After 30 years of dictatorship, the Sudanese people have finally decided to get rid of Dictator Al-Bashir. Their uprising which started in December 19th, 2018 is still continuing. Nation-wide demonstrations are now in their fourth month.
Dictator Al Bashir has been in power since 1989. At the moment, the Sudanese Parliament is reviewing the Constitution to enable Al-Bashir to be serve another term.
Al Bashir,who is indicted by the International Criminal Court ICC since 2009 for Darfur crimes, has never been respectful of human rights. His reign is marked by massacres, wars, corruption and utter lack of rule of law. The arrest warrant lacked the political will from international community & has become a mere card to blackmail the regime by regional & international powers.
On February 22nd this year, Al-Bashir declared a nation-wide State of Emergency; a desperate measure to counter the uprising and silence the popular call for his removal from power.
The State of Emergency froze the meagre rights offered by the Constitution and unleashed unprecedented abuse of human rights across the nation.
The State of Emergency bans public protests and assembly, authorises security authority to invade private homes, confiscate newspapers and arrest, torture and detain citizens at will. –
Since the start of the uprising on 19th/December/2018, more than 60 peaceful demonstrators were killed, most by direct gunshots some as a result of torture as in the case of Ahmed Elkair a teacher who was arrested, tortured, raped & died under detention on 1st/February/2019. Over 1000 protesters were injured and over 900 demonstrators faced fines, and jail sentences ranging from weeks to five years under the State of Emergency. Political detainees exceeded 3000 many are still incommunicado.
The uprising, led by youth and Sudanese Professional Association, a coalition of Sudanese trade unions, is set to continue and achieve its objective of ending dictatorship and ushering in a new democratic Sudan. The bottom line of the uprising is enshrined in its popular slogan: Freedom, Peace and Justice.
It’s essential to highlight the response of regional & international powers which range from complete indifference to halfhearted call for mutual restraint on both ruthless regime & peaceful demonstrators. This should be read within the context of the regime international ties. EU for example have a shabby agreement with Sudan, Khartoum Process, signed in 2014 aiming at halting immigration far away from Europe & its shores. Since 2015 Sudan regime received more than 250 million Euro in direct fund & training in order to monitor immigration through and from Sudan to Libya. More shamefully, Albashir delegates that task to his fearsome Janjaweed militia, after renaming it the Rapid Support Force. This is the same militia which committed the vast majority of war crimes in Darfur in 2003-2004.
We urge Irish people and international community to stand by our call for democracy and respect of human rights in the country. We ask general public to put pressure on EU through Irish government to end EU funding of dictators like Al Bashir & his militia and to take more strong stand against his regime.
We invite all of you to join us in our stand in solidarity with Sudanese people on 6th/April/2019 in O’Connell Street from 1 to 3 pm.
