Wüstenschiff

A coalition of Sudanese Islamist groups has threatened to declare Jihad against the government if it refuses their demands a constitution based on Islamic Shari’a law [...] ICF’s Chairman Al-Sadiq Abduall Abdel Majid declared, in a statement released on Tuesday, their group’s rejection to the constitution committee and demanded that the government holds a plebiscite on the process of constitution-creation. In the same statement, ICF’s Secretary-General Nasir Al-Sayed threatened that they might resort to “Jihad” against the government by mobilizing the public to protest in demand of an Islamic constitution.

Is there a Revolution on the horizon in Sudan? On the evening of June 16th 2012, the voices of a small group of female students from Khartoum University’s Barracks dorms broke out in unison, chanting against the ruling National Congress Party (NCP); setting off a chain of events that signaled that a barrier of fear has been broken. For two straight months after that, protests continued for a number of reasons; although both the regional and international media focused on the ’austerity measures’ as the main driving force behind the protests; failing to recognise the entrenched historical role of students in the country’s civil movements and resistance in bringing about social and political change [...] Sudan has not witnessed protests of this size nor magnitude or with this persistence for years. These protests encouraged people to reconsider the culture of peaceful protest and resistance, and restored confidence in the fact that the street and the masses can bring about change. A significant number of new actors have joined the political movement further broadening the base from being exclusively just activists and traditional groups.

Violent clashes between students loyal to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and supporters of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) have continued for the second day at the University of the Holy Quran and Islamic Sciences in Khartoum. On Monday, more than 25 students from both sides were injured when clashes erupted between the two groups during the Students Union’s elections. The clashes led to suspend indefinitely the electoral process at the university, as the two Islamist student groups traded accusations over the responsibility for the violence and the suspension of elections.

Sudanese police used tear gas for a third consecutive day on Saturday to disperse demonstrators who protest plans to remove artisanal brick factory in Al-Geraif-Sharg suburb of Khartoum State. The tear gas caused some injuries to a number of demonstrators, who were rushed to East Nile Hospital, while others blocked a main road in the locality. The protests started on Thursday when people took to the street to protest the state’s authority move to eradicate brick factories owned by residents in the area. The demonstrators set fire to tyres in the streets before they were dispersed by the police [...] Residents of “East Nile” County in Khartoum State have been organizing sporadic demonstration for more than a year to protest the "land grabbing of their properties" . A young man known as” Ahmed Obeid” was shot dead during an angry demonstration in June 2015.

Sudan is in urgent need of a fresh democratic transition, and for an inclusive peace to avert negative scenarios. The Arab Spring that swept across the Middle East and succeeded in overthrowing three dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in 2011 was a pivotal point in the history of nations. Despite the subsequent descent into the "Arab Winter", the peaceful protests of young people were heroic. The movement demonstrated the power of the people against the status quo and the grip of repressive regimes. After the initial but short-lived success of the Arab Spring, many observers asked: "Why hasn't there been a Sudanese Spring?" Sudan's crisis had been no less severe, nor protracted than those of the Arab Spring countries. In addition, two of the Arab Spring countries - Egypt and Libya - border Sudan. Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, was quick to answer the question claiming that his coup 27 years ago was Sudan's version of the Arab Spring. "Those who are waiting for the Arab Spring to come will be waiting for a while," he said. He explained that the Arab Spring in Sudan had already occurred through a bloodless revolution that he led against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister al-Sadiq al-Mahdi on June 30, 1989. Bashir's claim had astonished many in Sudan and across the globe.

Sudan’s President Omer al-Bashir has warned the members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of hard days to come due to the planned government policies to liberalize the prices of commodities and scrapping subsidies, according to a leaked audio recording [...] On Thursday, Sudanese government scrapped fuel subsidies and increased electricity price in a bid to stop the surge in inflation and control the collapse of Sudanese pound in the black market [...] Security forces were deployed in Khartoum streets on Friday the first day after of fuel prices increase, to control any protests against the unpopular austerity measures.

The largest partner in Sudan’s government, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani has criticized the recent raise in fuel and electricity price saying it was not consulted in the decision.