SUDAN
Springtime Again
The Arab Spring appears to have come belatedly to Sudan.
Protests flared in the Northeast African country recently amid a dire economic crisis that many believe could topple President Omar al-Bashir, an alleged war criminal wanted on international charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and other acts he stands accused of committing in Darfur during a civil war in the early 2000s.
“What started in December as a provincial demonstration against rising food prices has morphed into a campaign by opposition activists for Mr. Bashir to go,” wrote the Financial Times in an editorial.
The authorities arrested several faculty members from Khartoum University on Sunday as fresh protests hit the capital and other cities in a response to a call from professional unions for al-Bashir to step down, Al Jazeera reported. Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told parliament on Monday that a total of 816 protesters have been arrested since the demonstrations began last month, Al Jazeera said separately.
Al-Bashir has been in office since 1989, when a bloodless coup swept him into power along with the Sudanese branch of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. “The Arabization and Islamization of Sudan, at all costs,” was their goal, explained Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-Australian writer, in the Independent.
The president has since broken with his militant comrades. Now he’s most interested in holding onto power and avoiding international justice.
Take, for example, a speech he delivered to police officers amid clashes that have resulted in the deaths of scores of protesters.
“It is the duty of the state to maintain security without abuse, and to implement internal security principles using the least possible force,” said al-Bashir, according to a broadcast of the speech carried on the Sudanese government’s news agency, according to CNN. “The purpose is not to kill the people but the ultimate goal is to maintain the security and stability for the citizens.”
The Turkish news agency Anadolu captured more of the speech on video. “But sometimes – as we said and as God himself said – you have, in the exacting of penance, life,” al-Bashir said. “What is exacting penance? It is killing, it is execution, but God described it as life because it is a deterrence to others so we can maintain security.”
Killing equals life. That’s dictators’ logic laid bare.
Al-Bashir has promised to raise civil servants’ wages, reported Al Jazeera. He has called on unidentified countries for funds to stimulate the economy, Bloomberg added. Saudi Arabia undertook the same moves to avoid serious uprisings during the Arab Spring.
Sudanese opposition groups were undaunted. They called for more demonstrations.
“The regime, in its present composition and given its political, economic, regional and international isolation, cannot pull through this crisis,” an alliance of opposition parties said in a statement cited by the Associated Press.
The Arab Spring gave voice to the people’s concerns. It also unleashed terrible, violent forces. The Sudanese are trying to decide which road to take.
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