Must-read articles and tweets on #SudanRevolts:
Head of doctors’ union taken into custody by Sudanese security – SudanTribune
Sudan’s security forces have briefly detained the head of Sudan Doctors’ Union (SDU) Ahmed Al-Sheikh, from his office in down town Khartoum on Saturday. Al-Sheikh had earlier told several news agencies that the number of victims in the recent protests amounted to 210 deaths, pointing that those who were shot were pockmarked with bullet holes to head and chest. He added that they are keen to be present in the hospitals to treat the injured, saying that they are planning to set up two clinics in Omdurman and Khartoum north to assist the wounded. Al-Sheikh’s wife later told Al-Arabiya TV that her husband was released on Saturday night, saying that he was questioned about statements issued by the SDU calling for a general strike. Last week, violent clashes erupted between the demonstrators and security forces in different parts of the Sudan following the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies leading to at least 34 deaths according to official figures and more than a 200 according to activists, opposition, and human rights organizations…
A Killing by Sudanese Security Forces Stokes the Anger of a Protest Movement – NYTimes
The killing of a young pharmacist by Sudanese security forces during an antigovernment demonstration here has become a rallying cry for the protest movement that has rocked Sudan for the last two weeks, threatening the government’s grip on power. Since the pharmacist, Salah Sanhouri, 28, was shot in the back and killed last month, crowds have gathered daily outside his house. “Oh, Khartoum, revolt, revolt against those who killed Salah Sanhouri,” they chanted on a recent evening. A short documentary about his life and death titled “Stairway to Heaven” has drawn nearly 9,000 views in three days on YouTube. A Facebook page called “We are all Salah Sanhouri” received 44,000 likes in a single week. The title of the Facebook page recalled another one dedicated to Khaled Said, an Egyptian businessman whose fatal beating by police officers helped start the Egyptian uprising in 2011. Others here have compared Mr. Sanhouri to Mohamed Bouazizi, the food vendor whose self-immolation was the catalyst for the protest movement in Tunisia…
Sudan’s ruling party showing fresh signs of rebellion against Bashir – SudanTribune
Several figures within Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) who signed a memo last week calling for the cancellation of recent cuts in subsidies and an end to the bloody crackdown on protesters, refused to appear before a commission of inquiry formed by the party. The economic measures triggered some of the worst protests Sudan has seen in years, with the death toll surpassing 200 according to Amnesty International. The memo, which was sent to president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and initially signed by 31 NCP members, criticised the government’s decision to remove subsidies on fuel and other basic commodities, saying it “harshly” impacted on Sudanese citizens. The signatories, who included former presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani and MP Aisha Al-Ghabashawi, said parliament had not been consulted over the latest economic measures, which were opposed by sections of the NCP. “Alternatives [to lifting subsidies] were proposed by individuals, experts and political forces but the substitutes were given no consideration and the government insisted on implementing the measures as they are indifferent to their impact and the extent of citizens’ ability to endure them”, said the memo…
On Tuesday I met with Ali Karti, the Sudanese Foreign Minister, for about two hours – GretaWire
As you know from reading GretaWire, the Sudanese Government is not happy with my posting of pictures from the Nuba Mountain region in Sudan (children starving to death, hiding in caves, eating bugs, bomb crater etc.) Those pics were taken when I traveled there with Reverend Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse (and Griff Jenkins!) Foreign Minister Ali Karti was in the USA for the opening of the UN General Assembly and so we met for about 2 hours in Washington, DC (also Reverend Franklin Graham and my husband were at the meeting.) The meeting with the Foreign Minister got heated but was cordial. We did not agree….but we agreed to keep communicating. We listened to Foreign Minister Karti’s positions on the bombings and he listened to our view. He said the innocent civilians were “collateral damage” that happens in war and that it is the rebels who are to be blamed. I saw the Sudanese Government weapon — bombers at 25,000 feet. It is hardly an even match. Foreign Minister Karti said that the rebels in the Nuba Mountains are terrorizing and killing (and not the other way around. He denied the Sudanese Government was terrorizing and killing innocent civilians.)…
