Explosion near convoy as Abdalla Hamdok was heading to office in Khartoum
Sudan’s prime minister has survived an apparent assassination attempt after an explosion near his convoy in the capital, Khartoum.
Abdalla Hamdok confirmed he was safe in a tweet shortly after the attack.
Continue reading...Inquiry finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters
Sudanese security forces systematically planned and coordinated a series of deadly attacks that killed 241 pro-democracy protesters and injured hundreds more at a Khartoum sit-in last year, an inquiry has found.
Authorities “purposefully pre-positioned” state security forces armed with tear gas, whips and assault rifles in the month before the protests began, and “intentionally targeted” medical personnel and facilities during and after the protests, according to the New York-based advocacy organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which led an investigation into the violence.
Continue reading...Once lauded as one of Sudan’s finest musicians, Abu Obaida Hassan faded into obscurity under the Bashir regime and was even pronounced dead. Now he is back – to global acclaim
The unpaved outskirts of Omdurman, Sudan’s second city, seem like an unusual place to find a musical superstar, but Abu Obaida Hassan is far from ordinary. The frail man in his 60s who holds court in the shaded yard of a squat brick house represents a musical revolution, one that electrified traditional Sudanese music. Stranger still, in the eyes of the Sudanese public he is back from the dead.
In his 70s heyday, Abu Obaida travelled from Merowe, the home of the Shaigiya people and a centre of Nubian culture, to Khartoum, finding fame as a renegade player of a local stringed instrument known as the tambour.
Continue reading...Talks resolve to send ‘those who face arrest warrants’ for war crimes to The Hague
Sudan has suggested it is prepared to hand over the former dictator Omar al-Bashir to the international criminal court in The Hague to face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The decision marks a dramatic shift from the previous official position of the country’s new rulers, though observers warned that many obstacles still needed to be overcome before the 76-year-old reached a court room.
Continue reading...Supported by wealthy foreign backers, a feared paramilitary outfit controls Sudan’s most lucrative industry, complicating the country’s path to democracy
Ornate, heavy necklaces gleam on stands above stacks of thick filigree bangles in the windows of Khartoum’s gold market. The gold is Sudanese, dug from the rich mines that span the country.
Shop owner Bashir Abdulay hands over a palm-sized lump of pure gold with two small bore holes as he explains how the prized metal goes from mine deposit, through middlemen, to Khartoum.
Continue reading...Majority of tents in Agadez were destroyed by fire following peaceful sit-in, leaving Sudanese living in fear
Sudanese refugees in Niger say they have been living in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation after security forces cracked down on protests calling for better living conditions.
Refugees have been sleeping in the desert despite low temperatures since their camp in Agadez was almost completely burned down last month after a sit-in was forcibly dispersed by Nigerien security forces. The Nigerien authorities said they arrested 355 people immediately after the fire.
Continue reading...Families protest amid claims men who went to work in UAE were given military training and then sent to Libya to guard oil fields
Sudan’s government has been accused of failing young men who claim they were tricked into guarding Libyan oil facilities by a security firm from the United Arab Emirates.
Families have been protesting outside the UAE embassy and the Sudanese foreign ministry in Khartoum over the past week, demanding action after their relatives were recruited by a company that they say offered jobs as security guards in the Emirates, not Libya.
Continue reading...This poignant and witty documentary focuses on four directors whose careers were stalled by a military coup thirty years ago
This witty and engaging cinephile documentary begins surreally with its subjects, four older male Sudanese film-makers, recreating the famous “closeup” scene from Sunset Boulevard. None of these directors has worked properly in years, since a military coup in 1989 triggered the collapse of Sudan’s film industry for religious and economic reasons. Now a power cut prevents them from even watching a movie, so they make do. Ibrahim Shaddad wraps a blue chiffon scarf coquettishly around his face as Norma Desmond, simpering: “I’m ready for my closeup.”
Films are oxygen for these men, and Talking About Trees follows their mission to reopen a neglected outdoor movie theatre near Khartoum and give away tickets. There are almost no cinemas left in Sudan. As plans go, it looks as rickety as the 12ft ladders they climb to scrub the crumbling walls of the cinema. The four amigos – Shaddad, Suliman Ibrahim, Eltayeb Mahdi and Manar Al-Hilo – repaint the peeling sign, print posters and canvass the local community to decide what film to show first. (The people pick Django Unchained.) They accept setbacks philosophically, with stoicism and amusement. Shaddad finds it hilarious when the general from the morality police dealing with their request for a permit gives them the runaround, disappearing off to pray for two hours.
Continue reading...Researchers predict worldwide turmoil will continue in 2020, with Venezuela, Iran and Libya at greatest risk
A quarter of all countries experienced a dramatic surge in civil unrest last year in a worrying trend that is likely to continue into 2020, researchers have found.
Verisk Maplecroft, a leading risk analysis and strategic forecasting company, said in a report published on Thursday that 47 countries experienced a significant rise in the number of protests over the course of the past year. Hong Kong, Chile, Nigeria, Sudan, Haiti and Lebanon were among the states affected.
Continue reading...Politicians in their 30s and 40s face huge hurdles in sweeping away decades-old regimes
After several years during which younger leaders have come to power across Africa, 2020 could hold challenges that may force many of the newcomers to take a step back.
Not all the young politicians are progressive, or even pro-democracy. But they are all representative of sweeping changes across the continent that have destabilised long-standing regimes and forced out some veteran leaders.
Continue reading...Some are trusted aides, others are fixers who work in the shadows. Often unelected and unaccountable, they all have the ear of national leaders
The role of Dominic Cummings in plotting and facilitating Boris Johnson’s drive for power has focused attention on the influence exerted by behind-the-scenes advisers and confidants who have the ear of prominent politicians.
Powerful men and women around the world all have personal counsellors, trusted aides and backroom mentors. Then there are the “insiders” – string-pullers, fixers and manipulators with ambitions of their own. Few become well-known, although Cummings’s notoriety is by no means exceptional.
Continue reading...Hundreds of fighters from Sudan joining anti-government Libyan National Army
A new wave of mercenaries from Sudan is fighting in Libya, deepening concerns that the conflict in the north African state has descended into an intractable international war that could destabilise much of the region.
Leaders of two different groups of Sudanese fighters active in Libya have told the Guardian that they had received hundreds of new recruits in recent months. Both groups were fighting with the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar against the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.
Continue reading...Deposed president convicted of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency
Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, has been sentenced to two years in detention after being found guilty of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency.
Bashir has been in prison in Khartoum since being forced from power in April when security forces withdrew their support for his repressive regime after months of protests.
Continue reading...If Washington wants to be on the right side of history, it must open the way for Sudan to receive economic support
Over the past year, the Sudanese people have staged a near miraculous revolution, overthrowing the 30-year dictatorship of President Omar al-Bashir.
Following mediation led by the African Union and Ethiopia, a transitional government consisting of civilians and military generals is headed by Abdalla Hamdok, a veteran economist untainted by the decades of corruption and misrule. It is the best compromise: the army, and especially the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, are simply too powerful to be removed from politics in one fell swoop.
Continue reading...Nile basin countries fear for their future water supplies as the Grand Renaissance hydroelectric project reaches completion
A new round of high-level talks has started in Cairo between three Nile basin countries aimed at resolving disputes over Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Renaissance dam, which is set to become Africa’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.
Analysts fear that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia could be drawn into conflict if the dispute is not resolved before the $5bn dam begins operating next year.
Continue reading...Activists welcome passing of key demands of protest movement that toppled Bashir
Activists in Sudan have welcomed a decision by the transitional government to dissolve the former ruling party and repeal a public order law used to regulate women’s behaviour under the former president Omar al-Bashir.
Bashir has been in detention since being forced from power in April, when security forces withdrew their support for his regime after months of protests in which more than 100 people were killed.
Continue reading...Fake networks in eight nations are connected to man allegedly behind disinformation empire
Facebook has taken down accounts linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin – the businessman allegedly behind Russia’s notorious troll factory – which were actively seeking to influence the domestic politics of a range of African countries.
The company said on Wednesday it had suspended three networks of “inauthentic” Russian accounts. The Facebook pages targeted eight countries across the continent: Madagascar, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya.
Continue reading...Around the world, humanitarian aid workers operate in dangerous and difficult environments and here in South Sudan we know that many aid workers and peacekeepers have lost their lives while trying to protect and assist South Sudanese communities.
Among them have been women who play a vital role in every aspect of crisis response, and particularly in preventing, responding to, and working with survivors of gender-based violence.
Continue reading...Omar al-Bashir faces long jail term if convicted as country’s military leaders pave way for civilian rule
Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, will appear in court on Monday for the first day of a high-profile corruption trial that could end in the deposed autocratic ruler being jailed for many years.
Bashir was forced out of power in April when security forces withdrew their support for his regime after months of popular protests. He is now in prison and will be charged with possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving gifts illegally.
Continue reading...Deal paves way for transitional government after overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir
Sudan’s main opposition coalition and the ruling military council have signed a final power-sharing agreement, paving the way for a transitional government following the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.
Stability in Sudan, which has been grappling with an economic crisis, is seen as crucial for a volatile region struggling with conflict and insurgencies from the Horn of Africa to Egypt and Libya.
Continue reading...