Sudanese activists embark on new bid to stage popular uprising, 21 March
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March 20, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese activists have been calling for a
nationwide protest on Monday, March 21, against the 22-year rule of
President Al-Bashir’s government, in a fresh bid to emulate their
counterparts in neighboring Libya and Egypt.
JPEG - 11.4 kb
A poster by Sudan’s anti-government youth group Change Now Movement
says “no time is better than now for Sudan, 21 March”
(www.sudaneseonline.com)
A clutch of cyberspace-based groups and Facebookers have been actively
trying to galvanize support for tomorrow’s planned action, hoping to
compensate for their 30 January attempt which failed to take on a mass
appeal and was swiftly dispersed by the authorities who arrested
dozens of activists who were reportedly tortured by agents of the
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
There have also been a few other attempts to stage protests since 30
January but the authorities managed to contain them with the use of
force, drawing condemnation from several international organizations,
including Human Rights Watch (HRW) which slammed the government for
its “violent responses” to peaceful demonstrators.
On March 8, as the World celebrated Women’s International Day,
Sudanese police arrested and beat dozens of female activists
protesting against right abuses and the alleged rape of a female
activist by three NISS agents on 13 February.
“Because I am a free Sudanese, I will go out and say NO” an online
poster by a group called Change Now Movement circulated on many
websites and Facebook-based pages.
Another poster is urging people to “be the change and take to the
streets on 21 March to say enough to 21 years of deceit, theft,
destruction, corruption, separation and rape.”
Worsening economic conditions compounded with a sense of loss
following the secession of the oil-producing South Sudan in a
referendum in January have fuelled calls for a popular uprising in
north Sudan to be modeled on the wave of revolts which recently
toppled deeply entrenched governments in Tunisia and Egypt.
The current Sudanese government of President Al-Bashir has ruled the
country since it seized power in a military coup in 1989, ushering in
an era of repressive reactions to dissent amid a tightly controlled
domestic media.
(ST)
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