Tag Archives: Omar al-Bashir

Sudan sea port blockade

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The main sea ports of Sudan were blockaded by protesters opposed to part of a peace deal with the rebels, targeting branches of the ravaged economy’s main conduits for trade.

Demonstrations forced facilities to close at Port Sudan and Suakin, both on the Red Sea, according to the head of a local labor committee that supports the action, Abdou Alshirbini. Protesters plan October 5 to extend their blockade to Bashair, the port from which landlocked South Sudan’s oil is shipped to world markets, he said by phone.

Authorities weren’t immediately available to comment on the committee’s claims. Sudan Seaports Corp. spokesman Nabil Mahmoud said on October 4 that facilities at Port Sudan and Suakin had been partially closed, without giving details.

Any long-term pause would mean more problems for Sudan’s  troubled economy. Inflation has hit 167% and GDP is likely to contract some 7.2% this year as the North African country strives to overcome shortages of key commodities and attract foreign aid and investment in the aftermath of dictator Omar al-Bashir’s 2019 ouster.

Groups from other regions also signed, but some in the east said the two factions that participated in the “eastern track” of the peace process do not represent political forces on the ground, Reuters news agency reported.
The deal is aimed at ending decades of conflict in Sudan and uniting the country behind a political transition following the ouster of former leader Omar Bashir in April 2019.

However, the two most active  and powerful groups in the west and the south did not sign, and analysts said that during negotiations, local communities were not widely consulted by military and civilian authorities now sharing power.

The rebel groups – the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nour and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu did not sign, reflecting the challenges still facing the peace process.

Workers at the southern port, Sudan’s main sea terminal for containers, and at Suakin port to the south, were on strike over the peace deal, said Aboud El-Sherbiny, head of the Port Sudan Workers Union.

“We demand the cancellation of the ‘eastern track’ and the agreement that was signed yesterday in Juba because this track expresses an external agenda,” he said.

Sudan: separation of religion from state

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Sudan’s transitional government agreed to separate religion from the state, ending three decades of Islamic rule. (Image: Khartoum)

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North rebel group, signed a declaration in Addis Ababa, the capital city, adopting the principle.

“For Sudan to become a democratic country where the rights of all citizens are enshrined, the constitution should be based on the principle of ‘separation of religion and state,’ in the absence of which the right to self-determination must be respected,” the document states.

The accord comes less than a week after the government initialed a peace deal with rebel forces aiming at end of fighting that ravaged Darfur and other parts of Sudan under ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir.

The larger of two factions in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, which has fought Sudanese troops in the nation’s border states, has refused to sign any agreement that doesn’t ensure a secular system.

Sudan is recovering from international isolation that began soon after Bashir seized power in 1989 and implemented a hard-line interpretation of Islamic law that intended to shape the country as the “vanguard of the Islamic world.” Al-Qaeda settled théorie and the U.S. designated Sudan a terror sponsor in 1993, later imposing sanctions until 2017.

Darfur: Sudan willing ICC trials

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Sudan government said it was willing to discuss trials for people wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a group that includes ousted leader Omar al-Bashir, Bloomberg Africa reports.

The Information Ministry on June 10 also welcomed the detention in neighboring Central African Republic  (CAR) of Ali Muhammad Ali Abdi-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, who’d been indicted on war-crimes charges for his role in the Darfur conflict in 2003 and 2004.

In February the Transitional government of Sudan said that all ICC suspects would appear before the Court as a condition of a peace deal that’s being negotiated with rebels. Authorities haven’t clarified whether this would mean they would be transported to the Hague or standing trial remotely.

Al-Bashir $4bn assets confiscated

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Following the investigation, Sudan has confiscated assets valued at $4 billion from former President Omar al-Bashir, his family members and associates, the country’s anti-corruption body said.

“Our initial estimates of the value of the assets, shares in different companies and buildings we have confiscated is $3.5 billion to $4 billion,” Salah Manaa, a spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption and Regime Dismantling Committee, said in response to questions. The body was set up late last year.

Bashir, who was overthrown by the army in a coup a year ago amid mass protests against his three-decade rule, was jailed in December after being found guilty of illicitly possessing millions of dollars in foreign currencies.

The oust leader has also been indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity committed in the western region of Darfur.

Sudan: Bashir family property confiscated

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In Sudan capital Khartoum several large plots of land and residential properties will be confiscated from family members, relatives, and some close friends of ousted President Omar al-Bashir after investigation established they were acquired largely due to family connections, anti-corruption committee announced on May 7.

The Empowerment Removal Committee said it confiscated property from Bashir’s brother-in-law, nieces, nephews, and a former Defence minister, who was a close ally of al-Bashir. It transferred the ownership of the propterites, which totalled around 92,000 square meters in size to the finance ministry with new status of natonalised public property.

Separately, it also dissolved the boards of the Khartoum International Airport Company and the Sudan Airports Holding Company over a range of accusations, mainly corruption.

The committee was charged by the attorney general with dismantling the system built by long-term ruler Bashir authority after his ouster in April last year. It is in charge of investigations into crimes involving public funds and corruption by the former president and members of his extended family and allies.

Bashir, who has been jailed in Khartoum since he was toppled following mass protests after his 30-year authoritarian rule, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.

A Sudanese court handed Bashir a first, two-year sentence in December on corruption charges. He also faces trials and investigations over the killing of protesters and his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power.

Al-Bashir faces indictment

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Sudanese judge on formally indicted former President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir for possessing illicit foreign currency and corruption. Al-Bashir was publicly questioned for the first time since his overthrow.

Judge Al-Sadiq Abdelrahman announced at the third session of Bashir‘s trial that foreign funds of various currencies were found at his home.

Authorities had “seized 6.9 million euros, $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds at (Bashir’s) home which he acquired and used illegally,” the judge revealed.

Sudan military and civilians reached agreement

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Military rulers and the main opposition  coalition of Sudan reached an agreement paving the way for a new transitional government, the African Union announced on August 3, after protracted crisis negotiations following the fall of decades long leader Omar al-Bashir (1993 -2019).

The agreement, which defines the frame of the transitional government, was mediated by the African Union and neighbouring Ethiopia in talks that were suspended several times because of street violence in Khartoum and other cities.

Sudan’s Bashir on trial soon

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Sudan’s chief prosecutor announced that ousted President Omar al-Bashir would be sent for trial soon on corruption charges related to his three decades in power.

Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud declared at news conference the trial referral would be made after a one-week period for objections expires, adding that criminal cases have been opened against 41 other former officials accused of graft.

Charged with corruption after an investigation was completed, as the prosecutor’s office underlined, Bashir, was ousted by the military in April this year following months of protests against his three decades autocratic rule.

Khartoum violence outbreak

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Sudanese security forces stormed a protest camp in the capital Khartoum on June 3 in the morning hours and at least nine people were reported killed in the violence outbreak.

Al Hadath and Al Jazeera television showed footage of scenes of people fleeing violence through streets of Khartoum.

The leading protest group accused the ruling military Council of an attempt to break up the camp, defining the action “a massacre”. The Council explained the security forces had targeted “unruly” groups in an adjacent area.

An alliance of protest and opposition groups announced they would halt all contact with the military Council. The two sides had been negotiating for weeks a transitional period following the overthrow of Omar Al Bashir, but without any progress.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC) had offered to let protesters form a governmental body but insists on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. The demonstrators demand the civilians to run the transitional period to ensure construction of democratic state.

After the outbreak of violence a group of medics related to the opposition said nine “martyrs” had been killed in June 3 violence and that the number of casualties was still rising.

Four dead in Sudan protests

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One policeman and three protesters were killed in Sudan  Khartoum and many other demonstrators were wounded, state TV said.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC), which took over after the army overthrew President Omar al-Bashir in April blamed the violence on saboteurs who demonstrated discontent with the transition deal.

After the incidents Sudan’s ruling military council warned that it would not allow “chaos”. Four people were killed in violence that broke out over an agreement on a political transition reached by the generals and protest groups.

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