudan, Justice Mohamed Chande Othman, is expected to visit Sudan on Saturday, leading a fact-finding mission of the UN Human Rights Council to ascertain reports of human rights abuses. (ST) END2 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
