2011 Sudanese protests

2011 Sudanese protests
Part of the Arab Spring
Sudan within the Arab League as of the start of 2011.
Date January 30, 2011 (2011-01-30) –31 March 2011 Location  Sudan Characteristics Demonstrations Strike action Riots Online activism Result President Omar al-Bashir announced not to seek re-election in 2015[1]
Casualties
Death(s) 1[2]

The 2011 Sudanese protests began in January 2011 as part of the Arab Spring regional protest movement. Unlike other Arab countries, popular uprisings in Sudan succeeded in toppling the government prior to the Arab Spring, in both 1964 and 1985. Anti-government demonstrations were less common throughout the summer of 2011, during which South Sudan seceded from Sudan, but resumed in force late in the year.

Background

The protests in Sudan have been influenced by the revolutionary wave that started in Tunisia and later spread to other Middle Eastern and North African nations. The protests followed shortly after a successful independence referendum in January, 2011 on whether Southern Sudan should secede from Sudan and become an independent nation.

Protests

On January 30, 2011, protests took place in Khartoum and Al-Ubayyid.^[3] In Khartoum, police clashed with demonstrators in the town centre and at least two universities. Demonstrators had organized on online social networking sites since the Tunisian protests the month before. Hussein Khogali, editor in chief of the Al-Watan newspaper stated that his daughter had been arrested for organizing the protest via Facebook and opposition leader Mubarak al-Fadil's two sons were arrested while on their way to the main protest. Pro-government newspapers had warned that protests would cause chaos.^[4] Some protesters called for President Omar al-Bashir to step down. Activists said that dozens of people had been arrested. The protests came on the same day the preliminary results for the referendum indicated some 99% of South Sudanese voted to secede.^[5] One student died in hospital the same night from injuries received in the clashes.^[2] Students threw rocks at police officers while chanting "No to high prices, no to corruption" and "Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan together as one." Police officers arrested five and put down the protest.^[6]

In the Al-Ubayyid (el-Obeid) 30 January demonstration, about 500 people protested "against the government and demanding change" in the market. Police broke up the demonstration using tear gas.^[3]

On 1 February 2011, about 200 students demonstrated ^[7] in front of Al-Neelain University in Khartoum. Police stopped the demonstration.^[8]

Further protests, scheduled for March 21^[9] were violently suppressed as they were beginning.^[10]

On 1 November, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the eastern town of Kassala.^[11][12]

Student protests in December 2011

Students protested at the Red Sea University in Port Sudan after the arrest of several Darfuri student leaders on the night of 21 December, with many Darfuri student activists calling for a revolution and declaring their open support for the Sudan Revolutionary Front fighting the government in the south.^[13] On 26 December, 42 Darfuri students left the Red Sea University in protest over their treatment, Radio Dabanga reported.^[14]

Students also clashed with riot police wielding batons after security forces stormed the University of Khartoum on 22 December to break up a rally by about 700 student demonstrators protesting the displacement of the Manasir community caused by the construction of the Merowe Dam. Twenty were injured and at least four were arrested, activists told media.^[15] On 24 December, approximately 16,000 students attempted to launch a sit-in at the university to protest the police, the university administration, and the federal government, but they were dispersed by riot police who deployed tear gas, dealt out beatings, and arrested at least 73. Leaders of the student movement warned that they would continue to organize and demand the overthrow of the government despite security officers' violent tactics.^[16] On 30 December, thousands of students successfully launched a sit-in protest, the Associated Press reported.^[17]

At Sudan University of Science and Technology in Khartoum, fighting between student supporters of Khalil Ibrahim and the ruling National Congress Party broke out on 28 December, days after the Sudanese government announced Ibrahim's death in a battle between his Darfuri rebel group JEM and the Sudan People's Armed Forces. Twelve were injured in the brawl, which police used tear gas to disperse.^[18]

The student protests, in particular those at the University of Khartoum, have been blamed by police on the influence of unnamed Sudanese opposition parties.^[19]

Arrests

On 17 January 2011, security forces in Sudan arrested the head of the Popular Congress Party, Hassan al-Turabi, as well as five other members of the party, after he called for a similar protest to oust the ruling government over electoral fraud, stoking inflation and abrogating civil liberties^[20][21] at a time when Sudan was facing a secessionist referendum.

Domestic political response

On 21 February 2011, President Omar al-Bashir announced that he would not seek to run in the next presidential election in 2015.^[1]

Repercussion analysis

The Committee to Protect Journalists said journalists are facing increasing harassment. On 30 January 2011, journalists were beaten by security forces and at least eight were detained. The following day, the distribution of several opposition newspapers was blocked by authorities.^[22]

See also

• Politics of Sudan
• Sudan–SPLM-N conflict (2011)
• Freedom in the World
• List of freedom indices

External links

Aljazeera documentary about the protest movement in Sudan

Grifna, a Sudanese protest movement

References