tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26949515011160351722024-02-19T01:48:56.696-08:00I HAVE NO TRIBE, I'M SUDANESE"Sudan is not really a country at all, but many.
A composite layers, like a genetic fingerprint of memories that were once fluid, but have since crystallized out from the crucible of possibility"
Jamal Mahjoub, a Sudanese novelist
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-39691563101824251952018-09-06T05:19:00.000-07:002018-09-06T05:19:05.647-07:00Blogpost: on the challenges of finding medicine in Sudan<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Najla Norrin has owned and operated a pharmacy in a working-class neighborhood in Khartoum for over ten years, but 2017 was her worst year in business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The pharmacist and business owner has struggled to stock her pharmacy due to price hikes and has been unable to find medicine needed for chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and mental illness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“I can only buy medicine in small stock because pharmaceutical companies are only accepting cash from us and even with this, I am struggling to sell what I have as the prices have increased between 100% to 300%,” said Norrin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Sudan’s currency has steadily plummeted since South Sudan’s secession in 2011 as the country was dependent on oil revenues from its Southern region. On the eve of secession, Sudan lost <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ce7f675a-f8c9-11e0-ad8f-00144feab49a"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">75%</span></a> of its revenues from oil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">For the next few years, the country tried to stabilize its economic situation through selling and <a href="http://www.eiu.com/industry/article/1304454514/sudans-parliament-approves-saudi-investment-in-agriculture/2016-07-27"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">leasing</span></a> agricultural land to investors as well as taking generous grants and loans from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/sudan-china-airport/china-grants-sudan-700-mln-loan-to-build-new-khartoum-airport-idUSL6N0FE3RC20130708"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">China</span></a> and <a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae-pumps-in-dh28b-for-sudans-development-fiscal-stability"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Arab</span></a> countries. The money that flowed into the country was not enough to save its economy and the Sudanese pound (the SDG) lost an annual 10% to 20% of its value each between 2011 and 2016.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In November 2016, the medical field was hit by a storm. At that time, pharmaceutical companies, the only entities permitted to import medicine into the country, were able to purchase hard currency from the Central Bank of Sudan at $1 equals 8 SDG. At the time, the price of the SDG to a dollar was double that in the black market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The new price we received from the bank in late 2016 was 14 SDG to $1 which meant that medicine prices went up by 100%, but just a few months later, they wanted to hike up the price to 21 SDG to $1 which led to an outcry from our side” said a senior staff member at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country who wished to remain anonymous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Things quickly went downhill and the pharmaceutical council had to intervene and hold talks with the pharmaceutical companies and the government. As a result, 100 medicines were recognized as critical and they would be purchased using the old price and all other medicines would be purchased using 21 SDG per $1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">By the end of 2017, the dollar reached 40 SDG in the black market and the industry faced a even larger blow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“We import medicine from abroad on instalments, we used to sell it also on installments and then pay our debt, but when the SDG plummeted in the end of 2017, companies and pharmacies stopped selling medicine as they could not set a price,” said the source.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The source’s company and all major pharmaceutical companies in Sudan slid into debt and some companies were over $5 million in debt. They could not pay the bills for the medicine they imported as the SDG lost its value with each passing week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In February 2018, the Central Bank <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-economy-exclusive/exclusive-sudan-central-bank-weakens-bank-trading-exchange-rate-to-31-5-pounds-to-dollar-idUSKBN1FO0PN"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">weakened</span></a> the SDG value to the dollar to 31.5 only months after it was devalued from 6.7 SDG to 18 SDG per dollar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All companies including pharmaceutical companies were required to buy hard currency from the official channels and not the black market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“There is not enough hard currency in the country and we are unable to pay the companies abroad our past bills, we had to stop importing medicine since the beginning of the year, we are now selling old stocks , I don’t know what will happen when it runs out,” said the source.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://web.facebook.com/groups/304268093243113/about/">Direct me </a></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">is a Sudanese Facebook group with nearly 400,000 users. The group aims to help users find what they are looking for from handymen to an address they are trying to get to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In recent months, many users have posted about a specific kind of medicine and asking the users if they know where to find it in Sudan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some pharmacists intervene and give directions to pharmacies where this medicine is available and sometimes, users who are the diaspora volunteer to send it with someone traveling to Sudan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Essra Al-Mahi, an electronics engineer was trying to find products in a cosmetics line only found in pharmacies and when she failed, she started the Facebook group, <a href="https://web.facebook.com/groups/205708503330030/about/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">ask a pharmacist</span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Ask a pharmacist is a group bringing together ordinary citizens and pharmacists and it is a space for people to ask about medical products because availability is a big issue,” said Al-Mahi in an interview.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pharmacists in the group are consulted on availability of a specific medicine and sometimes, people offer free medicine they don’t need for those in need. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The group is still growing, but it proved that pharmacists are a tight-knit community and they know who has what at all times,” said Al-Mahi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pharmacists and doctors are often taking matters into their own hands when medicine is scarce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Nada Haleem, a medical doctor, knows first-hand how her patients suffer when they can not find their medicine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“I group my patients together in groups and order their medicine from Cairo every few weeks and I find someone coming to the country and willing to carry this medicine,” said Haleem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The risks are real as the customs are very strict when it comes to bringing medicine into the country without the official channels, and for this reason, people often carry a small supply of medicine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some pharmacies order small shipments for their clients from Egypt as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“They are very careful because it is illegal so they only sell this kind of medicine which is usually rare in Sudan to their regular and trusted clients, the prices are usually higher because they charge a transport fee,” said the source at the pharmaceutical company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Norrin believes that there is a growing black market that can not easily be brought under control.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“It is becoming chaotic day by day, recently someone came to my pharmacy and said that he has 100 boxes of a specific medicine and asked if I am willing to buy, he had no relation to any company or even our field,” said Norrin who believes that black market dealers are paying their way out of the checkpoint at the border with Egypt and are smuggling medicine into the country in large amounts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Norrin added that the only medicine she brings from Egypt on her own is for her parents whose medication is scarce or totally unavailable in Sudan.</span></div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-56163180158176356302018-09-06T05:16:00.004-07:002018-09-06T05:16:39.659-07:00'I blocked the memory for years': Sudanese women fight to ban FGM<div style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Published @ https://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/sudan-ending-fgm-uphill-battle-1570388912</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KHARTOUM</strong> - S.A. remembers her grandmother buying her a new dress and painting her little hands with henna when she was only seven years old.</div>
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“I was happy, but didn’t understand why my parents were not there,” she recalled.</div>
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Two days later, S.A. was taken by her grandmother to a house in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, made to lie down as her skirt was lifted and she was given an anaesthetic shot by a man.</div>
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Today it is 20 years later and the memory is still vivid in her head. S.A. remembers her turn came after a little boy similar in age to her. The feeling of joy that had come with the henna and the new dress was drowned out by fear following the little boy's bloody circumcision. Before she had time to process what was happening, he was carried out and it was her turn.</div>
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“A minute later, whatever the man was doing, it was over and my grandmother tied my legs together with a white ribbon in an attempt to stop the bleeding and protect the fresh wound, and took me to the car," said S.A., who now works as a human rights activist on women and minority rights.</div>
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"I just wanted to sleep and felt very tired, but she took me to the Nile and washed me with water before returning to her house,” she added.</div>
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My grandmother tied my legs together with a white ribbon in an attempt to stop the bleeding and protect the fresh wound </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">- S.A., </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">FGM victim</em></div>
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S.A. stayed at her grandmother’s house for a few days to recover. While there, her bandages were changed when needed and she got help when she had to use the bathroom because it was very difficult and painful. Her mother was also with her at that point, but she remembers her being distant and unhappy.</div>
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<img alt="" class="media-element file-content-full-width" height="430" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_large/public/images/Sudanesewomen4.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="620" /><small class="field field-name-field-file-caption field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 11.899999618530273px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 15px;">Sudanese women shop at a market in Shendi, the hometown of President Omar al-Bashir, located on the banks of the Nile in Sudan's Arab heartland 190 kilometres (120 miles) from Khartoum, on 1 April 2015 (AFP) </small></div>
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Sudan has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), most girls are subjected to this practice between the <a href="http://www.who.int/features/2018/female-genital-mutilation-sudan/en/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">ages of five to nine</a> with an estimated 87 percent prevalence among women aged 15-49. Most of these women have undergone the most extreme form of FGM – infibulation - where all or part of the external genitalia are cut off and the vaginal opening is then narrowed by sewing, leaving only a tiny passage for urine and menstrual fluid.</div>
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According to UNICEF, poor women from rural areas are <a href="https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/country_profiles/Sudan/FGMC_SDN.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">circumcised at the same frequency</a> as their rich and urban counterparts. The UNICEF report added that Sudan has also one of the highest rates of medicalisation of the practice, as nurses, midwives and other health workers take part in the process in 77 percent of the girls. </div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Four different cuts</strong></h3>
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In Sudan, a Muslim-majority country, some claim circumcision is a religious practice that was recommended by the Prophet Muhammad. Others see it as a way of guarding girls’ honour by restricting their sexual desires, while many believe that circumcision is a girl’s rite of passage into adulthood and it will prepare her for marriage.</div>
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Now I remember the razor and the scissors, and the midwife who came to do this as she was our neighbour; and the money and candy they put under my pillow before I was cut</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">- Sumia Hassan, FGM victim </em></div>
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In 1998, scholars from more than 35 countries came together at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and <a href="https://www.unicef.org/cbsc/files/Final_English_FGM_summary.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">concluded</a> that FGM is non-obligatory in Islam. According to the scholars, it is never mentioned in the Quran and there are no authenticated citations in Prophet Muhammad's hadith containing any evidence that could justify it. </div>
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They added that the Prophet’s biography contains no reference or evidence that he allowed for the circumcision of his daughters, wives, or any of his female relatives.</div>
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<img alt="" class="media-element file-content-full-width" height="430" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_large/public/images/Sudan%20women%20AFP%20photo.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="620" /><small class="field field-name-field-file-caption field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 11.899999618530273px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 15px;">Sudan has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the world (AFP) </small></div>
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There are <a href="http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/overview/en/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">four identified types</a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/the-forms-of-female-genital-mutilation" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a>of FGM. The least severe type is known as the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">sunna</em>circumcision, which involves the removal of the prepuce or the tip of the clitoris. </div>
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Sudan’s FGM history is very much rooted in the infibulation practice, the most severe type of FGM, and it has impacted a large number of women. But according to Maya Nour from the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnaLanSudan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ana Lan</a> </em>initiative, (I will not), a youth-led initiative to stop FGM, the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">sunna</em> type of circumcision has become more prominent in Sudan in recent decades.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘I remember the razor’</strong></h3>
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Sumia Hassan, who preferred to use a pseudonym, only recently recalled that she had been subjected to infibulation 15 years ago. </div>
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At the tender age of five, she was circumcised at her grandmother’s house in El-Obeid, over 600 kilometres from Sudan’s capital.</div>
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“I blocked this memory for years. I only remembered what happened when I went to see a counsellor to deal with family issues. I was shocked to know that I was cut. It just didn’t strike me that I was different,” said the 20-year-old student. </div>
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I blocked this memory for years… I was shocked to know that I was cut. It just didn’t strike me that I was different</div>
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- <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">FGM victim</em></div>
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“Now I remember the razor and the scissors, and the midwife who came to do this as she was our neighbour; and the money and candy they put under my pillow before I was cut,” said Hassan, who is now fighting to stop the circumcision of her cousins who are all below the age of 10.</div>
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She has spoken to her aunts about this issue and even threatened to take legal action against them, but she knows that it would be futile as the practice has only been criminalised in some Sudanese states. Still, these laws have <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/liv-t-nnessen-samia-el-nagar-sharifa-gafar-bamkar/paper-tiger-law-forbidding-fgm-in-sudan" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">done little</a> to curb the practice.</div>
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"You can’t even call them laws because they don’t have penalties,” said Samia al-Naggar, a researcher and professor at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">. </strong>For al-Naggar, the way forward is a national law. </div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">A law’s bumpy route</strong></h3>
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Earlier this year, a draft article criminalising FGM<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span>was <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2018/03/07/Sudan-amends-law-to-criminalize-female-genital-mutilation.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">approved</a> by the Council of Ministers, as an amendment to the country's national criminal law. But the article has yet to make its way to parliament, which is the next step after being ratified by the Council of Ministers.</div>
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A senior source from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BBSAWS/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women’s Studies</a> has been following this proposed law. The association was formed in 1979 to improve the status of women in Sudanese society and it has been working on FGM for the last four decades. </div>
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People don’t celebrate the practice anymore. There is no big ceremony and this is a good indicator that the society is receptive. However, only a binding law will truly help end it</div>
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- <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Spokesperson, Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women’s Studies</em></div>
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“The law was pushed by the National Council for Child Welfare and the women’s parliamentary caucus, but I believe that the delay happened due to a lobby inside the parliament, as they have the same mentality as the ones who dropped the 2010 law that was set to criminalise the practice,” she said in a phone interview.</div>
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“There was a debate at the Council of Ministers and the parliament on infibulation and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">sunna </em>circumcision. Many did want to criminalise infibulation, but wanted to manoeuvre through a law that does allow <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">sunna</em> circumcision and this was seen as a failure in the making,” she added.</div>
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The source also said that there seems to be a lack of political will from the authorities to push through with criminalisation.</div>
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“The council of ministers can put more pressure [on the parliament] and stand its ground, but two years later they seem unwilling to do so,” she concluded.</div>
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On her part, al-Naggar believes that the law was proposed at that time because the government was trying to appease the US, who would in turn remove sanctions imposed on Sudan, eventually <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-lifts-sanctions-on-sudan-ending-two-decades-of-embargo/2017/10/06/aac1bd22-86d5-434e-9a21-1e0d57a72cb0_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">lifted</a><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-lifts-sudan-sanctions-wins-commitment-against-arms-deals-nkorea-1718018574" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a>in 2017 after 20 years.</div>
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She explains that the Sudanese government had committed to improving three main issues at its last <a href="https://bit.ly/2xZL7Ir" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Universal Periodic Review</a> (UPR) in 2016. These include child marriage, FGM and signing The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Sudan is one of five UN member states that have <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/pdfs/cedaw_fact_sheet.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">not ratified</a><a href="http://www.impowr.org/pages/cedaw" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a>CEDAW. </div>
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Two months ago, I finally used a mirror to look at my private parts to see what happened to me, what I was missing</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">- S.A., </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">FGM victim</em></div>
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Al-Naggar, who is currently working on a book on FGM in Sudan<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">,</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span>laments that the FGM law is currently not a priority for parliament, with the deteriorating <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2017/10/14/sudans-economy-is-in-trouble-even-without-sanctions" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">economic conditions</a> always at the top of its agenda.</div>
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On his part, Haid Hamid Sharif, a parliamentarian in the National Assembly, said he is supportive of the law.</div>
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“I think if this law is discussed in parliament right now, it would pass with a majority, as we all know the impact of FGM first-hand on the health of women and girls. I would support the law as it is affecting girls in my community in Darfur,” Sharif said.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">A safe space</strong></h3>
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In an office in the Amarat neighbourhood of the capital Khartoum, the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ana Lan </em>initiative (I will not) encourages people to post their pictures with a message about their rejection of FGM via a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnaLanSudan/photos/a.231092817014855.1073741829.225808687543268/718355008288631/?type=3&theater" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">public campaign</a>. So far, dozens of youth have taken part in the visual campaign, including prominent entrepreneurs and youth leaders.</div>
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Nour, a counsellor and activist from <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ana Lan,</em> works with FGM survivors and organising group counselling sessions in her home in her spare time.</div>
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“We want to do organised counselling for FGM survivors and help them find a safe space to speak out,” said Nour.</div>
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I always sit with my legs tightly tied together, as it feels like the only way to protect my body, and regardless of what I wear, I always feel that I am not good enough, like something is missing </div>
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-<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> S.A., </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">FGM victim</em></div>
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It can take years for survivors to speak out about what happened to them. It took S.A. 20 years to do so.</div>
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“I did not speak about what happened to me, in fact I would get annoyed every time the word <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">khitan </em>(FGM) was mentioned. But two months ago, I finally used a mirror to look at my private parts to see what happened to me, what I was missing,” S.A. said.</div>
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When she saw for herself what had happened, she began to be more comfortable in her own skin and became more outspoken about it. Yet S.A. is also aware that acceptance is a long process and she acknowledges the effect of her experience on her relationship with her body and any sexual relationship she might have in the future. According to S.A., the way she sits and dresses is still affected.</div>
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“I always sit with my legs tightly tied together, as it feels like the only way to protect my body, and regardless of what I wear, I always feel that I am not good enough, like something is missing,” said S.A.</div>
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However, S.A. has found the strength to use her experience to help others by advocating against FGM and volunteering with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ana Lan</em>. </div>
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“Recently, I visited my neighbour to convince her not to circumcise her daughters, and also visited my cousin to do the same,” said S.A.</div>
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Years of activism have made speaking out about the practice easier and it has also made families more discreet about taking part in it.</div>
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“People don’t celebrate the practice anymore. There is no big ceremony and this is a good indicator that the society is receptive. However, only a binding law will truly help in ending it,” said the source from the association.</div>
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S.A. and Hassan say a law would give their work more legitimacy at the grassroots level and also protect their campaigns from religious fundamentalists who see the fight against FGM as a western one.</div>
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“I’ve been threatening my cousins to file a complaint against them at the police station if they go through with circumcising their daughters. I need to be able to do this,” said Hassan.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">This article is available in French on <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/reportages/je-me-souviens-du-rasoir-les-soudanaises-se-battent-contre-les-mutilations-g-nitales-f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Middle East Eye French edition.</a></em></div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-80305893938277615392017-06-03T09:36:00.002-07:002017-06-03T09:36:09.827-07:00Police shisha raids spread fear as Khartoum cracks down on the pipe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bdDBifpNkt231rh9OXfKjGKeu-lL93lPGMv2WXv2gLWJ3UAELFf3cLGy-Kv8Zg3wHxR5x6fR4ZdjVlr_gPO7Hq6JxSuQupqECqhaKyMOPFkhEA7gKgHwNhWX1b0LjnO3W1BVZn1tAoc/s1600/IMG_20170516_175625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bdDBifpNkt231rh9OXfKjGKeu-lL93lPGMv2WXv2gLWJ3UAELFf3cLGy-Kv8Zg3wHxR5x6fR4ZdjVlr_gPO7Hq6JxSuQupqECqhaKyMOPFkhEA7gKgHwNhWX1b0LjnO3W1BVZn1tAoc/s400/IMG_20170516_175625.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It is a memory Hannah al-Sayed recalls very clearly. One night, while chatting and smoking shisha with her girlfriends in a cafe near the Nile in Khartoum, Sayed, a civil servant, recalled how the outing almost cost her her freedom.</div>
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It was 8 January at around 7pm and Sayed had met her friends at the shisha cafe after work. What was meant to be a fun evening ended up with a police officer chasing them down, trying to arrest them.</div>
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“I was with my friends in the women-only section and we were having a good time, until two plain-clothed men walked into the place. One of them was on the phone and was describing the location of the cafe,” Sayed said.</div>
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Sayed suspected that they were officers and overheard them calling for back-up to raid the cafe, which is a common occurrence in Sudan.</div>
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'I was with my friends in the women-only section and we were having a good time, until two plain-clothed men walked into the place'</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">-Hannah al-Sayed, a civil servant</em></div>
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Sayed and others quickly began gathering their belongings to flee the premises, but one of the officers shut the door and told them that they “will get arrested today”.</div>
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To this day, Sayed is still terrified by flashbacks of the event.</div>
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“The other women began pushing him away from the door to leave and we were trying to get out, until he held my hand really tight and told us, 'you will not get out today',” Sayed recalled. </div>
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She broke free and while the officer was chasing Sayed and her friends as they bolted for Sayed's car, he continued to scream out that if they did not stop, he would create a scandal and shame them.</div>
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When they did reach her car, the officer opened the passenger door and forcefully tried to take away her car keys, refusing to let them leave.</div>
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To their fortune, a brave waiter from the cafe had followed them to the scene. He held the officer back and gave the friends the opportunity to escape. Sayed never found out what happened to the waiter after he helped them.</div>
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Minutes after Sayed and her friends left the cafe, all the women still in the cafe were arrested by the public order police.</div>
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“It could have been us on that police truck. I don’t even want to know what would have happened,” said Sayed, who has resorted to smoking shisha at home since the incident.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Shisha ban</strong></h3>
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Through a decision announced via local newspapers, on 29 March 2017, the security affairs committee of Khartoum municipality issued a ban on public shisha smoking. They instructed the shutting down of all shisha cafes in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. </div>
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<small class="field field-name-field-file-caption field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 11.899999618530273px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 15px;">Sudanese man smokes Shisha at a market in southern Sudan in 2006 (AFP) </small></div>
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Headed by the mayor of Khartoum, General Ahmed Abu-Shanab, the committee is responsible for initiating plans to <a href="http://www.sudantribune.net/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B1%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D8%B8%D8%B1,9932" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">secure</a> the capital during important events or national holidays, among other tasks.</div>
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According to <a href="http://www.alnilin.com/12856632.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">local media</a>, Abu-Shanab said that the municipality has ordered the closure of shisha cafes due to negative social and health effects. This decision effectively bans shisha in all streets, markets and public areas and puts an end to the issuance of permits to serve shisha.</div>
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Shisha is widely popular in the Middle East and North Africa. The water pipe, in which flavoured tobacco is burnt using coal, passes through a water vessel and is inhaled through a hose known as a hookah or arghila.</div>
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Before the official ban, LM, who preferred to use her initials only, used to work as a waitress in a cafe in Riyadh, an upscale suburb in Khartoum. She said that she had been arrested many times for working in a place that served shisha.</div>
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“I will never forget all the times that the police raided the cafe and arrested us, I have entered the police station more times than I can remember,” said LM, who is in her early twenties, in an interview with MEE.</div>
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‘I have entered the police station more times than I can remember’ </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">- LM, waitress</em></div>
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After being unemployed for months, LM accepted the job despite fears of getting arrested. The lingering anxiety that she felt every morning as she walked into work did not stop her because of a decent salary, in addition to tips.</div>
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When the cafe was raided, the owner usually bailed the staff out so that they would not have to spend the night in prison. But in a raid last November, the cafe's owner was out of town, and LM and the rest of the staff were arrested, along with the customers.</div>
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“We were taken to the police station and as the staff, we were sentenced to hefty fines of more than 20,000 SDG (almost $3,000), and if the fine was not paid, we would serve six months in prison,” LM said.</div>
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Two days after her arrest, LM managed to secure the fine with the help of her acquaintances and was released. LM’s parents never found out she had been arrested.</div>
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According to LM, other staff members who could not afford the fine were sent to different prisons across Sudan, some as far as 700 kilometres from Khartoum.</div>
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“I remember having to look for their families who had no information about this, and informing them that they need to raise money to bail out their children. It was traumatising,” she said.</div>
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No to Women’s Oppression estimates that at least 40,000-50,000 women are arrested<a href="http://blog.amnestyusa.org/africa/arrested-and-beaten-for-wearing-trousers-stop-the-public-flogging-of-women-in-sudan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a>every year by the public order police because of their clothing</div>
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Until today, there has been no actual article in the criminal code banning smoking shisha in public, but a local order has been in place for a few years. According to experts, this is just as powerful. </div>
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“A local order is a decision made by the municipality,” explained Ahmed Sibar, a human rights lawyer working in Khartoum. And “a local order is valid and gives the judge the authority to prosecute and fine shisha consumers and providers based on it,” he added.</div>
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Before the ban in March, authorities had sometimes looked the other way and <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-nightlife-idUKBRE9400JE20130501" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">selectively issued</a> permits for some hotels and cafes to serve shisha, especially those that cater to tourists, but the raids continued. </div>
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The local order is implemented by the public order police, who also act as "morality police" and can arrest men and women for everything from smoking shisha to indecent clothing, under the Sudanese criminal law of <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=&p_isn=80450&p_country=SDN&p_count=68" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">1991</a>.</div>
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Raids conducted by the public order police usually happen very abruptly. They storm the venue, confiscate the shisha and arrest the staff and customers who are smoking.</div>
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Targeting women</h3>
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Cafe owners can be fined 1,000 SDG (about $150) and those smoking shisha can be fined from 200-300 SDG each ($29 to $35). If they can't afford to pay the fine, they can be jailed from one to three months. </div>
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“Because the local order fines the consumer of shisha a relatively small amount. The public order police always find other charges mostly related to dress code to increase the fine and arrest the shisha smokers, particularly the women,” said Al-Fatih Hussein, a defence lawyer in several cases filed against women.</div>
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Eyewitnesses to raids on shisha cafes in recent months have confirmed that women not wearing headscarves or wearing trousers are always arrested, even if they are not smoking shisha.</div>
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<small class="field field-name-field-file-caption field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 11.899999618530273px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 15px;">Sudanese women, one of them wearing trousers under a long black dress, walk in downtown Khartoum on 8 September 2009 (AFP) </small></div>
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In December, journalist and novelist Hussam Hilali was sitting with a female friend in Pataya, a cafe in a wealthy area of Khartoum. </div>
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As a precaution, they ordered only one shisha, with Hilali stating that he would assume total responsibility for smoking if the police were to show up.</div>
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“We had just begun smoking the shisha and talking when the public order police raided the cafe,” Hilali said.</div>
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He added that the officers were aggressive and he was immediately asked to drop the shisha.</div>
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“All the women sitting in the cafe were asked to stand, all of them were wearing [long] skirts except my friend who was wearing trousers and they used this as a pretext to arrest her," said Hilali, who refused to let his friend get arrested alone and insisted on going with her.</div>
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'All of them were wearing [long] skirts except my friend who was wearing trousers and they used this as a pretext to arrest her'</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">-Hussam Hilali, journalist and novelist </em></div>
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Women arrested in shisha cafes are usually arrested for “indecent clothing,” as per Article 152 of <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=&p_isn=80450&p_country=SDN&p_count=68" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the criminal law</a>. It is punishable by a hefty fine that can reach up to 7,000 SDG (over $1,000), 40 lashes and sometimes a jail sentence of approximately one month if detainees are unable to pay fines.</div>
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Rights organisations argue that <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR5420462015ENGLISH.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Article 152 </a>is vague and the arresting officer who is left to assess what is<a href="http://www.sihanet.org/news/teens-tried-wearing-trousers-sudan" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> indecent</a> is not given clear guidelines because they are not detailed in the law.</div>
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Amel Habbani, a journalist and founding member of the group, No to Women’s Oppression, estimates that at least <a href="http://blog.amnestyusa.org/africa/arrested-and-beaten-for-wearing-trousers-stop-the-public-flogging-of-women-in-sudan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6778b9; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">40,000–50,000 women are arrested </a>every year by the public order police because of their clothing. </div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Repercussions of the ban</strong></h3>
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A waiter at the Coral Hotel, a prominent venue in Khartoum, said that they had stopped serving shisha following the implementation of the ban in March.</div>
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“As an administration, we tried to complain against this decision, but to no avail, even though we have paid our taxes and we have a separate space for women,” said waiter Ahmed Adil.</div>
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The hotel used to serve between 100-120 shishas every day, costing 80 Sudanese Pounds ($12). Clients would also order juice, tea or food along with the shisha that brought a hefty income to the hotel.</div>
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“We are losing a lot of money on a daily basis as a result of this decision,” said Adil, who worked in the women-only shisha section, which is now deserted.</div>
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'We are losing a lot of money on a daily basis as a result of this decision'</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">- Ahmed Adil, waiter</em></div>
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A regular client at the hotel told Middle East Eye that she had come on 9 April and was surprised about this decision.</div>
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“After that, I began looking for other options and I found other closed areas and even apartments that serve shisha, but I didn’t go. I am too scared that the police will also come there,” said the client.</div>
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Some cafes, however, are still discretely serving shisha behind closed doors. A small Ethiopian-run cafe in Khartoum is one of these cafes that is trying to keep a low profile.</div>
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The door leading to the cafe is always closed and photos of coffee greet customers at the entrance.</div>
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“We try to protect ourselves and our clients because we serve shisha; you can only enter if you’ve my number or the number of one of the other waitresses,” said Ababa, a waitress working at the cafe.</div>
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Some offer the service inside furnished apartments, but the risks are much greater. If arrested in one of these venues, a woman can face charges of practising prostitution.</div>
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“The closed cafes serving shisha are now seen as a threat because the authorities believe that other business transactions such as the drugs trade, prostitution and even human trafficking are taking place there," Sibar told MEE.</div>
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First published @http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/sudan-shisha-leads-jail-fine-or-lashing-1611458684</div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-21956715672501464702016-09-18T11:25:00.000-07:002016-09-18T11:25:10.739-07:00TRACKS center trial, the Sudanese Government and Pornography<br />
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<i>"They kept asking me if I have a boyfriend....the last time I was kissed…they threatened to take naked pictures of me or montage a porn film featuring me," </i></div>
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It was July 2012 and I was standing with an acquaintance inside the Haj Yousif court-house as we were waiting to attend the trial of several activists. The acquaintance, a young woman, had just been released from detention in the hands of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and was telling me her testimony. As I took mental notes to write down later, I kept thinking of my best friend who was asked during an interrogation by the NISS if she is a lesbian ...after they saw our pictures together…..pictures taken on a boat on my birthday. </div>
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In 2012 and 2013, as Sudan saw a wave of mass protests, a number of tweeps confirmed that pornography websites, which are normally blocked by the National Telecommunications Council (NTC) were unblocked. Pornography was a way the NTC, a governmental body, was controlling the masses. They were almost saying: stay home and get off, but don't go out and protest!</div>
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Using pornographic language and threatening activists that their images will be pornographized has always been a strong tool to suppress women activists in the past years, but a new case is proving that this tool has reached a whole new level.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsHvNf3uqF_PJNDfsrul12WR1__BXf14rWJRC4BFG0MahvMDBGgPtOWJlsQGngiOCIGMVLXStVk7BbiB207YCDFO2hl2mvEyeqjaZoFDtg4lgs4a_akazgkSD7p2lxucM05MREioc6vM/s1600/%25D9%2585%25D8%25B9%25D8%25AA%25D9%2582%25D9%2584%25D9%2588-%25D8%25AA%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A7%25D9%2583%25D8%25B3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsHvNf3uqF_PJNDfsrul12WR1__BXf14rWJRC4BFG0MahvMDBGgPtOWJlsQGngiOCIGMVLXStVk7BbiB207YCDFO2hl2mvEyeqjaZoFDtg4lgs4a_akazgkSD7p2lxucM05MREioc6vM/s320/%25D9%2585%25D8%25B9%25D8%25AA%25D9%2582%25D9%2584%25D9%2588-%25D8%25AA%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A7%25D9%2583%25D8%25B3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The TRACKS trial</b></div>
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The courthouse was full that day, the 4th of September 2016. It was the second session of a long-awaited trial, one that began six months after a training center in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, called the Center for Training and Human Development or TRACKS was raided by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). The center, one of Sudan's few remaining civil society organizations that trains on human rights as well as offers various language and IT diplomas, was also raided a year earlier, in February 2015. </div>
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For most of 2015, the center's director, administrative manager and a trainer who was conducting a workshop at the time of the raid were embroiled in a legal battle as they faced capital charges. By late February 2016, the State Crimes Prosecution Office had found no evidence to carry on the investigation, the director was called in to retrieve the confiscated equipment.</div>
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The honeymoon only lasted a few days, the second raid in March 2016 saw the 2015 case re-opened and another case filed against the director of the center, its female administrative manager as well as two volunteers, one freelance accountant and a visitor who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were arrested at the time of the raid, released later that night and were summoned in for several weeks after that.</div>
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The six defendants (including a 22-year old Cameroonian student who is studying in Sudan), sat in the courthouse that Sunday waiting to be tried, but in fact, the entire Sudanese civil society was on trial in Sudan that day and pornography and what was perceived as pornography were used as a political tool against them. Again, the personal is always political in Sudan.</div>
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During the session, the plaintiff exhibited a pornographic film that was allegedly found on the laptop of one of the defendants, Mustafa Adam. They also accused another defendant, Midhat Afif Al-Deen of also having pornographic films on his laptop. For the lawyers, this film was irrelevant to the case which has articles such as waging war against the state and undermining the constitutional authority as you need a "militia" to wage war against the state and not a porno. For technical experts, the plaintiff did not show evidence that the films were downloaded before the arrest of the defendants and by the defendants themselves. </div>
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I personally understood this tactic in a completely different manner. </div>
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First of all, the plaintiff understands that this case will become a public opinion case and understands that the international community is interested as human rights defenders/civil society actors are the ones on trial, so they believe that setting the ground by damaging the defendants's public image and presenting them as immoral as understood and seen by the conservative Sudanese society will cause confusion within the solidarity movement. This tactic is very dangerous as it will be used to instigate public opinion against the defendants and initiate a smear campaign that changes the entire discourse of the trial causing the lawyers to become distracted from the actual charges. The lawyers and the solidarity movement will waste precious time defending the defendants regarding this issue instead of actually campaigning against the bogus charges they face regardless of the fact that many are not even convinced that the state should have the right to persecute you for any material found on your personal devices!</div>
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Second of all, as the NISS confiscated the personal laptops, phones and other equipment from the defendants, their personal life became under scrutiny from a state that values its ability to enter your life, house and the privacy of your body under the so-called public order articles. It is very normal for the state to criminalize and persecute the behavior, dress-code and personal attitudes of Sudanese men and women, however, the court case used personal files to persecute the entire civil society by showing personal pictures of Midhat Afif Al-Deen and his family and friends. </div>
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My picture was shown as part of the evidence….. I am standing with a close friend during her farewell party. Midhat was there and it is possible that he took the picture or it was later shared with him on Facebook... I don't remember. If you have to know, we are not naked, but our headscarfs were around our shoulders. Our picture was shown as pornography because the state pornograhizes women's bodies regardless of their dress-code and for this reason, the article on "dress-code" in the public order articles is loose and does not explain anything. You are naked in the eyes of the system regardless of how you dress. With women who are perceived as activists or active in the civil society, this is done on another level. Our pictures were shown to reiterate their point, this is the civil society here! They watch pornography and their women are uncovered and they are even smiling in the pictures! </div>
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What an utter debauchery!</div>
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The civil society was painted as a world of debauchery and this debauchery was documented in pictures that were shown inside the courthouse, violating the privacy of the defendants and their friends. But it was done for this exact reason, the NISS wanted to put the whole civil society on trial and in Sudan, the worst kind of trial is a moral one. We hear about political detainees and we see their pictures circulate on social media, but in a country where lawyers believe that thousands of women and men are persecuted by the public order police (community security police), we don't see them and we don't hear their stories because the society becomes your biggest prosecutor after the court if the charges against you are questioning your "morality".</div>
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The trial was heavy on everyone. Some walked out before it finished, others walked out extremely uncomfortable. </div>
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I feel extremely uncomfortable that we are not doing enough to fight this new kind of persecution, the Sudanese civil society will be doomed. Organizations have been shut down and civil society actors have been put in jail, but this last debacle was an attempt to discredit the civil society and we can not let this happen.</div>
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Because if this works, the next time a civil society organization will be tried , it will not be for national security crimes, but it will be for charges such as prostitution and defamation. The morals of the committed people behind TRACKS center are being investigated in a court house in Sudan, but they are in this situation because of their morals…their solid values and beliefs in working for a just society where human rights become a norm is the only matter that needs to be highlighted.</div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-23125095324350470322016-09-16T13:22:00.001-07:002016-09-16T13:27:08.155-07:00 For the NISS in Sudan: the personal is political<br />
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A few days ago, the Lieutannt-Colonel, Taha Osman Al-Hussein, the director of the Sudanese President's Office, wrote his number on a piece of paper and pressed it into a woman's hand at a wedding event in Khartoum.</div>
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The woman told her husband who rushed to see Al-Hussein and engaged in a physical confrontation with him, but the attendees broke up the fight, Sudanese-style and such. A few hours later, the husband, Ahmed Abdul-Gasim, was kidnapped by National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and after heavy beatings and torture, he was dumped on the outskirts of Khartoum and had to be hospitalized according to his brother.</div>
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Upon receiving this narrative as part of an advocacy google group I am in, I couldn't help but start thinking about how the NISS in Sudan has become personalized. Not that the apparatus has ever served the "national security " interests of the country , but it has become a tool used by individuals, in power or with relatives in power, to suppress, oppress and subjugate other citizens who get in their way. In fact, it seems that the NISS acts like a personal militia that is at your service if you have the right connections or right title.</div>
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Abdul-Gasim came forward with his story and pictures showing his wounded body was released on Sudanese social media and email lists, however, many stories of how average citizens can use their positions and connections to enlist the services of the NISS to punish them or teach them a lesson they can never forget are left untold</div>
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Last April, a woman in her 30s from Eastern Sudan was gang-rapped by the NISS and her story never came out. </div>
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The woman who is a mother of seven girls was arrested by two NISS agents after her employer accused her of stealing a gold ring. When the woman denied this accusation, her employer took matters into her own hands, she called her relative who works for the NISS and two NISS agents arrested the poor lady as she attempted to make ends meet.</div>
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She was taken to one of the security offices and was whipped as she kept denying that she took the ring which was actually found by the owner. Apparently, it was misplaced….. but this did not spare the lady from their cruelty She was beaten and gang-rapped by two security agents, they removed her face veil and tied her hands with her toub (Sudanese traditional custom) and violated her in a governmental office. </div>
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After this incident, the woman was forced out of the house of her husband's family with her daughters and was forced to live in a makeshift tent on the streets. The family and even her husband had serious problems trying to accept what had happened. A lawyer from the area agreed to provide her with legal aid, but since the NISS is involved , it is unlikely that the case will move forward and it is very likely that she will be persecuted once again for trying to stand up against NISS as they have extensive powers and immunities as stated in the National Security Act of 2010. </div>
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Last month, three young women studying at a private university in Khartoum state were arrested by the police for allegedly having drugs on them. An acquaintance interviewed the woman who said that one of them was in a relationship with a man working for the NISS, after she left him due to a series of problems, he set them up. </div>
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They were arrested by the police right in front of their university, in front of their colleagues in the most degrading way. Their families paid their bail, but upon their release, they were re-arrested as the NISS has more power than the police and judiciary system in Sudan. </div>
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In their second arrest, they were sentenced to a month in prison at a time when they had to take their exams. They were not even allowed to leave prison to take their end of semester exams putting them at risk of having to repeat the year.</div>
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Abdul-Gasim's story is yet another reminder that in Sudan, the NISS can be used against you as a citizen for the most personal matters. You basically can not mess with anyone who is part of this apparatus or knows someone working for it. All citizens who are viewed as a nuisance are dealt with as a national security threat by an institution that views itself as only less powerful than God.</div>
<br />Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-11403378697951190202015-07-26T10:09:00.002-07:002015-07-26T10:09:48.018-07:00The Green Bucket and Me<div class="p1">
My life has been full of buckets lately , I've grown accustomed to the agonizing process of living in a house where water coming out of the tap is rare; and a lot of energy is invested, time is wasted on waiting for water (<i>for some odd reason, it only gushes out of the tap in our upstairs kitchen or from the "Wudu" tap in the front yard</i>) and filing all the buckets available. I am now very fond of my large green bucket and make time to make sure it is full of water all the time, even though I hate the process of waiting for it to fill-up and having to carry it upstairs. We've been suffering from electricity cuts at work and it was almost the usual in Ramadan. Working while fasting is already difficult, but trying to work in the heat without the luxury of having water to quench your thirst is nothing short of a test. </div>
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As I sit in my relatively luxurious office, one of the women who stopped by our office for an appointment said that their electricity comes on at 6 p.m. before it cuts again at 2 a.m. She lives in one of the humble neighborhoods in the South of Khartoum and during times where electricity has become rationed, it seems that the authorities think that the poorer you are, the more capable you are of handling power cuts. Or maybe they thought that if you live in the marginalized areas around Khartoum, you don't deserve the electricity that the government gave you out of benevolence ……to vote for them in the national elections. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2FSfqZzda_hio7G4fvgkmmLm94ZzSjYcAy3vIXUQ-GQVciARahy2sFppFiwuzgfSMaPCZIy1aSAjyB3QefjlOtZBIZqWhEyUZTXAfyQdpcAetMoTlwpktNCQhksZiOv6NRHMbHpCF5E/s1600/20150726_200221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2FSfqZzda_hio7G4fvgkmmLm94ZzSjYcAy3vIXUQ-GQVciARahy2sFppFiwuzgfSMaPCZIy1aSAjyB3QefjlOtZBIZqWhEyUZTXAfyQdpcAetMoTlwpktNCQhksZiOv6NRHMbHpCF5E/s320/20150726_200221.jpg" width="192" /></a>Looking at the people around me, it seems that we got the better deal. We live next to many key government buildings and this somehow makes us lucky. The last time my mother went to buy <strike><span class="s1">no</span><span class="s2"> </span></strike>electricity credit, the lady working there told her almost matter-of-factly, "right now 80% of Omdurman has no power." Nonetheless, there is a damned tree in Al-Arda street which seems to be making our life difficult; every time one of its branches collapses, we suffer from a day-long power cut as the electricity office tries to figure out the problem before they finally remember the tree and decide that it is the main reason. I would never demand for the tree to be cut, plants are our lifeline, but why are the electricity wires and cables so intertwined with the tree and its branches? </div>
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As I am spending a good proportion of my evening filling and transporting water buckets and worrying that two buckets might not be enough for washing the evening dishes, I see pictures of protests in different neighborhoods around Khartoum condemning the water and electricity cuts. I have to admit, the protestors are creative, they close the streets with empty water buckets, Azyar and bags of trash that have been left uncollected for weeks. Then, I sat down one day and thought about it in all possible ways…</div>
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1) It is good that neighborhoods are mobilizing and taking matters into their own hands.</div>
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2) The protests were led by women and men who are ordinary citizens and were not orchestrated by political actors or activists. It means that many ordinary mostly apolitical citizens will gain a lot of awareness and knowledge on how to manage resistance and use peaceful ways to protest with clear demands. </div>
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3) It is easier to get people to protest around issues that are central to their lives and they feel it on a daily basis as opposed to….war in Blue Nile?</div>
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4) People are holding the government accountable for not providing even when they are paying for the austerity measures implemented by the NCP and are paying so many taxes. It is almost that we as a people are subsiding the government to not provide services.</div>
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Then, I became very uncomfortable with this line of thought. Why are we advocating for such protests if the demands are so…basic and are tied to a specific demand that the government can provide i.e. bring back the electricity or water. </div>
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So how effective are such protests, anyways? </div>
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I came to think that the issue is not whether they are effective or not , it is that the protests need to be tied to the main issue which is the fact that the government of Sudan is failing to provide basic services to a significant percentage of its citizens and is failing to sustain the services that it is supposed to provide to citizens in the urban centers or those living in areas that are not frowned upon by the government. </div>
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As an avid reader of newspapers due to my profession, I've almost chronicled all the articles about the mismanagement of the state since 2011. The newspaper articles are usually in the form of documents leaked about corruption charges: the money swindled from Khartoum State by the former governor, the corruption of the former Defense Minister when he was the Interior minister, the unknown pipeline that was discovered by the government of South Sudan, the fact that an official in the ministry of justice bought and sold half of the land in Khartoum state, the bogus companies that are so good at getting tenders from the government etc.</div>
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Munzoul Asaal of the University of Khartoum estimates that at least 120,000 civil servants were sacked to the public good in the 1990s as the government aimed to replace the entire civil service with individuals who are Islamists, loyal and non-threatening regardless of their qualifications. This created a state that is not only loyal to the party that grew out of Al-Inqaz in the1990s, the national congress party, but one that is so mis-managed, it only makes sense to the NCP affiliates and no-one else.</div>
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For a long time, I've thought that the Sudanese state functions haphazardly due to the work of very few employees or based on the bribes that are given, but I've came to realize that maybe there is a system and the NCP has created a system that does not make sense to outsiders to continue in power and exclude those who are not affiliated with it.</div>
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But the system broke …it has been breaking for years, but due to the recent excessive lack of money in the country, it stopped working. I am hypothesizing that this is due to several reasons:</div>
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-The country was heavily oil-dependent, it neglected all other natural resources and now there is no production because there is no functioning industry and no money coming into the country.</div>
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-The corruption became too much, rumors have it that the NCP actually told its cadres to "yes, you can steal, but leave some money to run the country". But then again, the swindling of public funds continues and with the decrease in funds, there is less likelihood for excess money to be pumped into the state affairs.</div>
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-Again lack of funds means that things can't be fixed and the infrastructure that is already challenged can not be maintained. </div>
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-The NCP is divided, the club that did not want Bashir to run or for Sudan to hold elections in the first place are unhappy and not doing the roles they traditionally carried out to hold the fragile state together, the old guard were so competent in the system that is in place and they made it work for them. Now the old guard is gone, the likes of Nafie, Ali Osman, Osama Abdullah, Al-Jaz etc.</div>
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-The multiple "hot summers" did not salvage the situation in the two areas, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, and even if the conflict in Darfur is marked with low intensity fighting, the militias in Darfur are used to large amounts of money and they need to be paid to stay in order.</div>
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Now, the government is set to increase the price of water and electricity to the dismay of citizens who are already struggling to make ends meet as they are heavily taxed because the money extorted from Sudanese people became one of the main sources of income to the <strike><span class="s2">state</span>.</strike>.government. Some believe that the heavy water and electricity cuts were for this reason- to exhaust and terrify people into submitting to the new increases because life is already difficult…power cuts are bad for business…water cuts are expensive for households as they have to pay large amounts of money for a bucket of water. Just submit already!</div>
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That is not the issue in question, the increase is merely another attempt by the government to raise more funds not to provide services, but to literally keep the party in power. Bashir and his party are fighting against odds, they are used to taking a piece from public funds and can not be weaned from this regardless of the fact that funds are continuing to decrease, warlords need to be paid and wars need to be fought on the pretense of stopping the armed movements from taking power. </div>
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Because staying in power is costly, the infrastructure will continue deteriorating and cuts will continue. </div>
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Back to the protests….asking for basic services and protesting for your demands is noble and in line with the constitution that we earned as a result of thousands of deaths during the civil war. However, if we don't situate our demands within the large context of the mismanagement of the country, we will achieve gains that will last for hours and we will continue doing what the government wants us to do. Exhaust all of our energy and waste our human potential protesting for days and weeks in a row for services that we pay for, but don't get.</div>
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This physical and mental exhaustion thet goes into staying up waiting for water to trickle down the tap and for the bucket to fill makes you so busy and overwhelmed, you can't see past your simple demand.</div>
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But we can't give them what they want!</div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-65120260096728759242014-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:002014-12-08T11:57:32.930-08:00دراسة عالمية: السودان ثاني أسوأ دولة في أفريقيا في حرية الانترنت<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br />
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">تصدرُ في هذا الأسبوع الدّراسة العالمية لـ "حرية الإنترنت لعام ٢٠١٤م"، والذي تُفرد للسنة الثانية على التوالي<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/Sudan%202014%20%28arabic%29.pdf" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;"> فصلاً كاملاً عن السودان</a>. </strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وكانت مجموعة </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.girifna.com/8819" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">"قرفنا"</a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> قد قامت بكتابة الجزء المُتعلق بالسودان في تقرير "حرية الإنترنت" في العام الماضي، إلا أن تقرير هذا العام كُتب باسم مجهول للدلالة على استمرار القيود المفروضة على الحريات في السودان.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ويغطي تقرير </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2014" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">"حرية الإنترنت لعام ٢٠١٤م" </a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، الصادر في ٤ ديسمبر ٢٠١٤م خمسة وستين دولة في ست مناطق جغرافية. ويغطي التقرير الفترة ما بين مايو ٢٠١٣م إلى مايو ٢٠١٤م. وتقرير "حرية الانترنت لعام ٢٠١٤م" هو الإصدار الخامس ضمن سلسلة تقارير بدأت منظمة "فريدوم هاوس" باصدارها في العام ٢٠٠٩م. ويُعد تقرير "حرية الانترنت" كـ "أحد المراجع المهمة لصانعي السياسات، والصحفيين، والناشطين في هذا المجال الذي تتزايد أهميته و المتعلق بحقوق الانسان".</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ويُصنّف التقريرالعالمي لعام ٢٠١٤ وضع حرية الإنترنت في السودان بـأنه "غير حر"، حيث حصل السودان على ٦٥ نقطة من أصل ١٠٠، مقارنة بـ ٦٣ نقطة في العام ٢٠١٣م. ومن ضمن ١٢ دولة افريقية، يُصّنف السودان ضمن ثلاثة دول أخرى في فئة "غير حرة" ، ويحتل السودان المرتبة ١١ متقدماً فقط على اثيوبيا. </strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وسيكون الفصل المتعلق بالسودان لهذا العام مثيراً للإهتمام ومثيراً للقلق على حدٍ سواء حيث يُغطي التقرير فترة الاحتجاجات الدّامية في سبتمبر ٢٠١٣م حيث قُتل ٢٠٠ شخص على الأقل، والفترة التي تلتها، والحملة الشرسىة ضد الحريات الصحفية وحرية التعبير.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">كما شهد السودان أيضا قطع خدمة الإنترنت، والتي وصفته شركة استخبارات الانترنت العالمية </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://research.dyn.com/2013/09/internet-blackout-sudan/" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Renesys</a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> بأنه "أكبر تعتيم للإنترنت تقوم به حكومة منذ ما حدث في مصر في يناير ٢٠١١م." وكانت الحكومة السودانية قد نفت علاقتها بحادثة قطع الإنترنت. وعزّت "الهيئة القومية للاتصالات"، وهي وكالة حكومية، انقطاع خدمة الإنترنت إلى حريق شبَّ في مكاتب شركة "كنار"، إلا أن الكثيرين يعتقدون أن "الهيئة القومية للاتصالات" دبّرت الانقطاع كجزء من ردة فعل الحكومة السودانية لقمع الاحتجاجات. وتتفق شركة </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Renesys</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> مع هذا الرأي، حيث قالت أنّ حادثة قطع خدمة الإنترنت في السودان "تشير بقوة إلى عمل منّسق لأخفاء السودان من الإنترنت."</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">انتقال الإعلام لساحة الإنترنت للتحايل على الرقابة</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وتقوم "الهيئة القومية للاتصالات"، وبحسب السلطة المّخولة لها، بحجب أي مواقع ترى بأن محتواها "غير أخلاقي" ويحوي "هرطقة"، كما تقوم بانتظام بحجب الصحف الرّقمية او مواقع الإنترنت التي تنشر تقارير معارضة للحكومة مثل موقع صحيفة "حريات"، وموقع "الراكوبة" الإخباري، ومنتدى سودانيس أون لاين </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><em>Sudanese-Online</em></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، وغيرها من المواقع. وتم حجم موقع يوتيوب في آواخر عام </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">٢٠١٢م احتجاجاً على عرض الموقع لفيلم "</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><em>The Innocence of Muslims</em></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">".</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">إلا أن هذا الهجوم على حرية التعبير لم يمنع ظهور الصحف الرّقمية خلال عامي </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">٢٠١٣م و ٢٠١٤م، حيث ظهرت صحيفتي </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.altaghyeer.info/" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">"التغيير"</a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> و</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.altareeq.info/ar/" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">"الطريق"</a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، وأسستا حضوراً قويا على الانترنت. إنّ تحول الصُحف من النسخة الورقية إلى النسخة الرقمية ليس مرّدة مواكبة النسق العالمي للتحول للصحافة الرّقمية، بل هي في الحقيقة محاولة للتحايل على الرقابة التي تفرضها الحكومة على الصحافة المطبوعة في السودان.</strong></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">إلا أنه على الرغم من ذلك، يعاني المدّونون و الصحفييون الرّقميون من مُتلازمة الكتابة على الإنترنت "حرية التعبير عن الرأي، وانعدام الحرية بعد التعبير عن الرأي" ، حيث يتعرضون للمُلاحقة والإعتقال والترهيب نتيجة لنشرهم لمقالاتهم الرّقمية ولنشاطهم السياسي على الإنترنت.</strong></span></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">في يونيو ٢٠١٣م ، أعتقل "جهاز الأمن والمخابرات الوطني السوداني" الصحفي خالد أحمد، مدير تحرير صحيفة "السوداني"، لأن هناك مقال نشر على الإنترنت يحمل اسمه الأول. وحوّت المقالة معلومات حساسة حول العملية العسكرية في بلدة "أبو كرشوالا" في جنوب كردفان في الوقت الذي كان فيه الجيش يحاول استعادة السيطرة عليها من يد الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان (الحركة الشعبية). وكان أحمد ضمن عددٍ مجموعة محدودة من الصحفيين الذين زاروا "أبو كرشوالا"، إلا أنه نفى كتابته للمقال، وصرّح بأنّ بريده الإلكتروني تعرّض للاختراق.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وحتى مارس ٢٠١٤م، ظل أحمد خالد قيد المحاكمة أمام محكمة حقوق الملكية الفكرية ، تحت طائلة قانون جرائم المُعلوماتية وقانون العقوبات. وبالإضافة إلى ذلك، في يوليو ٢٠١٣م، تم اعتقال ثلاثة شبان في بلدة شمال كُردفان تعليقهم في الفيسبوك حول اتهامات بالفساد ضد حكومة شمال كُردفان ، ووجهت إليهم تهمة التشهير. ويعتقد المحلّلون بأن هذه القضايا تُعد سابقة من نوعها، وتؤسس لسن قانون جديد من شأنه فرض رقابةٍ أكثر صرامة على وسائل الاعلام و الإنترنت، وشبكات التواصل الاجتماعي.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">كما عانت الصحف على الانترنت ووسائل الإعلام أيضا من عُنفٍ تقني من جهات موالية للحكومة، منها هجمات القرصنة في شهر في أبريل ٢٠١٤م على موقعي صحيفة </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50505" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">سودان تريبيون <em>Sudan Tribune</em> </a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">وموقع </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.3ayin.com/" style="color: #ff7e00; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">"عاين " "3ayin"</a></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> .</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وقع احداث سبتمبر ٢٠١٣م</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وعلاوة على كل ما تقدم، تجلّت آثار احتجاجات شهر سبتمبر ٢٠١٣م خلال العام، كما هددّ مسؤولون حكوميون بفرض قانون على الاعلام الرقمي. فعلى سبيل المثال، صرّح وزير الإعلام للحزب الحاكم، ياسر يوسف إبراهيم، في مقابلة أجراها في يوليو ٢٠١٣م، بأن هناك حاجة إلى سنّ قانونٍ للإعلام الالكتروني " يمنح السلطات الحق في حجب المواقع التي تنتهك القيود المتفق عليها". وخلال الفترة ما بين يوليو ٢٠١٣م ويونيو عام ٢٠١٤م، قامت حكومة السودان بتقديم طلبات لشركة "فيسبوك" للإفصاح عن المعلومات الشخصية لخمسة حسابات مستخدمين لديها، وهي طلبات لم تردْ من الحكومة من قبل. وعلى أية حال لم تستجب إدارة "فيسبوك" لأي من هذه الطلبات.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وبالإضافة إلى ذلك، بدأت جميع شركات الاتصالات حملة صارمة لفرض تسجيل شرائح الهاتف النقّال حيث تم الإعلان عنها في التلفزيونات والصحف واللوحات الإعلانية في الشوارع، وتم توفيرخدمة تسجيل الشرائح عبر مراكز الخدمات المتنقلة في الأماكن العامة، وتنظيم المسابقات واليانصيب للفوز بجوائز قيمة من المبالغ النقدية والذهب، أو السيارات لأولئك الذين يقومون بالتسجيل. ويتطلب تسجيل شريحة الهاتف النقال هوية شخصية وطنية وعنوان منزل المستخدم، وهو الأمر الذي يعده النشطاء وسيلة من قبل الأجهزة الأمنية لتعقب أرقام هواتف المُستخدمين.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">واستمرت مراقبة الاتصالات الرقمية وشبكات وسائط التواصل الاجتماعي، فضلاً عن التنصت على المكالمات الهاتفية، ومواصلة استهداف المجتمع المدني وأعضاء المعارضة السياسية؛ لا سيما في أوقات الاضطرابات أو أثناء الاحتجاجات.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">العراقيل الناتجة عن العقوبات الأمريكية على السودان</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وأشار التقرير أيضا إلى أن العقوبات التي تفرضها أمريكا على السودان تظل بمثابة حاجز أمام حرية الوصول إلى المعلومات والمعرفة. وتشمل هذه القيود حظر البرنامج الأصلية أمريكية الصنع، وبرامج مكافحة الفيروسات، والتحديثات الأمنية. وقد أعاق النظام العقوبات الأميركية أيضا الإمكانات التعليمية في السودان، حيث لا يتمتع المُستخدمون داخل السودان من خدمات المواقع التعليمية المجانية على شبكة الإنترنت مثل </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Khan Academy</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، والباحث العلمي لموقع</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Google</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، بالإضافة إلى عدد ضخم من الدورات التعليمية على الانترنت </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">MOOCs</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">. وأشار التقرير إلى أن هذا يشكل انتهاكاً لحق الجميع في التعليم. كما شملت الحواجز العقبات الأخرى التي تعيق الوصول إلى الإنترنت عدم تمكن المقيمين في السودان من الاستفادة او الوصول إلى مواقع تصميم خرائط الأزمات </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">crisismapping</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، أو المواقع الأمريكية لحشد التمويل الجماعي على الإنترنت. </strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تم رصد برمجيات مراقبة وفلترة تابعة للشركة الأمريكية "بلو كوت سيستم" </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Coat Systems</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">في ثلاث شبكات داخل السودان، مما دفع واضعي التقرير إلى القول "وما توضحه هذه التسريبات هي أن العقوبات الامريكية ضد السودان لم تعرقل على النحو المنشود الحكومة السودانية من الوصول إلى أو شراء برامج مراقبة أمريكية الصنع. بل على العكس، تعرقل العقوبات الأمريكية في كثير من الأحيان - عن غير قصد - وصول المُستخدمين العاديين لتكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات ..."</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;"> منهجّية الدراسة:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">يصنّف تقرير"حرية الإنترنت لعام ٢٠١٤م" الدول عن طريق بناءً على تواجد عوامل "بيئة مواتية" لحرية الإنترنت من خلال الإجابة على 21 سؤالاً منهجياً تسمح بالمقارنة بين الدّول، بالإضافة إلى إمكانية تحليل الأنماط الناشئة على المستوى الإقليمي او العالمي. تتراوح النقاط ما بين (0) وهي تعني أفضل حالة لحرية الإنترنت، و(100) هي أسوء وضع لحرية الإنترنت، ويتم حساب هذه النقاط عبر قياس ثلاثة فئات:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<li dir="RTL"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">العقبات التي تُعيق الوصول إلى الإنترنت: وتتضمن تقيم البنية التحتية، والحواجز الاقتصادية، والبيئة التنظيمية، والمحاولات التي تقوم بها الدولة لمنع الوصول إلى تكنولوجيات أو تطبيقات محددة؛</strong></li>
<li dir="RTL"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">القيود المفروضة على المحتوى: مثل فلترة وحجب المواقع، فرض الرقابة أو الرقابة الذاتية، وتنوع المصادر الاخبارية على الانترنت ومستوى النشاط الرقمي لأغراض اجتماعية وسياسية؛ و</strong></li>
<li dir="RTL"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">انتهاكات حقوق المستخدم: يشمل ذلك أي نوع من الاضطهاد والمضايقات الناجمة عن النشاط على الإنترنت، وفرض القيود على الخصوصية والمراقبة التي تنتهك الخصوصية.</strong></li>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وبحسب النقاط المحسوبة في الفئات المذكورة أعلاه ، يقيّم تقرير "حرية الإنترنت" الدول كـ (حرّة) حيت حصولها على نقاط ما بين (0) إلى (30)؛ وكـ (حرّة جزئياً) إن حصلت على ما بين (31) إلى (60) نقطة؛ و (غير حرّة) إن حصلت الدولة على نقاط تتراوح ما بين (61) إلى (100). وفي معرض توضيح منهجية دراسة "حرية الإنترنت لعام، تضيف منظمة "فريدوم هاوس" ما يلي:</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">إن هذه الدراسة ليس الغرض منها تصنيف الحكومات أو الأداء الحكومي في حد ذاته، بل هو تقيمٌ لوضع الحريات في العالم وحقوق والحريات التي يتمتع بها الأفراد داخل كل بلد. وتتأثر حرية وسائل الإعلام الرقمية في المقام الأول بقرارات الدولة ، إلا أننا نأخذ في عين الاعتبار الضغوط والهجمات التي تشنها الجهات غير الحكومية، بما في ذلك الجريمة السرية المنظمة. . ولذلك فإن هذا التقييم مؤشر يعكس بشكل عام التفاعل بين مجموعات متنوعة من الجهات ذات الصلة، سواء الحكومية أوغير الحكومية، بما في ذلك الشركات الخاصة.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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</span>Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-14836227950532000802014-12-08T11:51:00.002-08:002014-12-08T11:51:59.829-08:00قرفنا" تكمل الخامسة"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">في 30 اكتوبر 2014، اكملت "قرفنا" الخمس سنوات. قبل خمس اعوام اقدم ثلاث شبان جيران في ودنوباوي، امدرمان على تكوين منظمة سياسية لمقاومة انتخابات 2010.</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">لم يكونوا متأكدين من اسم المنظمة او آليات عملها، لكن احدهم جاء بالاسم.....قرفنا. كانوا يريدون اسما قصيراً وملفتاً، اسم يمكن تذكره بسهولة. تم اختيار اللون البرتقالي عشوائياً، عندما لفت نظرهم عندما كانوا يختارون ورقاً ملوناً في احد دكاكين بيع الاوراق.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ولدت قرفنا وهم يحتسون الشاي في منازلهم ويناقشون محتوى المنشور الذي سوف يأخذ طريقه إلى المطبعة. وفي الحقيقة تم اصدار </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">اول </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">منشور في ليلة ولادة الحركة. ومع تواصل نقاشاتهم حول مايريدون فعله، لم يكونوا يتوقعون ان تنمو الحركة وتحوي متطوعين من كل السودان، و من السودانيين خارج ارض الوطن..... لم يكونوا يعلمون التحديات التي سوف يواجهونها.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">الانتخابات السودانية الاولى من نوعها في </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">21</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> عاماً، كانت عام </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">2010</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">. كان السودان في مفترق طرق كما صرحت كافة القنوات العالمية، واستحقاقاً قبل انتهاء اتفاقية السلام الشامل. عادت كل الاحزاب، والقادة المعارضين للوطن، كما عاد إلى دائرة الضوء او الى العمل "الغير سري" الذين يعيشون ويعملون تحت الارض.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">كانت الانتخابات سوف تسير بالتأكيد لتكون معيبة، وقع حزب المؤتمر الوطني اتفاق السلام الشامل ولكن لن يتخلى عن السلطة إلى أي طرف سياسي آخر. ومع ذلك، لم تكن هذه هي المشكلة الوحيدة ، كان الذين يركضون للانتخابات مشكلة أخرى. كانت وجوههم مألوفة جداً فقد شاركوا في اللعبة السياسية السودانية من الخمسينات أو على الأقل في الثمانينات. للشباب، كانت الانتخابات تقريبا نكتة، وكثير من سكان السودان هم الشباب ولم يروا أي انتخابات تجري في السودان من قبل، ولكن بالنظر إلى الناس الذين يركضون لتمثيل السودان، كانت الوجوه لا علاقة لها بالشباب.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">بحلول شهر أكتوبر، والانتخابات قادمة كانت المعارضة بين الحملات الانتخابية للترويج لمرشحيها "القديمة ولكن الذهبية" اومقاطعة الانتخابات، لأن حزب المؤتمر الوطني لم يكن نزيهاً ومتجهاً لتزوير الانتخابات، ولم يقدم لهم المتفق عليها للضغط والفضاء الحملة.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ولدت قرفنا من الإحباط من الحكومة والمعارضة، استناداً إلى حقيقة أن الشباب كانوا "سئموا" من الحكومة والمعارضة، ولكن أيضا لخلق الأمل، وهو العنصر الذي كان في عداد المفقودين من السودان لسنوات.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">بعد أيام فقط، تطرقت لها صحيفة الشرق الأوسط في احد المقالات.... ومنذ ذلك الحين، أصبحت أحد الأصوات الرئيسية المعارضة في الانتخابات. وجاءت التبرعات يوما بعد يوم، من المواطنين العاديين الذين احبوا فكرة إبداعية جديدة، من الحركات والنشطاء السياسيين الذين رأوا في قرفنا ما تفتقر إليه أحزابهم، العمل الميداني الكثيف والنشاط في تنظيم واحد.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">في ايام الذروة, وزعت الحركة </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">120</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">,</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">000</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> نشرة يومياً، واخذت طريقها على حافلات لمدني وبورتسودان وعبر طرق غير معروفة لمخيمات النازحين في دارفور ومعسكرات اللاجئين السودانيين في تشاد. ما ميز قرفنا من الحركات السياسية الأخرى في السودان العديد من جوانب وجودها ..</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">أولاً، ولد مؤسسوها وأعضائها الأوائل في الثمانينات والتسعينات، وشبوا خلال حكم حزب المؤتمر الوطني، رأوا السودان في أسوأ شكل كان عليه من أي وقت مضى، وتلقوا من المشروع الحضاري منهجه التعليمي مع غسل الدماغ. وعندما كانوا صغارا كانت "المعارضة الرسمية" في الدول المجاورة والخارج لبناء التحالفات المعارضة واحدا تلو الآخر، وعاجزة عن اخراج السودان لعقود طويلة من الجمود السياسي.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ثانياً، رأوا فجوة كبيرة بين الأحزاب السياسية التقليدية ودوائرهم. سوقت قرفنا على هذا من خلال تمثيل نفسها على أنها حركة الشارع. جندت الحركة عشرات المتطوعين لتوزيع منشورات في الأسواق ومحطات الحافلات، والجامعات وجميع المواقع المكتظة بالسكان. لم يمض وقت طويل بعد أن بدأت، بدأ متطوع يبلغ من العمر </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">17</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> عاماً وناشط اكبر سناً، في دفع الحركة لتنظيم مخاطبات عامة. بعدها، سوف تنظم الحركة مخاطبات علنية في الأسواق ومحطات الحافلات. كان للمخاطبات صدى مدوياً في الخرطوم، وخلقت ضجة حول الحركة على مستوى الحي وكذلك على الإنترنت عندما تم نشر الفيديو.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">ثالثاً، الحركة التي اسسها الشباب، اعادت السلطة مرة أخرى إلى الشباب، وهو القطاع الذي يمثل غالبية السكان في البلاد ولكن عادة ما يتم تهميشهم داخل المؤسسات السياسية والمؤسسات الأخرى.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">نمت قرفنا بسرعة كبيرة قبل عيد ميلادها الأول، وانتشرت في جميع أنحاء السودان، أنشات موقعاً على شبكة الانترنت، وجود مكثف على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعية، وأصبحت معروفة للجمهور والمجتمع الدولي.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">مع التمدد جاءت المشاكل. بدأت الحركة تعاني من ضربة تلو الأخرى، كحركة رئيسية فعالة مناهضة لحزب المؤتمر الوطني خلال الانتخابات، ألقي القبض على أعضائها وارهبوا. في فترة مع كل منشور، سوف يتم اعتقال متطوع.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">أخذت الحملات الأمنية تثقل كاهل الحركة، فجهاز الأمن الوطني وبموارده الجيدة ومجهزاً بقسم كامل للتعامل مع ما يسمى "حركة الشباب". ومع ذلك، كان السبب الرئيسي بنية الحركة التي استمرت لتفشل مراراً وتكراراً.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">فعلت الحركة الكثير من العمل وغيرت وجه النشاط في السودان، فعلت ما لم تتمكن أي مؤسسة سياسية من القيام به في السودان على مر السنين. جعلت الشباب مهتمين بالقضية الوطنية، ومهتمين بالسودان ومستقبله.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">جعلت النشاط السياسي جذابا او ==</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">"cool".</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">من بدايتها، أنتجت قرفنا فيديو ساخراً سوف يستمر كمصدر إلهام للحركة لسنوات. كما وزعت الأساور البلاستيكية البرتقالية التي كانت جذابة، وخلقت العلامة التجارية للحركة، وبدأت حركة الأحداث البرتقالية حيث يتجمع الشباب في شارع النيل يرتدون ملابس برتقالية اللون، وهو اللون الذي تم وصفه بأنه لون المقاومة.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">كان لقرفنا دور كبير في النشاط الإعلامي الاجتماعي، وتأسيس الثقافة الفرعية التي ولدت في فترة ما بعد </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">30</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> يناير</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">2011</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">، من دعوات لمحاكمة النشطاء المعتقلين في الحملات السياسية، وتسجيل الفيديوهات مع عائلات المعتقلين ومع المعتقلين بعد الإفراج عنهم.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">على صعيد آخر، لم تكن الحركة قادرة على الحفاظ على نفسها. جعل الهيكل اللامركزي وعملها كحركة مقرها الشارع، من المستحيل تأمين نفسها أو أعضائها وسط حملات أمنية مختلفة. في النهاية، اسست الحركة لتكون هناك، في الشوارع مع الجمهور، وهذا جعل أعضائها واضحين جداً ومعرضين للاعتقالات.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">منذ البداية، لم تكن للحركة قيادة، والتي جعلت جميع الأعضاء على قدم المساواة والمشاركة على قدم المساواة في إجراءات العمل. نمت الحركة من خلال عملها، ولكن بقي أساسها ضعيفاً، غير موجوداً تقريبا.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">رأت الحركة في نظام اللامركزية أنها من شأنها أن تبقي على العمل مقسماً بين خلاياه المختلفة وسيضمن امان أعضاء، ولكن كان للنظام عيوب. جعلت عدداً كبيراً من الأعضاء يواجهون خطر الاعتقال دون الأخذ بعين الاعتبار استعدادهم للقيام بذلك. كان العديد من أعضاء الحركة يفتقرون إلى الخبرة السياسية السابقة، وكانت قرفنا أول تجربة لهم، وهذا يعني أنها تفتقر إلى البرامج التدريبية السياسية التي تقدمها الحركات السياسية الرسمية للتامين والتعامل مع جهاز الأمن الوطني.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">وعلاوة على ذلك، لم تستطع الحركة أن تفلت من نفس الأحزاب السياسية التقليدية التي تمردت عليها. منذ البداية، استهدفت قرفنا بشكل كبير من قبل الحكومة من خلال جهاز الأمن الوطني لأنه رأى فيها تهديدا وحركة قد تثير احتجاجات واسعة النطاق ضده، بل أكثر من ذلك من قبل المعارضة، التي تسعى للسيطرة على الحركة من خلال عدة طرق.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">أولاً، رأت المعارضة في حركة قرفنا تهديداً وفرصة، تهديدا لأنها استطاعت استقطاب أعضاء من شبابهم الذين ضاقوا ذرعاً ببيروقراطية الأحزاب التقليدية وفرصة لأنها كانت حركة ناشطة ذات وجود حقيقي في الشارع. وعلاوة على ذلك اعتقد كل طرف التمكن من تبني قرفنا من خلال دعمها لوجستياً وتشجيع أعضاء شبابهم لمواصلة التواجد في الجسم.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">أخيراً، مع كل هذا الضغط المستمر واستنفاذ الكثير من طاقة الأعضاء في ابعاد قرفنا من أن يتم التحكم بها من قبل مؤسسة سياسية وجعلها تستمر مستقلة، بدأ الهيكل الضعيف للحركة ينكشف.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">قرفنا مثل جميع الحركات الاجتماعية والسياسية المعاصرة في السودان، وقعت ضحية لكثير من أمراض المؤسسات السياسية التقليدية. وأبرزها، الاتهامات بأن بعض الناس حول الحركة هم عملاء لجهاز الامن، أو وكلاء لهيئات أخرى، استبعاد بعض الأعضاء في محاولة للحفاظ على حركة أكثر أمنا. هذا المرض المعين أثر على حركة من نمط "فصيلة الأسرة" واستمر لاضعافه.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">مع كل تحدياتها، ستظل قرفنا واحدة من أقوى الحركات السياسية في التاريخ المعاصر من السودان ويومًاً ما سوف يكتب تاريخها مع كل عيوبها وانتصاراتها.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">عيد ميلاد سعيد قرفنا، وارجو ان تعمر بصحة.</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;"> http://www.altaghyeer.info/ar/2013/youth_change/5852/</strong></div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-28514057089936478232014-10-31T09:21:00.000-07:002014-10-31T09:22:19.596-07:00Girifna Turns Five<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On 30 October 2014, Girifna turned five years old. Five years ago, three friends in the old neighborhood of Omdurman, Wad Nobawi, embarked on creating a youth political movement to resist the 2010 general elections.</div>
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They were not exactly sure what to name it or what their mechanisms would be until….one of them came up with the name Girifna. They wanted something short and catchy, a name that will be easily recalled by people. The orange color was picked at random, they saw it as the most powerful color as they wanted to chose colored papers in the stationery shop. </div>
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<span class="s1">Girifna was born in their houses as they sipped tea and argued over the content o</span>f<span class="s2"> </span>the<span class="s2"> </span>flyer<span class="s2"> </span>on<span class="s2"> </span>the<span class="s2"> </span>way to<span class="s2"> </span>the<span class="s2"> </span>printing<span class="s2"> </span>house,<span class="s2"> </span>in<span class="s2"> </span>fact,<span class="s2"> </span>the<span class="s2"> </span>first<span class="s2"> </span>flyer<span class="s2"> </span>was produced the night the movement was born. </div>
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As they discussed what they wanted to do, they did not expect that the movement will grow to encompass volunteers all over Sudan's states and in the diaspora, they didn't know the challenges they will face. </div>
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Sudan's first elections in 24 years was the general elections in 2010. Sudan was at the crossroads as the international channels reported. It was a long overdue elections before the end of the CPA. All of the parties and leading opposition figures were back to the country or back to the spotlight from living and working underground. </div>
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The elections was surely going to be flawed , the NCP signed the CPA but will never give up power to any other political party. However, this was not the only problem was the elections, the people running for elections were another problem. Their faces were too familiar and were or have been involved in the Sudanese political game from the 1950s or at least the 1980s. For youth, the elections were almost a joke, many of Sudan's population were youth and have not seen an elections taking place in Sudan before, but looking at the people running to represent Sudan, the faces were not even close to youthful.</div>
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By October, elections were coming up and the opposition was between campaigning for their "old but gold" nominees and boycotting the elections because the NCP was dishonest and will rig the elections and did not give them the agreed-upon space to lobby and campaign. </div>
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Girifna was born out of frustration with the government and the opposition, based on the fact that youth were "fed up" with the government and the opposition, but also to create hope, an ingredient that was missing from Sudan for years. </div>
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Just days later, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on the movement and from then on, it became one of the main voices of opposition in the runner-up to the elections. The donations came in day by day, from ordinary citizens who liked the new creative idea of the movements and political activists who saw in Girifna what their parties lacked, heavy street -based work and activism. At one point, the movement distributed 120,000 flyers a day and the flyers made their way on buses to Medani and Port Sudan and through unknown ways to the IDP camps in Darfur and the Sudanese refugees' camps in Chad. </div>
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What distinguished Girifna from other political movements in Sudan is many aspects of its existence..</div>
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Firstly, its founders and first members to join the movement were born in the 80s and 90s and came of age during the NCP's rule, they saw a Sudan in the worst shape it had ever been in, they received the <span class="s2">المشروع</span> <span class="s2">الحضاري</span> Ingaz civilizational project's educational curriculum with their brainwash, they were young when the official "opposition" gallivanted in neighboring countries and abroad building one opposition coalition after the other and failing to deliver Sudan from its decades-long political deadlock. </div>
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Secondly, they saw the big gap between the traditional political parties and their constituencies. Girifna marketed on this by representing itself as a street movement. The movement recruited dozens of volunteers to distribute flyers in markets, bus-stops, universities and all locations that are heavily populated. Not long after it began, a 17-year old volunteer and an older activist pushed for the movement to organize a public talk. Soon, the movement was organizing informal public talks known as "mokatabat" in markets and bus stations. The talks had a loud echo in Khartoum, creating a buzz around the movement on the neighborhood-level and also online when the videos were posted.</div>
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Thirdly, the movement which mostly rallied youth around it, gave the power back to youth, a sector that represents the majority of the nation's population but is usually marginalized inside political institutions and other institutions. </div>
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Girifna grew too fast before its first birthday, it spread all around Sudan, established a website and a social media presence and became known to the public and to the international community.</div>
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With fame..comes problems. The movement began suffering from one blow after another, as the main active anti-NCP body during the elections , its members were arrested and intimidated. At one point, with each batch of flyers, a volunteer would get arrested. </div>
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The security crackdowns took their brunt on the movement because the NISS is well-resourced and equipped with an entire office to deal with the so-called "youth movements". However, the main reason remained the structure of the movement that continued to fail it time and time again. </div>
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The movement did a lot of work and changed the face of activism in Sudan, it did what no political institution was able to do in Sudan over the years. It made youth interested in the national cause, interested in Sudan and its future. </div>
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It made activism "cool".</div>
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From its onset, Girifna produced a satirical soap video that will continue to inspire the movement for years. It also distributed plastic orange wristbands that were cool and created a brand for the movement, at one point, the movement create orange events where youth would gather on Nile street wearing orange, a color that was branded as the color of resistance.</div>
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Girifna had a big role in the social media activism sub-culture that was born in the period post Jan-30 2011, with the invitations to the trials of activists to the political detainees campaigns and recording videos with families of detainees and with detainees upon their release.</div>
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On another note, the movement was unable to sustain itself. Its decentralized structure and its work as a street-based movement made it impossible to secure itself or its members amidst the various security crackdowns. At the end, the movement was based on being out there, on the streets with the public, and this made its members too visible and subjected to detentions. </div>
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Since the beginning, the movement had no leadership which made all the members feel equally in charge and equally involved in the work processes. The movement grew through its work, but its foundation remained weak, almost nonexistent. </div>
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The movement saw in decentralization a system that will keep the work divided amongst its various cells and will secure the members, but the system had flaws. It made a large number of members face the risk of detention without taking into consideration their readiness to do so. Many of the movement's members were with no prior political experience , Girifna was their first experience, meaning they lacked the political training packages provided by more formal political movements on security and dealing with the NISS.</div>
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Moreover, the movement couldn't escape the same traditional political parties they rebelled against. From the onset, Girfina was heavily targeted by the government through the NISS as they saw it as a security threat and a body that could spark large-scale protests against it, but more so by the opposition, that sought to dominate the movement through several ways. Firstly, the opposition movement saw in Girifna both a threat and an opportunity, a threat because it was attracting their youth members who were fed up with the bureaucracy of the traditional parties and an opportunity because it was an active body with a real street presence. </div>
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Moreover each party thought of embracing Girifna through supporting it logistically and encouraging their youth members to continue being present in the body. </div>
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Finally, with all this ongoing pressure and the members exhausting a lot of energy to prevent Girifna from being controlled by a political institution and to make it continue being independent, the weak structure of the movement began to unravel.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The movement like all contemporary social and political movements in Sudan began to fall victim to the many diseases of the traditional political institutions. Most prominently, the accusations that some people around the movement are NISS agents or are agents of other bodies and the exclusion of some members in an attempt to keep the movement more secure. This particular disease affected the "family-type" movement and continued to weaken it. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
With all its challenges, Girifna is and will remain one of the most powerful political movements in the contemporary history of Sudan and one day, its history with all its flaws and victories should be written.</div>
<div class="p2">
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<div class="p1">
Happy Birthday Girifna, may you age well. </div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-40232850478916189732014-09-27T00:37:00.001-07:002014-09-27T00:37:41.462-07:00Memory from September 2013- the Brown Scarf<br />
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Last week, I found the flimsy brown scarf lying on my couch between my other scarfs and a black skirt. It was washed and ironed and folded, almost too neatly for such a rebellious scarf. I didn't even know that it had left my wardrobe where I kept it since Friday the 27th of September 2013.</div>
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Let me tell you the story of this small scarf, which is more like a neck tie than a scarf. It was a very hot Friday, my best friend, Sara, came over in the morning after hearing news that a large protest will take place in Omdurman that day, it was a long week, mass protests took place all over Sudan and were suppressed by live bullets. By Friday, over 200 were killed.</div>
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We agreed to go to the protest and live-tweet what was happening. I wore leggings and on top of it, a black dress belonging to my mother and orange shoes since I couldn't find my sneakers….. and most importantly, a beautiful teal cotton scarf. It had an exceptional color and although Sara told me not to wear it. I insisted on wearing it because its material will make me cool down. Before we left the house, I sprayed some vinegar mixed with water on the edge of my beautiful scarf, in anticipation of heavy teargas.</div>
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We left the house in a big group, my parents and my aunt, my two cousins who never protested before, my uncle and ..Sara. We walked to Al-Gala2 neighborhood before we saw masses walking towards us, they were chanting while holding big signs with anti-government slogans.</div>
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We stood there in shock before we found ourselves in the middle of the protest. Estimates by various groups and my father who I consider a good statistician said that the protest had up to 10,000 people.</div>
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We marched for a long time until we reached the Central Police Station next to Omdurman Locality.</div>
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There was a moment of silence before the crowds shouted "peaceful", dozens of police officers and plain-clothed security officers stood there in shock, at the massive numbers and the loud voice.</div>
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My best friend told me that when the crowds chanted "peaceful", one plain-clothed security officer signaled "NO" with his finger.</div>
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We should have seen it coming.</div>
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When we reached the middle of Street 40, I put more vinegar with water on tissue-paper and then put it inside my scarf before wrapping the scarf around my mouth. I wanted to breathe in as much vinegar as possible. I could see the tear-gas coming.</div>
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At some point, the crowds stopped and sat on the floor and began chanting the national anthem while I felt like I was going to faint from the heat and exhaustion, Sara and I crossed the street and knocked on one of the houses and asked for water.</div>
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I took a few sips from the water then turned around to make it back to the crowds when I saw them getting dispersed. They were trapped and army vehicles were coming from both sides, firing live bullets into the air. The crowds were running, both from the live bullets and from the tear-gas bombs that were being fired left and right.</div>
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I remember seeing people running at me , dozens were trying to force themselves into the house were I had asked for water. I crouched on the floor and put my hands on my head. I saw hands reaching out to me, my best friend and another friend were in tears, screaming at me to come inside the house.</div>
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I made myself into the house with dozens of young men and women. A young man was leaning on the wall, with his face stretched in pain, his arm was dislocated or broken or something…during the chaotic dispersal scene.</div>
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Another young man was asking for a cloth, a scarf…something to tie the poor guy's hand. I took off my beautiful teal scarf and wrapped his arm with it and then tied the scarf to his neck.</div>
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A young woman who lives in the house where we were staying gave me the brown scarf.</div>
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For a long time, I thought about my scarf, my friend told me it is now hung on the young man's wall. As a beautiful souvenir from the September protests.</div>
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I also thought about the brown scarf. One day, I got dressed and threw it inside my beige bag and walked to Street 40. As I came closer to the house, I decided not to take it back. I decided to keep it.</div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-72118173651056618542014-08-31T06:32:00.000-07:002014-08-31T06:37:21.267-07:00Open Letter to Safia Ishaq<div class="MsoNormal">
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Dear Safia,</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We have never met, but I know you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you were gang-raped
on the 13th of February 2011, I was in Tripoli, my father was stationed with
the UN there at the time, and we arrived in Libya after we were evacuated from
Egypt as the revolution there unfolded. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were escorted from our house as military barricades filled the streets of Cairo, taken to terminal four and put on a World Bank plane to Dubai. From Dubai, we came to Libya only for another revolution to unfold.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five days after your life changed forever, the day you were
arrested by the national security service as you were buying your art supplies
and then subjected to a horrific gang-rape by three security men as they
muffled your screams and beat you into forced submission…. the protests would
start in Benghazi in Western Libya and we would again evacuate Libya just days
before the airport was shut down.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The whole world was changing in February 2011, Safia, your world changed and my world changed as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Ten days later, I am in a cold country and my mother is
hospitalized, I am scared and afraid of loss, I check my Facebook only to find
a video circulated by a movement called Girifna. In the video, you are wearing
a blue scarf and speaking about your rape. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You went through something unimaginable, but you were not
broken, you spoke about rape in a conservative society where rape is a stigma and a rape victim is stigmatized. You spoke about it at
great personal risk..... the video was filmed and you were in hiding. Your family
refused to speak to you for days after February 13th, Safia, they just could
not grasp what happened to you. </div>
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Some of your friends were in detention from the
protests and others were arrested by the police who wanted to blame them for
your disappearance.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the video, you are collected as you tell what happened to
you in details, towards the end, you break down in tears as the emotional
ordeal becomes too heavy on your heart then you explain why you did this
video...so things don't remain this way, so it doesn't happen to any girl again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So things get better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So things get better...such a small sentence, Safia, but it
has become my motto. A loaded phrase ….that gives me inspiration to continue to
fight for human rights. I became an activist after watching your video and
seeing how people reacted to it. </div>
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Too many things need to get better, Safia. </div>
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You shouldn't have been arrested or raped, because no-one
deserves to be subjected to this. You shouldn't have been shunned by your
family and called a liar by the government's propaganda because rape is serious
and is a dangerous weapon ..... legitimatized by the mentality that makes it
acceptable to fight wars over women's bodies and accept violence against women
because they are active and taking part in resistance and protests . Because they exist in
the public sphere.</div>
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I think of you many times, every year I remember you in the
days leading up to February the 13<sup>th</sup>, I watch the video and I am
touched by your message of hope against all adversity. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you Safia for touching my heart with your words and courage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-18643766838583349502014-08-26T02:51:00.003-07:002014-08-26T02:53:47.232-07:00Can artist campaigns help reunite the centre and the periphery in Sudan?<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the 1990s, as the war continued to escalate in Southern Sudan, Northern Sudanese activists arrived in conflict-affected areas in what was called a ‘peace convoy’. Initially the activists felt they were “mistrusted and no-one wanted to speak” to them, but after some days, this changed and people began to open up. Much the same has happened since 2011, when war broke out in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan and activists began pitching the idea of visiting the conflict areas and the refugee camps to send a message of solidarity.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sudan’s conflicts have often involved areas on the marginalised periphery revolting against the more powerful and wealthy centre, and there is a gulf between the people who live in these different areas too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hajooj Kuka, a Sudanese filmmaker, has spent significant time in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan to film the perspective of those affected by war as they navigate their lives through Antonov bombing raids, and reaffirm their cultural and physical existence through music, dance and story-telling. When Kuka arrived at the IDP and refugee camps, usually finding himself the only or one of a very few there from the centre, he was met with many questions: “Why are people from the capital not coming here? Why is the only doctor in the area an American and not a Sudanese? Where is the centre in all of this?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Kuka is not the only Sudanese artist attempting to highlight the country’s devastating conflicts. Art VS war is a cultural campaign carried out by Nabta Art and Culture Center in collaboration with the National Group for Cultural Policies. From his office in Cairo, Ahmed Isam – a Sudanese artist – designs colourful posters detailing the amount spent on war as opposed to government expenditure on the arts and mixes images of war planes and soldiers in camouflage with art supplies and musical instruments. The campaign is slowly growing from social media to posters and t-shirts; and by the end of the month it will head to refugee camps for musical and cultural exchanges between the centre and the conflict areas.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The film and the campaign should not be taken lightly; they are both innovative ways to build a bridge between the centre and the periphery and show solidarity from the centre, the place that Kuka and Isam believe can really pressure the government to stop the war.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet so far in Sudan, activist groups have been largely unable to mobilize people around the problem of war.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The September Effect</span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In 2012, Girifna, an activist group, campaigned for a protest day named “Darfur Baladna Friday” or “Darfur our home Friday,” during the protests known as Sudan Revolts. However, “Darfur Baladna Friday” never quite materialized in Khartoum. Some argued that it failed because it was Ramadan, others say that people never really related to what the day was intended to represent. The day did have one positive output: a note circulated online, written by Omdurman youth to Darfuris describing how they are saddened by what is happening in Darfur.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A few days later, there were protests in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, and more than a dozen youth were shot dead. There was a sense of embarrassment in the centre: when the capital’s residents protest they are tear-gassed and detained, in the periphery, the government goes straight to live bullets.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The September 2013 demonstrations, during which more than 200 people were killed, mainly in the capital, were a turning point. When the bodies of protesters began piling up it was a shock to the centre. The government that allegedly protected them from the evil people in the periphery had now begun killing them too. The events of September 2013 echoed loudly in the war areas too. Kuka says that it made people realize that Sudanese in the centre could also be killed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The September incident opened a new space for dialogue between activists in the centre and the periphery, but this dialogue will not prove prosperous unless the activists can mobilize people against the war and not just about economic issues.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The War Next Door</span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A few months ago, as Rapid Support Forces (RSF) burned and pillaged villages in North Darfur, the conflict in Sudan’s western region surfaced in Khartoum in the form an Arabic hashtag #Darfur_Burns. As one Darfuri activist put it to me, “it gave people information they never knew about Darfur and its history.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Activist groups like Girifna and Sudan Change Now have campaigned against the three wars raging in Sudan. But the campaigns, despite all their good intentions, were never strong enough to rally popular support.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First, the campaigns were not prioritized during times when other events in the centre were given more coverage; and the local was usually not tied to the bigger problems in Sudan. Right now, the conversation is about the floods, with a particular focus on the implications for Khartoum state residents. The floods could be made a national issue as they bring to the fore issues of governance, the mass displacement of IDPs from war-torn areas to Khartoum where they live in uninhabitable land, and officials embezzling money instead of using it to prepare for the rainy season.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In another example, when Univeristy of Khartoum student Ali Abakar was shot after he gave a speech about the deteriorating situation in Darfur, activist groups failed to make their campaign about the war. Instead it was presented as a local University of Khartoum event. Soon, the attention moved from Ali Abakar to the students who were arrested and to the dispersal of students from the dorms.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Second, the campaigns have been isolated from the civilians in the conflict areas. This is because activists lack access to the war zones and sometimes do not reach out effectively to civilians from those places. Moreover, there is a serious trust issue. Salih Ammar, a journalist, was beaten up when attempting to show solidarity with a Darfuri student activist who was allegedly tortured to death by the security services.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, no sustained efforts are made by activist groups to explain to the average citizen how war is their biggest problem, as it affects everything from the country’s economy to healthcare and the educational system. Over 70% of the country’s revenues go to the military and security; in other words, war affects everyday life.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Art as a weapon against war</span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“War stops at the place it is coming from, where the arms are made and the planes are launched,” Isam says. Both Kuka and Isam explain that the centre needs to be part of the solution to stop the war.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To make his documentary, “Beats of the Antonov”, which tells the story of </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan, Kuka spent months going to the refugee and IDP camps in which hundreds of thousands of people from both regions live. Previous films about the war in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan have not been made by Sudanese filmmakers and he wanted to make a film where Sudanese people are the audience. The people he filmed were at the heart of his documentary, and they saw the many cuts of the film as it was being edited and gave their comments and recommendations.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the film, in one scene, the girls are giggling as they watch themselves on Kuka’s laptop. These girls were never going to be on national television, but now they are part of a film that will have a bigger audience than simply Sudan TV. The film is meant to arm its Sudanese audience, who after watching it will want to fight for cultural and ethnic diversity, to listen to this music and hear these stories told in the centre, in Khartoum.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Art Vs War is also important because like Kuka it will directly go to the people affected by the war and will be a bridge between the centre and the periphery. It is an attempt at peace-building, with no resources to build services, but merely to build social peace between people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The only anti-war attempts that will work should start from the centre and engage with the conflict areas and should only be focused on war; the most critical issue in Sudan today.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Originally Published at</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://africanarguments.org/2014/08/12/can-artist-campaigns-help-reunite-the-centre-and-the-periphery-in-sudan-by-reem-abbas/</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 16.31999969482422px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and a Version was published at:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 16.31999969482422px;">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/18/art-film-activist-peace-sudan?CMP=twt_gu</span></div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-12932173069689277902014-06-21T11:32:00.005-07:002014-06-21T11:32:56.849-07:00Freedom to Hassan Ishaq, the journalist and my friend<div class="p1">
Dear Hassan,</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /><b></b></div>
<div class="p2">
<b><i></i></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>It took me two days to really comprehend that you were really arrested. Minutes after your arrest, a friend posted the news on Facebook, he only wrote "Hassan Ishaq was arrested".I asked if it is Hassan the journalist. </i></div>
<div class="p2">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>I did what any person not in their right mind would do, I called both of your numbers, it is a stupid move I reckon , but something many of us do when we hear that someone was arrested. It is almost our way of trying to confirm that the arrest didn't take place or that you managed to escape.</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>A few days later, by coincidence, I found a notebook while organizing my writing notebooks. I flipped the pages to see what I was writing in 2012 and found two pages full of notes about you. It was an attempt at documenting that you were summoned by the NISS in mid 2012 for your articles and the threats you received. To the bottom right, I had asked you for your family's numbers …just in case! </i></div>
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<i></i><br /></div>
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<i>I called your sister , telling her I am Hassan's friend and I just wanted to see how they are doing. She did not know about your arrest Hassan. She told me that you had a work mission in Al-Nuhud then vanished, your phone has been off for days. I just could not tell her , I told her yes you have been MIA and I would contact her if I find out something.</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>Someone must have told her and I am glad it didn't have to be me, she called me the next day and told me the news and asked if you will be released soon and if you will be tortured. I told her that you are okay, even though I knew about the torture and that you were taken to the hospital.</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<i></i><br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I met Hasan in 2012, </span> I worked at Al-Jareeda newspaper for a few months, supervising a weekly file in the English language and Hassan was collaborating with the newspaper at the time. Ishaq was very disciplined in his work, he was a real journalist and produced exceptional work with the little resources he had. The newspaper paid very low salaries, barely enough to cover transportation and breakfast money, but Hassan went out of his way to cover sensitive human rights cases. When no one was writing about the detention of the University of Khartoum students or the detention of Dr. Bushra Gamar or the crackdown on the media, Ishaq was contacting families, lawyers and activists and pushing very strong pieces to get published.</div>
<div class="p3">
Hassan would write his article in his notebook then type them when a laptop or a computer becomes available at the newspaper as he did not have a personal laptop. </div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
He was born to be a journalist, always chasing news that mattered to him, talking to people and researching stories on the internet. </div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Hassan resigned from Al-Jareeda newspaper after he was summoned by NISS in April 2012. He was asked by the editor to "water-down his daring writings" and he just couldn't get himself to do it. </div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
As a colleague working in the newspaper field, my advise was to keep working at the newspaper to keep a stable income and do freelance work for websites that respected his daring writings. He continued working as a journalist, sending his writings to Sudanese websites which published his work for no pay at all. To make ends meet, he worked all kinds of jobs, in an oven in the market in his neighborhood, brick-laying in construction sites…everything to continue writing.</div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In July 2012, during the trial of his friend, Rudwan Dawood, Hassan was arrested while covering the controversial trial. He was beaten, robbed of his phone and precious press card.</div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
He returned to Al-Hasahisa to stay with his family. I once told him over the phone, just work as a farmer Hassan, if they don't publish your work, then they don't deserve to have you as a writer. In Al-Hasahisa, Hassan worked different jobs to make it day-to-day, his most precious possession was his notepads and pens, he would write op-ed and articles that he would email me, eventually, he was getting published in Sudanese websites, again, he was not getting paid. If only they knew how you struggled to write at the end of a long day after working in the hot sun to support your family. </div>
<div class="p3">
You were getting stressed and sad, once you told me, I am embrassed from my family, I can not defend my profession anymore. </div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Hassan was arrested on Tuesday 10 June 2014 at Al-Nuhud while on assignment for Al-Jareeda newspaper, he was tortured and had to go to the hospital for medications as stated by a lawyer working on his case.</div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Hassan and others were arrested under the Emergency Laws of West Kordofan state which gives the authorities the right to keep someone for up to six months without charges. The lawyer said that he does not even have a copy of the emergency laws to understand what it entails.</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
I miss you Hassan. Freedom to Hassan and freedom to his daring writings. </div>
<br />
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-89954030339083435482014-06-21T11:19:00.005-07:002014-06-22T03:28:21.388-07:00Sudan protest victims still seeking justice<div class="essay" style="font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">At around 3 p.m. on the extraordinarily hot afternoon of May 28, Sara Abdel-Bagi's mother stood in front of the Bahri court complex in shock and in tears. In the middle of the street, with one hand in the air, she screamed, "There is no god but God, there is no justice for my daughter." The other hand clutched her thobe, the local Sudanese customary attire, as it kept collapsing on the road.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Women and men from Abdel-Bagi's family, together with activists who attended the court session, formed a straight line and closed the street, holding signs with pictures of martyrs who fell during the <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/sudan-protests-gas-subsidy.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">September 2013 protests</a> in Sudan. Some read, "We will not forget, we will not forgive."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The September protests, also referred to as Sudan Revolts 2.0, began in Medani, the capital of Al-Jazeera state before it spread to Khartoum state and elsewhere. The protests came after President Omar Bashir announced the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34nBgdA_QVA" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">removal of fuel and gas subsidies</a>. The <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/sudanlostgeneration-azeem.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">protests quickly grew bloody</a>, with Amnesty International <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/sudan-escalates-mass-arrests-activists-amid-protest-crackdown-2013-10-02" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">estimating</a> that 210 protesters had been killed by government forces.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Hundreds were arrested during the protests and dozens remain in prison with ongoing trials for their participation. In January 2014, Bashir called for a <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/-Bashir-calls-for-national-dialogue--/-/1066/2163892/-/15kh89mz/-/index.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">national dialogue</a> with opposition parties. Some parties, such as Umma, the largest opposition party, and the Islamist Popular Congress Party,<a href="http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=232160" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">joined the call for dialogue</a>, but <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=51054" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Umma suspended the dialogue</a> after its leader was arrested by the national security forces in May.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The judge adjudicating the trial of Sara's murder concluded that "there is confusion and contradictions in the testimonies of the witnesses," and ordered that Sami Mohamed Ahmed, a former soldier accused of shooting Sara Abdel-Bagi to death, be freed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">After the court adjourned, the scene was chaotic. Sara's sister Eiman, a journalist, was held back by family members as she kicked down a traffic triangle while her aunt chanted, "One million martyrs for a new dawn." Tearful activists holding signs were screamed at by armed riot police who waved their clubs at them, threatening to use force while plainclothes security officers grabbed the signs and shoved them into a plastic bag. One protester told Al-Monitor, "He put the posters with the martyr's pictures in a trash bag."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">On Sept. 25, 2013, Sara Abdel-Bagi left her house in distress with her sister for her uncle's house, only a few meters away, to attend her 15-year-old cousin’s funeral. Her cousin, Suhaib Mohamed Musa, had been <a href="http://sudanmartyrs.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">shot dead</a> while participating in the fourth day of the <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/sudan-protests-youth-frustration.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">mass protests</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Abdel-Bagi never made it to her cousin's funeral; she was shot right in front of her house. When she reached the hospital, there was no specialist to treat her and she died, Eiman told Al-Monitor. Her family struggled to cope with the aftermath. Just reaching the court was a challenge on its own.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"We received everything from threats to total refusal to even open a complaint against [the soldier] Ahmed. Many discouraged us and said there will be no justice," said Abdel-Bagi's aunt Fatima al-Amin, also an activist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It took 67 days for the police to arrest Ahmed, even after he was named by witnesses in court on Oct. 9, 2013. There were 12 witnesses in total, with five testifying that they saw him shoot her, according to the documentation submitted by the family's lawyer to the court and seen by Al-Monitor.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One witness. who is related to Ahmed, said that he was the only one dressed in civilian clothes who was armed in the area, and that he saw him shoot her.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"Even one of the defense witnesses reiterated the testimonies of our witnesses and put him in that location at that time," said Amin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">According to Amin, Ahmed also shot dead another young man in their neighborhood, Al-Doroshab North. His family, along with the family of Musa, waited for the results of Abdel-Bagi's case before they took action. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">For Mutasim al-Haj, Abdel-Bagi's lawyer, the fight is not over.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"We will take the case to the court of appeals, then to the high court and then to the constitutional court. If no justice prevails, we will take our case to the African court," Haj told Al-Monitor.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Following Ahmed's trial, Haj was interrogated by security personnel for 2 ½ hours.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"I was told that I instigated the people to hold signs and conduct the protest in front of the court and that I am not practicing law, I am doing political work," said Haj, adding that he, along with other lawyers, will write a memorandum detailing this violation to the Lawyers Syndicate.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Another mother of a protester who was killed during the protest, who wished to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor that so far she has been unable to file a complaint and take her son's case to court.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"I am a widow and when I went to the police station to file a complaint, I was told that as a woman, I need a blood kin to do this. Although I am his mother, I had to get his uncle's permission," she said, adding that even when she complied, they still refused to take her complaint. She is working with a lawyer to bring her son's case to court.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Sideeg Yousif, the head of the National Committee for Solidarity with the Families of Martyrs and Wounded, said that families who lost loved ones during the September protests face many problems. "The police will never open a complaint for them against the national security, which is the accused body. It will open a complaint against an unknown assailant," Yousif told Al-Monitor. He added that all families received a permit to bury the bodies, but no medical reports or autopsies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"If you have no medical report and most importantly Form Eight (a police form documenting physical harm), it is difficult to file a complaint. Most families were denied Form Eight, but in usual cases, the police require it even before you get medical attention," Yousif said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">By the end of 2013, the Sudanese government estimated that <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article48705" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">80 people lost their lives</a> in the protests after insisting that only 34 had died until a month after the protests. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The justice minister has <a href="http://www.altareeq.info/ar/complaint-against-the-government-of-sudan-because-of-the-delay-in-opening-communications-against-the-killers-of-september-11/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">formed a committee</a> led by the chairman of the General Prosecution Office of Omdurman, Babiker Gashi, to investigate the events of September 2013, but the committee has yet to present any findings. In fact, in May an official at the Ministry of Justice <a href="http://www.alyoumaltali.com/news/17165-%D9%88%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%AF-%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%B1.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">denied that a committee had ever been formed</a> in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Amin continues to advocate for her niece and other martyrs, but others have questions that remain unanswered.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One young activist who wished to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor, "On Sept. 25, I joined a protest in Al-Fatehab in Omdurman. When we reached the Mohandiseen roundabout, there were no police, but then new forces that we never saw before appeared and shot live bullets."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The activist said that the scene was chaotic while they recovered fallen protesters. One body, that of a secondary-school student named Salem, was carried away by the protesters and that sparked another protest. The activist said, "The forces came again and when they opened live fire and tear gas, people ran for cover. When we were conscious again, the bed we were carrying was empty — Salem's body was taken."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Salem's story is one of many, and further proof that the crackdown on protesters in September 2013 needs independent investigation.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Published @http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/sudan-sara-bagi-protests-september-activists.html#</span></div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-10305890861025322622014-06-02T07:15:00.001-07:002014-08-26T02:47:13.840-07:00Mariam Yahia's Story<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">Mariam Yahia, a mother in her 20s is currently facing apostasy and adultery charges under Sudan's Criminal Law of 1991. Yahia is accused of leaving Islam and converting to Christianity in a complaint brought against her by a family claiming to be her direct family. Mariam's story unleashed a war in Sudan where one side views itself as guarding Islam from the other side, the infidels. Although the war could be viewed as a religious one, it is in fact political, Maryam by staying firm on her position to remain a Christian put the entire Islamist project in jeopardy, a young woman has stood against a patriarchal judiciary system that has its laws tailored specifically to punish women and a political system that doesn't accept religious diversity.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">On Thursday 15th of May, I sat in a cramped court house at Al-Haj Yousif Court Complex in Khartoum North, the court house had more people standing than sitting and dozens were standing in front of the court house, knocking its wooden door every few seconds only to be told that they can not be allowed in. Mariam Yahia was locked inside the defendant's cage with a bearded sheikh who represented the Sudan Scholars Council.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">We waited for at least half an hour only for the bearded sheikh to step outside the cage and sit next to the judge.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The judge asked Mariam what her decision is, in other words, if she decided to return to Islam. She said just one sentence, "I am Christian and I am not an apostate,"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The courthouse was silent then astonished. Some let out screams they tried to suppress with their palms, others cried, tears of worry for Mariam.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I was absolutely surprised, just days before, Mariam's lawyers and husband spoke about the pressure she is facing in jail, by the prison guards and the women imprisoned with her and by the state and the entire judiciary system. Just two days before the Sunday session where she was sentenced to execution and 100 lashes under Article 126, Apostasy, and Article 146, Adultery, Mariam received an unwelcome state visitor in prison telling her that she needs to recount her christian faith and return to Islam to escape execution. She was told that an appeal could take years and she could be stuck in jail for four years before she would be free.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In that context, as a mother of a boy under 2 years old and the future mother of a girl that she will give birth to in the coming weeks, it would have made a lot of sense for Mariam to recount her faith and choose the easy way out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">However, there is no easy way out for Mariam.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: white;">The Story</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b>Mariam's story began with the judiciary system in September 2013. On the 14th of September 2013, a man who claims to be her brother filed a complaint that he saw his missing sister with a South Sudanese man. She was arrested along with her husband the next day , the police said that they were able to track her using her cellphone number after arresting her husband's cousin by mistake. Mariam was in and out of jail based on adultery charges as her family claimed that she is Muslim by birth and she can not have married this Christian man, Dr. David Wani, and because they have a child together, this is Zina or adultery as based on Article 146 of the Criminal Law. In mid-January 2014, Omdurman Women's Prison became Mariam's full-time home with her now 20 months old son, Martin. Around that time, her defense team said is when the apostasy charges were added as based on Article 146 of the Criminal Law.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Mariam said that her mother is Ethiopian and her father is a Sudanese Muslim and she was raised as a Christian following her mother's religion. She lived in Gedarif before moving to Khartoum sometime in 2005 , she married Dr.Wani in late 2011. At the time her family, which represents the complainer in this case, claimed that she disappeared after Ramadan 2012, Mariam was married and pregnant with her first child, Martin, at the time. Both Mariam's story and her alleged family's story have serious gaps, , but I will look beyond the personal, at a case that is more politically and socially complex , than a family problem.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Before Mariam's story, the Sudanese public have not heard of of a person sentenced for apostasy since 1985, when the Republican party's spiritual leader, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, was sentenced in public for apostasy, just a mere months before the March-April revolution. After the revolution, Taha's daughter who is a lawyer worked with a team of defense lawyers, and took this case to the constitutional court which deemed the case and his sentencing unconstitutional. This did not stop the judge from referring to the case of Taha on the Sunday where he sentenced Mariam to death by execution as a case of apostasy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In April 2014, before Mariam, there was Faiza Abdullah. A simple mother of 8 who converted to Christianity to marry her husband who is Christian and works at the church. Abdullah found herself in a dilemma when she went to get a National ID number, the officer saw her name and asked her "what is your religion?". When she said she is Christian, he automatically wore the hat of a complainer and took her to court. During her trial, her father said that he is Muslim and she was Muslim growing up, but she converted to Christianity. The father had no objections to the fact that his daughter left Islam. Last week, a man in his 40s was arrested in a mosque in Southern Khartoum because he distributed pamphlets promoting Christianity. When I followed the news, I was told that his lawyer pleaded that he is mentally unstable and he was sentenced to a psychiatric ward. A lawyer friend told me that the lawyer could have used this approach to save his client from the ordeal of Mariam.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It seems very bizarre that a man who distributes pamphlets promoting Christianity in a mosque three weeks in a row is "mentally unstable", he seems very certain about what he wants to do.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: white;">The People Who Held Signs</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b>Outside Mariam's court house, civil society activists began gathering and stood on the stairs leading to the court, some armed with posters that read slogans like "the death penalty is inhumane| and "the right of religion is a constitutional right" and others armed with their loud dissenting voices. What followed was an ideological battle between those activists who largely represent the moderate religious voices such as the Republicans and those who are affiliated with the Sudanese left and the bearded sheikhs and young men who are against everything those activists stand for. Because in reality, it is a greater gain for the the Sudan Scholars Council to pressure Maryam into Islam than to have her sentenced to death. It is a gain for Islam in Sudan and a gain against the Sudanese left which is viewed as a threat to the entire Islamist project.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The court was a battlefield between those two parties, it was a moral and political battle. Moral because the religious zealots view civil society activists as morally inferior and anti-religion and are in a constant struggle against religious values which they believe are inherently Sudanese. Political because what Amel Habbani, a Sudanese journalist, said in front of the court house, summarized the political debate between both sides. "You want to execute Maryam, but you don't want to even try those corrupt murderers in power," she argued, only to be told to cover her hair. She screamed, "no to women's oppression". In fact, Maryam's case is another testament that the political is always fought over women's bodies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In the case of Maryam and Faiza, the state acted as the patriarch , showing complete contempt and lack of acceptance for his daughters' decisions. Faiza was divorced from her husband by the patriarch while Maryam is continuing to be painted as a girl who was "bewitched" by forces only known to the Sudan Scholars Council. If she continues to refuse to succumb to the decision imposed upon her by the state, she will be lashed 100 times and executed. If she recounts Christianity, she will still be lashed and will also be divorced from a husband.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: white;">The Gap Within</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b>In the days before that hot Thursday afternoon, Sudanese activists began a social media campaign, in the form of a hashtag and a Facebook page, respectively. The purpose was to gather support for Maryam's case and invite people to attend her trial. The solidarity campaign caused serious issues to resurface, those issues are usually much easier to bury when we are discussing a social problem or a political issue such as the regime's use of excess force against civilians in war zones or even political detentions. But when you discuss religion, you automatically find yourself walking in a landmine, between the total seculars, the bearded seculars and those in between.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The debate ensued, between trying to tell Maryam's story to the people in her own words without the gaps, that she is Christian based on her mother's religion and by this, you gain a large number of followers who will support Mariam merely because they will blame her father who abandoned her as a child to be brought up by her Christian mother. It becomes tricky and you could attract the kind of followers, who stand against Maryam's apostasy sentence, but still believe that as a Muslim, you can not leave your faith. In other words, the solidarity campaign stops at supporting Maryam's right to practice Christianity, but does not uphold the constitutional right to "Freedom of religion".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Moreover, a main argument used by the solidarity campaign which includes journalists, activists and even scholars is to question the Huddud in Islam, with many arguing that death for apostasy is not even Islamic. Those who defend Mariam's right to life because Islam does not have the death penalty for apostasy are usually silent on her second sentence, Article 146.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Others who argue that death for apostasy is in Islam ignore that this sentence is against Sudan's Interim constitution which should, in practice, reflect an Islamic constitution since Sudan has been ruled by Islamists since 1989.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">A few weeks ago, I posted a news piece on Twitter stating that " a university girl was lashed for getting pregnant by her fiancee". I asked where is the fiancee in this lashing and reiterated that I am against lashing. I then received many comments supporting that the fiancee also had to be lashed because this is Zina based on the Islamic law. The readers simply missed my point, I only asked where the fiancee is in the lashing because in most Zina cases in Sudan , the woman is the one getting lashed. If the fiancee was asked and he denied, orally, that this is his baby, he will not be lashed, but she will under all circumstances. This does not change my stance that both sides should not be lashed, however, my question was a jab at the judiciary system which is supported by a patriarchal socio-political system which incriminates women even in their private lives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Finally, Mariam's case stands as a real challenge for civil society activists in her solidarity campaign, at the end of the day, if they want to challenge the Apostasy law in Sudan, international pressure and advocacy alone is not enough. National pressure and advocacy is much needed and by the high number of "likes" on the Facebook Page , many inside Sudan are interested in Maryam's case, but how to sell Mariam's case as a human rights issue, as a "Freedom of Religion" issue will be a dilemma. If we want to uphold Mariam's story in her own words, we still have to convince people that even though she says that she is Christian due to her mother's influence, she has the constitutional right to be part of any religion she wishes. However, if we uphold the other side's story, that she is their runaway daughter who left Islam, then the solidarity campaign will face the challenge of standing up to zealots who act as guardians to the Islamic state in Sudan.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Cross-posted at ---</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>http://www.cmi.no/news/?1394-mariam-yahias-story</div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-25128323434587939642014-01-29T11:57:00.000-08:002014-01-29T11:57:09.901-08:00Sudanese press suffers under economic woesOriginally published @ http://www.dc4mf.org/en/node/4576<br />
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The year 2013 was a year of economic woes for everyone in the newspaper industry in Sudan. For the first time in years, inflation is rapidly heading towards the 50% mark, with the Sudanese pound (SDG) losing over half of its value. As a result, newspapers initially had to change their price from 1 SDG to 1.5 SDG and then eventually to 2 SDG by November 2013.</div>
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This increase has turned newspapers into a luxury, like the expensive English butter biscuits gathering dust on the shelves of supermarkets. </div>
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A few days ago, <i>Al-Ayam</i> newspaper, one of the few independent newspapers in Sudan, published figures indicating a 50% decrease in the circulation of newspapers in general in 2013 compared to the year before, while many newspapers were forced out of business.</div>
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<i>Al-Ayam</i>, one of Sudan's oldest newspapers, was established in the 1950’s and survived a number of dictatorships that censored it and even shut it down for years. However, the outlet is desperately struggling at the moment, clinging onto a life jacket in a bid to survive the current economic wave.</div>
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"Nearly 80% of the issues printed are sold, which is good distribution. However, we don't print the same issues every day - we print based on our financial situation," said Ahmed Al-Sheikh, an editor at <i>Al-Ayam</i>.</div>
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<i>Al-Ayam</i> receives practically no revenue from advertising, meaning that the newspaper has to survive on its distribution funds, and the instability this has produced has led to many journalists leaving its payroll.</div>
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<b>Death of the rebel</b></div>
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Two months ago, <i>Al-Qarar</i> newspaper disappeared from the newsstands. <i>Al-Qarar</i>, known by journalists as "an act of rebellion," was launched by journalists who were frustrated at working in newspapers owned by businessmen. It was first printed in October 2012 with founders who decided that they wouldn’t take salaries until the newspaper was able to stand on its feet. It never did.</div>
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"I was committed to the newspaper and what it represents so I stayed there, although I made less than what I made two years ago at another newspaper. Sometimes, the pay came months late," said Ayman Senjrab, the news editor at <i>Al-Qarar</i>.</div>
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Like others at <i>Al-Qarar, </i>Senjrab was practically a volunteer, but he and his colleagues enjoyed working at a newspaper and the unique experience it entailed. The well-known journalist is currently waiting to hear whether "the rebel" will be back in business or not, but he is concerned for its future. The newspaper has to pay back debts it owes to the publishing house, but in reality, it needs to get back into business to recoup the money it owes.</div>
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"I expect to see more newspapers collapsing with this deteriorating economy, and the independent newspapers will lose the battle first," Senjrab told DCMF.</div>
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Along with <i>Al-Qarar</i>, many newspapers, covering sports, as well as political and social affairs, have had to stop printing, and they have done so making very little noise. <i>Al-Akhbar, Noon, Al-Mawaj Al-Azraq, Sada-Al-Malaab, Al-Helal, Al-Mereikh, Al-Shabka, New Sport, Super </i>and <i>Fanon</i> have all disappeared from the kiosks in Khartoum. </div>
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<b>Untenable expenses</b></div>
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The circulation of political newspapers went from 258,000 to between 130,000 and 140,000 in 2013 with sports newspapers’ numbers also dropping, and social affairs newspapers suffering a 40% loss in circulation.</div>
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At the beginning of 2013, many newspapers were complaining over the prices of paper, which had more than doubled following the austerity measures of 2012. At the end of 2013, the government implemented another wave of austerity measures, this time removing fuel subsidies, which caused a rapid increase in all prices and led to a week of protests and violence, during which dozens of civilians were allegedly killed by security forces and <a href="http://www.dc4mf.org/en/content/sudanese-government-continues-target-media-0"><span class="s1">members of the media were targeted</span></a>.</div>
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In Jackson square, a public transportation station in Khartoum where thousands flock every day, at a corner next to a shop selling dates, a sole vendor sits showcasing different newspapers on a table. At least a dozen people stand around the table, with heads bowed in an attempt to read the headlines and some important news - but noone is buying. The seller doesn't bother anyone "reading" unless they decide to hold the newspaper to flip a page.</div>
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Hussein Mohamed Ali rents a kiosk next to the locality building in Omdurman. Officially he sells newspapers, but to make ends meet, he also sells phone credit, stationery and other items. He explained that "people stand in front of my kiosk and skim the newspapers, less people are buying newspapers now."</div>
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"The people who used to buy three newspapers now buy one newspaper, that’s why I return 60% of the newspapers at the end of the day because I am not able to sell them," he added.</div>
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The current price of 2 SDG only remains following a serious struggle by newspapers, after publishers circulated a statement last year saying that the price would increase to 2.5 SDG, arguing that they had already endured significant losses to avoid price increases.</div>
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<b>Newspapers also blamed</b></div>
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Al-Nour Ahmed Al-Nour, who is a columnist for the London-based <i>Al-Hayat</i> newspaper and also writes for <i>Al-Taghyeer</i> newspaper in Khartoum, said that in the midst of the current economic crisis, people are focusing on buying bread and other staples as opposed to newspapers.</div>
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"The newspapers are expensive, but also the lack of press freedoms is negatively affecting how newspapers tackle different issues, and this has created newspapers that are unfulfilling to readers." said Al-Nour.</div>
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Al-Sheikh agreed with Al-Nour adding that there is a serious problem of credibility.</div>
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"Security pressures made newspapers very far from their readers. For example, if a citizen sees a protest in their neighbourhood and it is not reported tomorrow in the newspaper, they lose faith in the newspaper," said Al-Sheikh.</div>
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Before it stopped printing, daily political newspaper<i> Al-Qarar</i> had only 16 staff members; significantly fewer than the number generally required to run such an operation.</div>
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The economic situation is making it very difficult for newspapers to hire and retain qualified staff, leading to a double-edged sword, newspapers have to settle for less qualified staff or trainees, but this in turn leads to them losing the readership attracted to the well-known journalists they might previously have hired.</div>
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<b>Outside the capital</b></div>
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Almost all newspapers are focused and printed in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. However, two cities outside Khartoum have newspapers, and Port Sudan in Eastern Sudan has three local newspapers. </div>
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Abdelhady Al-Haj, the former managing editor of <i>Port Sudan - My City</i>, told DCMF that the price of newspapers in the city has increased by between 0.50 SDG and 1 SDG in comparison to those in Khartoum, meaning that papers now cost between 2.50 SDG and 3 SDG.</div>
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"The bigger problem is that the newspapers are printed in Khartoum and then transported by bus to Port Sudan. They reach there in the late afternoon and the distribution period is in the evening until 3 pm the next day," explained Al-Haj, highlighting the fact that while they subsequently have to pay more, readers are provided with news much later than others.</div>
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<i>Port Sudan - My City</i> used to print between 6,000 and 7,000 copies a day when Al-Haj worked there.</div>
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"Now, the newspaper prints 2,000 or 3,000 copies, because the circulation has dropped and distributors started complaining," he said.</div>
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The result is that journalists in Port Sudan, much like their colleagues based elsewhere across the country, are being forced to pursue other professional opportunities, in many cases leaving behind a profession that they love because it is no longer a viable option in the current economic climate.</div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-43385084701572495242014-01-29T11:56:00.000-08:002014-06-22T03:29:36.596-07:00On September Protests<div class="p1">
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Originally published @ <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/sudan-protests-gas-subsidy.html#ixzz2roqcsFBr">http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/sudan-protests-gas-subsidy.html#ixzz2roqcsFBr</a></span></div>
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Saturday's protest began after Sanhouri was buried in Buri cemetery. The protesters marched for two hours from Buri to Street 60, one of the main streets in <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/08/sudan-south-khartoum-juba-demilitarized-zone.html"><span class="s2">Khartoum</span></a>.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">"The police began firing heavy tear gas and rubber bullets to crack down on the protest, then the live bullets began," said Hamid Mohamed, an engineer who joined the burial and protest. Mohamed's friend was injured by a rubber bullet to his head and taken to the hospital right away. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">"I saw an older man who was shot in his leg by a live bullet," Mohamed told <i>Al-Monitor</i> in an interview. He added that there were more injuries, but because people dispersed he could only confirm the ones he witnessed.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Peaceful is what activists have called the ongoing protests in Sudan, which began in Medani, the capital of Jazeera state, on Sept. 23, a day after President Omar al-Bashir announced <a href="http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article48144"><span class="s2">new economic measures</span></a> to save the collapsing Sudanese economy. Economic measures include the lifting of fuel subsidies, which immediately caused prices to double.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The protests in Medani saw civilian deaths as well as the burning of <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2013/06/south-sudan-alternate-oil-export-route.html"><span class="s2">gas stations</span></a>, the symbol of this round of economic measures. The next day, the anger spread to Khartoum and other cities in Sudan. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">On Sept. 25, the building of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the Ombada locality in Khartoum state was burned to ashes in addition to two police stations and various gas stations. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Sudanese government has refused to admit that protests are happening in Khartoum, accusing instead the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of armed movements, of instigating acts of violence in the state and referring to the protesters as homeless people and thugs.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">State television and government-owned newspapers have reiterated the government's message, showing videos of groups of youth burning cars and vandalizing, while activists and independent media have accused the government of using thugs to scare the public and imposing a media blackout, as various newspapers were confiscated and the Internet shut off for over a day.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">However, speaking to the national radio on Sept. 27, Sudanese Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud admitted that <a href="http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article48204"><span class="s2">over 600 people</span></a> who took part in the protests have been detained since last week. While Mahmoud spoke, Omdurman city — a locality in Khartoum state — was brewing, as thousands of protesters walked for over an hour from Wad Nobawi to Street 40.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was 16-year-old Sara Yousif's first protest, the first time she expressed her anger at the government. Yousif just took the high school exam and will go to college next month. "I am out because I want the government to leave; we want a better life," said Yousif, who was encouraged by the pictures of protests she received on WhatsApp, the smartphone instant messaging application.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yousif marched with her sister, cousin, aunts and uncle. The group walked to Wad Nobawi, where the protest began, joining large numbers in chants calling for the toppling of the government, screaming that they will give their blood and lives to Sudan.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Each time the protest passed soldiers, riot police and security agents, they chanted the word peaceful, emphasizing that they are unarmed protesters who only want to express themselves.After an hour of marching and chanting, the protest stopped, and the protesters began singing the national anthem. At this point, riot police and security soldiers surrounded the large protest from the front and the back and shot tear gas canisters and live bullets.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">"They used live ammunition and this dispersed the protest. We were on the main road, so I hid in one of the houses that opened their doors to the protesters," Samira Ahmed, one of the protesters, told <i>Al-Monitor</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The scene was chaotic with several thousand protesters running into side streets and houses on the main street. Some leaving their bags and shoes behind, some fell to the ground, injured, while others were lost and confused, searching for their loved ones.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yousif found herself alone, separated from her elder sister, who had been holding her hand, as well as other family members. "I ran into one of the houses, then jumped the wall to another house and then jumped many walls before I found myself on a side street. I then ran to my aunt's house," said Yousif, who was worried about her family at the time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Some protesters found safety, some went to the hospital with broken bones and gunshot wounds, while others were arrested. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Sudanese government has admitted the deaths of 33 people due to "uncontrolled gangs"; however, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate estimated that <a href="http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/56633?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter"><span class="s2">210 people</span></a> have been killed during the protests.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">"My neighborhood in Omdurman was a war zone for days. We kept screaming as they fired tear gas and live bullets, while men from my neighborhood were injured and others died," Fatima Saeed, who works for an international nongovernmental organization, told <i>Al-Monitor</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Saeed wants regime change in Sudan, but cannot comprehend how much more lives will be lost. "Our strong protests have been suppressed by the live bullets, and they have arrested many youth in my neighborhood. The security has a list of names they arrest from," Saeed said.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The protests continued on Sept. 29 in Kassala, eastern Sudan, and spread to Ahfad University for Women on Sept 30.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“We are locked inside the campus, the police are surrounding us and we are chanting against the regime. They fired tear gas at us on campus,” said Ola Abdullah, who spoke to <i>Al-Monitor </i>on the phone.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>All names were altered to protect the identity of the interviewees.</i></span></div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-84902191471248620292013-09-01T11:24:00.004-07:002013-09-01T13:18:38.095-07:00الموضوع ما النظام العام، الموضوع الراي العام<br />
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شهر ١٠ الفات، مشيت بنك الخرطوم عشان اقضي كم غرض. واقفة في واحد من الصفوف الكتيرة البتجسد الفهم السوداني <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span>للصف<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span>. في راجل كبير في السن واقف وراي و بدون مقدمات، قال لي يا بت <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span>ارفعي الطرحة<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span> …الطرحة الكانت في كتفي طبعاً.. لمن قبلته عليهو تاني بنبرة حادة اكتر قال لي يا بت ارفعي الطرحة…غطي شعرك..</div>
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واصلته في وقفتي لحدي ما جاء دوري بعد نص ساعة و في النص ساعة دي… سمعتة محادثة بين الراجل الكبير دا و شاب واقف جامبو و المحادثة دي كانت مهمة و بتعبر عن كيف الشعب زاتو بقى متمسك بثقافة النظام العام و بيطبق في نظرياته.</div>
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بعد ما الراجل قرر اني بت ما عندي اخلاق و <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span>فاجرة<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span> قال للشاب الوراهو </div>
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<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span>شفته<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>الفاجرات ديل هم<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>الجايبين لينا الظلم و الفقر و الوضع النحنا فيهو هسي<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">"</span> </div>
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ووافق الشاب و اتكلموا عن كيف لو البنات لبست كويس الحاجات حتبقى كويسة و البلد حترجع لي خيره.</div>
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لمن قريت قصة اميرة عثمان مع النظام العام ، اتذكرته الراجل دا و المنطق بتاعه. ممكن في ناس تستغرب لكن حتى بدون ناس النظام العام، الشعب السوداني بقى كلو نظام عام. يعني لو طرحتك وقعت في الموصلات، ما محتاجة ترفعيها لانو الراجل او المراة الوراك حيرفعوها ليك طوالي. لو توبك وقع، نفس الناس ديل حقولوا ليك البسي عباية يا مرا.. العباية سترة اكتر..</div>
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واصبح الشعب شغال لصالح النظم العام لانو مقتنعين انو في مشاكل اجتماعية حيقيقة من تفكك الاسر، الاطفال فاقدي السند، الفقر الما حصل قبلي كدا، المخدرات الخ...</div>
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هسي لو سالتوا الراجل في البنك علاقتي انا او البنات شنو بوضع البلد، حيقول ليكم انو البلد دي منكوبة عشان لبس البنات الي بيمثل ليهو و لناس كتير اكبر موشر لفساد المجتمع او تفكك الاسرة او كل الظواهر السلبية. لانو الرؤية <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">(</span>زي ما اتنقلت ليهم من ثقافة النظام العام<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">)</span> هي انو انحراف المجتمع بيبدا من النساء لانو هم البيحملوا خارج الزواج <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">(</span>قضايا الزنا هنا بتتحاكم فيها النساء بس<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">)</span> ، هم البيغروا الرجال الى الرزيلة ، هو البخلو اولادهم ينحرفوا بالاهمال و هم و هم و هم. </div>
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فلو الثقافة دي بتخلي الزول يفكر انو تفشي المشاكل الاجتماعية هي سببها النساء يبقى ساهل انو يربط بين الحاجات دي و المشاكل الاقتصادية …يعني النساء بيبقو سبب مشاكله اليومية و الضائقة المعيشية اليومية.</div>
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و راي الراجل فالبنك هو من غير ما يكون عارف بيتماشى مع قانون النظام العام. </div>
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قانون النظام العام<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>زي<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>ما<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>قال<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>واحد من الاشخاص الوضعوا القانون<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">:</span> يهدف انو يعمل صياغة جديدة للمجتمع ويذل المراة. </div>
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ما ضروري يتم اعتقلاك ورفعك في البوكس عشان يتم اذلالك، افتكر انو كبت في السودان ، كون انك تخافي من النظام العام و تشيلي هم المرقة ، دا في حد ذاتو ذلة.</div>
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و اعادة صياغ المجتمع دا الموضوع الافتكر مهم شديد. لانو النظام العام نقل الفكر و المنهج الداير يطبقوا للمجتمع و المجتمع هو بقى اكبر مطبق في الجامعات، المواصلات او في الاحياء <span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">(</span>رش موية النار، التحرش، الضرب و الاسائات و كل الحاجات البقت شبه يومية للنساء<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>في<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>السودان<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';">)</span></div>
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المشكلة<span style="font: 24.0px 'Lucida Grande';"> </span>ما طرحة او بنطلون، المشكلة هي انو المجتمع بقى منكوب بالمشاكل الاجتماعية و لكن قبض الناس و الجلد هو ما حل. الحل هو سياسة جديدة توحد البلد و توقف الحروب و سياسيات اقتصادية ترفع الناس من تحت خط الفقر. </div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-1850378302379879042013-09-01T11:24:00.001-07:002013-09-01T11:24:03.357-07:00Sudan's Anti-FGM Campaign Avoids Using the Term<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><em>A new nationwide media blitz in Sudan calls for the end of the practice of cutting girls' genitalia. Critics say its edge is dulled by not directly referring to FGM and instead relying on a word that means "complete."</em></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><em>Published @ http://womensenews.org/story/genital-mutilation/130818/sudans-anti-fgm-campaign-avoids-using-the-term#.UiOF2WYjle4</em></span>Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-20338590432973713482013-09-01T11:23:00.003-07:002013-09-01T11:23:35.607-07:00Time to Let Sudan’s Girls Be Girls, Not Brides<br />
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Lawyers and rights activists are calling for a change in Sudan’s laws which allow for the marriage of girls as young as 10.</div>
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It is time, they say, that Sudan’s laws recognise gender equality so that the country’s girls and young women can take control of their lives and leave behind the cycle of child marriage and abuse.</div>
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“(Activists) are advocating a change in the personal status laws as they discriminate against women and aim to keep them in the household,” said Khadija Al-Dowahi, from the Sudanese Organisation for Research and Development (SORD), which conducts research on child marriage.</div>
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Sudan’s 1991 Personal Status Law of Muslims does not grant women equal rights. It also promotes child marriage. Article 40 of the personal status law sets no age limit for marriage and in fact states that a 10-year-old girl can be married “with the permission of a judge”.</div>
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"Before we observed more marriages of girls in agricultural communities … now it is increasing in cities because of the economic situation and the attempt by families to preserve their girls from the corruption of the city." -- human rights lawyer Amel Al-Zein<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></div>
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“The personal status laws basically state that girls can get married when they are old enough to be able to comprehend matters … but you could easily say that girls understand matters at the age of 10,” Al-Dowahi told IPS.</div>
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In addition, Sudan has not ratified the <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #6d90a8; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.</a></div>
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The <a href="http://www.unicef.org/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #6d90a8; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">U.N. Children’s Fund</a> estimates that a third of Sudanese women now aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18. In rural areas, where the problem is more persistent, child marriage is as high as 39 percent as opposed to 22 percent in urban areas.</div>
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A visit to Khartoum Hospital shows clearly just how widespread the phenomenon of child marriage is in Sudan. Inside, there is an entire Obsetric Fistula ward – the patients there are mostly young mothers whose bodies are too underdeveloped to allow them to give birth, making them prone to developing fistula.</div>
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Amel Al-Zein, a lawyer who has researched the issue of child marriage, is very critical of the country’s personal status laws.</div>
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“Unlike other countries in the region or Islamic countries per se, it does not specify a certain age for marriage, which is the only guarantee to controlling child marriage,” Al-Zein told IPS.</div>
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Al-Zein stated that women could not go to court to get a divorce or undertake any legal procedures before the age of 18, which contradicts the fact that girls as young as 10 are married.</div>
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“When we began researching issues of gender justice, we started seeing how child marriage is interlinked to many issues facing women, the women go to courts to fight over custody and get a divorce only to discover how terrible and discriminatory the laws are,” said Al-Dowahi, whose organisation has proposed reforms to the laws.</div>
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<h1 class="section" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/ips-oomph/images/latest-bg.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4b87ac; font-family: 'palatino linotype', palatino, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; height: 19px; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Related IPS Articles</h1>
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SORD has recently established a legal aid centre for women being discriminated against by the personal status laws. So far 46 cases have arrived at the centre since its inception three months ago.</div>
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Meanwhile, the Council of Sudanese Scholars, a prestigious religious body, is causing controversy. Last year when its secretary-general, Prof. Mohamed Osman Salah, spoke in favour of child marriage, activists became infuriated.</div>
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Salah told the press in October 2012: “Islam encourages youth to marry to save them from perversion or any dangers of being single and to make them happy and to preserve reproduction.”</div>
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Not all religious scholars share Salah’s opinion. This is mainly because child marriage in Sudan is a consequence of social and cultural traditions, not only religious values.</div>
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Sarah Mohamed*, for example, was married off at 13 years old because the nearest high school for girls was too far from her village – lack of access to education makes parents less likely to keep daughters at home.</div>
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This is not an unusual age for getting married in her small village of Karko, which lies in Southern Kordofan.</div>
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“I remember how confused I felt, I had no idea what marriage is, I was a child,” Mohamed, who turned 30 a few weeks ago and now has five children, told IPS.</div>
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She had her firstborn at 16 and today very few people can believe that she has a son in high school.</div>
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Rana Ahmed* had a different experience. She was 15 when her mother discovered that she was dating a boy in her neighbourhood, after she caught her speaking to him on the phone.</div>
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“She became too upset and told me that she would find me a husband before I did something really bad. She said this would make me stop playing around,” Ahmed, now 24, told IPS.</div>
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Her husband, who was in his late 30s at the time, took Rana abroad, where he worked as a doctor, for five years. When they returned to Sudan, with her two young children, she felt that she wanted to live again.</div>
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“I was bored and unfulfilled in my life, I wanted to experience what girls my age experience. I wanted to have the freedom to date and go out,” said Ahmed who is now divorced.</div>
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Al-Dowahi said that Ahmed’s story is not unique – young girls are not ready for family responsibilities or for sexual experience. Some end up succeeding and going back to school, but others cannot cope and end up having affairs and living a quite different life.</div>
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As Sudan’s economic situation continues to deteriorate, activists have said that cities are themselves becoming similar to rural areas, with child marriage becoming a pressing problem even among the educated urban communities.</div>
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“Before we observed more marriages of girls in agricultural communities … now it is increasing in cities because of the economic situation and the attempt by families to preserve their girls from the corruption of the city,” said Al-Zein.</div>
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SORD’s research showed that women in camps for internally displaced persons and in east Sudan usually face early marriage more than others.</div>
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In fact, east Sudan is home to the youngest divorcee – a young girl who was granted a divorce when she was nine. In the traditions of her community, girls are married at the age of two months, and taken to their husbands after they reach 10 years of age.</div>
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Lakshmi Sundaram, global coordinator of Girls not Brides, a global partnership to end child marriage, thinks it is a question of the value placed on the girl-child.</div>
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“We have to challenge converting a girl, even with her consent, into an economic commodity. We have to address the fundamental aspect that a girl has intrinsic value as a human being, not just a value cost,” Sundaram told IPS.</div>
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*Names changed to protect identity.</div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-3351379202627077702013-07-04T14:35:00.002-07:002013-07-04T14:35:23.494-07:00Sudan Hits Hard at Female Activists<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 4px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="meta_origin" style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">KHARTOUM, Jul 2 2013 (IPS) </span>- More and more of Sudan’s female politicians and rights activists are being arrested and detained in the government’s clampdown on opposition political parties.</div>
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<span id="more-125369" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Asma Ahmed, a lawyer and member of the banned Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM–N), was released on Jun. 14 after a five-week detention. She believes that the Sudanese authorities are increasingly targeting women because they have become more active in the political and social arena in recent years.</div>
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“The targeting of women activists is because we are continuing to send our messages effectively. If we weren’t, we would not be detained … but detentions will not make women less keen to continue activism,” Ahmed told IPS.</div>
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The rebel SPLM–N was banned in 2011 when it took up arms against government forces in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.</div>
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“My house was watched for a few days before my detention. My family was told by National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers that I had been summoned, and so I went to the interrogation in Khartoum north and didn’t return home that day,” Ahmed said.</div>
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According to international rights watchdog <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #6d90a8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Amnesty International</a>, Sudan’s 2010 National Security Act, “provides agents of the security services with wide powers of arrest and detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remain widespread.”</div>
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In April, <a href="http://www.hrw.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #6d90a8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Human Rights Watch</a> said in a statement that “in recent months the Sudanese government has <a href="http://www.acjps.org/?p=1372" style="border: 0px; color: #6d90a8; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">increased repression of political and civil society groups</a>. The authorities shut down four civil society groups in December, accusing them of receiving foreign funds, have also closed down Nuba cultural groups, and recently re-instated restrictions on the media.”</div>
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It is unclear how many women remain in detention. The Sudanese Council for Defending Rights and Freedoms, an independent body of human rights defenders, lawyers and politicians, stated that the SPLM–N alone has 600 detainees, a significant number of whom are women.</div>
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Women are not exempt from the scare tactics used by security services. The events culminating in Entisar Al-Agali’s arrest are almost like a Hollywood action film. She was driving home from a meeting on Jan. 7 when a car belonging to the NISS began following her until she reached Africa Road in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.</div>
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“They tried to stop my car, but I was speeding and trying to get away. They caught up with me and hit my car from the back and, because I was trying to avoid an accident, I stopped the car,” Al-Agali told IPS.</div>
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Al-Agali had returned from Kampala, Uganda where she had been taking part in the talks that led to the drafting of the New Dawn Charter, a document signed by Sudanese opposition political parties, as well as rebel groups and civil society, that deals with the methods to be used to bring down the Sudanese regime and set up a transitional government in the war-torn country.</div>
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“I spent 87 days in Omdurman Women’s Prison, 75 days of which were in solitary confinement,” said Al-Agali, who is a leading member of the opposition Socialist Unionist Nasserist Party.</div>
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Al-Agali was the only woman to be detained after the signing of the New Dawn Charter on Jan. 6, which saw a wave of arrests of political leaders. She is, however, not the only woman to spend weeks or months in detention in the past two years.</div>
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In November 2012, 34 alleged members of SPLM–N, most of whom are government employees, were detained in Kadugli, the capital of the embattled state of Southern Kordofan. On Apr. 26, 14 were released, but the 20 others continue to be held in detention in Kadugli Prison.</div>
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Khadija Mohamed Badr was one of the detainees released and she now stays with her family in Khartoum.</div>
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“She was severely hurt and broke two spinal discs as she slipped while in detention. She is now paying for treatment with her own money,” an activist who is trying to raise financial assistance for Badr, and who wished to remain anonymous for fear of his safety, told IPS.</div>
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Meanwhile, the government National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been trying to establish itself as an advocacy body for political detainees. But Abdelmoniem Mohamed, a human rights lawyer who has monitored the NHRC’s role in other cases, told IPS that it has not been responsive to cases of political oppression, such as that of Jalila Khamis.</div>
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“The commission asked us to submit cases to them, cases of political detainees. But I am sceptical as they were slow to act on Khamis’s case,” he told IPS.</div>
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Khamis, a teacher and human rights activist, was detained in March 2012 for a video she recorded on the war in her homeland, the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan. Fighting between the Sudanese army and the rebel SPLM–N has been ongoing in the region since June 2011. Khamis had faced life imprisonment but was released in January after a long trial.</div>
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“I was subjected to long interrogations, the worst time was when they told me that they would kill my son. This was when I was diagnosed with arterial hypertension,” Khamis told IPS. Although released, she continues to be monitored by state security.</div>
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While it is difficult to say how many female political activists are in prison, one activist who preferred to remain anonymous told IPS: “When the family of a detainee in Kosti (a city south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum) visited her in detention, they were given a long list of women’s names to choose from. This means that there are many women detainees we don’t know about.”</div>
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Fatima Ghazzali, a pro-democracy activist and journalist working for the political section of <i>Al-Jareeda</i> newspaper said that women were at the forefront of the calls for democracy and freedom in Sudan.</div>
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“It is women who are the majority of internally displaced in this country, they bear the brunt of war. Women suffer the most under authoritarian regimes, that is why it does not surprise me to see that women are more keen to have democracy in Sudan,” Ghazzali told IPS, adding that only democracy would give women their full rights and protect them from security forces.</div>
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The escalating participation of women activists in recent protests and campaigns has even made the police take notice of women’s participation in calls for democracy, she said.</div>
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“They said that women and journalists are always there, always present at protests,” said Ghazzali, who spent time in jail in 2011 for an article she wrote on the gang rape of a female protestor in detention.</div>
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Published @ http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/sudan-hits-hard-at-female-activists/Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-83377166328873598852013-06-29T04:30:00.000-07:002013-06-29T04:30:31.063-07:00Sudanese journalist targeted for allegedly insulting the militaryPublished @Index on Censorship<br />
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When three journalists were invited to accompany a military official to a town supposedly recaptured from rebels, they did not expect to end up caught in crossfire. One journalist is being targeted after an anonymous and more honest account of the incident appeared online.<br />
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Charges have been brought against journalist Khaled Ahmed for allegedly writing a report critical of the Sudanese military.<br /><br />Ahmed was one of three journalists that accompanied Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief of staff Esmat Abdelrahman on a visit to Abu Karshola, a neglected town in the embattled state of South Kordofan — where there has been a war between the government and rebels from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North Sudan Faction (SPLM-N) since June 2011. The visit was organised to celebrate the town’s “liberation” from rebels.<br /><br />Both SAF and the media were blocked from Abu Karshola between late April and late May. The town was occupied by the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups (including SPLM-N), which has fought the Sudanese government in different parts of the country since 2011. While the group contends that its departure in May was a “tactical” move, the government has asserted that it regained control of the town.<br /><br />On 31 May three journalists flew over Abu Karshola in a military plane. Rather than finding a “liberated” town, Ahmed told Index that what he actually saw was a war-zone. During their visit, they were caught in crossfire as they toured the army force’s front lines. A few bullets came too close to Ahmed, and soon after he and the other journalists were taken back to the army base for safety.<br /><br />“A military plane was called on for our aid, it was shot down by the SRF, we were three journalists stuck in a battlefield,” said Ahmed.<br /><br />While rebels claimed to have downed the plane, official reports said that the plane crashed due to mechanical failure.<br /><br />The journalists eventually returned safely to Khartoum. Ahmed’s report was published in Al-Sudani, the pro-government newspaper he works for. However, another more realistic account was published and circulated online by someone named Khaled — and that version has been attributed to Ahmed.<br /><br />The report gave a version of events left out of the SAF’s spokesperson’s official statements. It painted a picture of an exhausted and confused army that actually isn’t in control of a ghost-town that the government claims it controls.<br /><br />On 4 June security forces arrested Ahmed, as the report included eye-witness details drawn from the trip, and was penned by someone that shares his first name.<br /><br />“I reserve the right to remain silent — I can’t answer”, said Ahmed when asked about whether or not he wrote the more honest account.<br /><br />“I was told that I am detained due to a complaint filed by the army, I was interrogated for two days and asked about whether I wrote the article. I denied it, but they told me that I will be charged,” said Ahmed.<br /><br />Ahmed is now facing four charges: harming the morale of the armed forces, sharing military information, tarnishing the reputation of the Chief of Staff, as well as electronic publishing (as per the new electronics crimes laws). He also said that his email and Facebook page were hacked.<br /><br />The Electronic Crimes Police, which deals with crimes online, held Ahmed for a day. The law, (passed in 2007), means that journalists publishing online, as well as individuals discussing “sensitive” issues on social media websites could be detained, fined, and tried. He faces up to five years in jail as well as a fine.<br /><br />Sudan will soon begin to implement its new electronic crimes laws, and Ahmed could become the first journalist to be tried under those laws. Another journalist, Wael Taha, was taken to court by a lawyer who claimed that he published false information about her under a penname, but the case was dismissed for insufficient evidence.<br /><br />Just ten days after Ahmed’s detention, Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, a presidential aide, told the legislative council of Khartoum state that the Sudanese army cannot curb the SRF, and that it needs support and mobilisation from the public.<br /><br />Ahmed was released on bail on 7 June, but he was summoned twice for interrogation since.Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-22224423863329082782013-05-19T11:52:00.003-07:002013-05-19T11:52:41.939-07:00Doctor Sara Told me Stories of Abuse
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Doctor Sara sits in a pharmacy in one of Omdurman's neighborhoods, not far from Ahfad's University for Women. She interacts with people every few minutes, asks about their problems, takes the doctors prescription, hands them the requested medicine…. She makes jokes with her patients and giggles when they are nervous or exhausted. The young pharmacist is also an activist, she is interested in issues that affect our lives, issues that affect women. </div>
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When I talked to her friends at the clinic where the pharmacy was located about sexual harassment, they laughed and called such matters "Sara's issues", they are really her issues. Sara documents stories of sexual harassment in her head, taking mental notes and carrying out in-depth interviews with the women she meets on a daily basis. She said she wants to do so much more, but she has little time. I told her I will go with her, we could go undercover to one of the factories where biscuits are made and uncover the sexual harassment there. We agreed to wear torn tours and to gain the trust of the women there before we collect their stories. </div>
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We had many cups of juice today and sweet tea in her pharmacy and later inside the clinic where she told me many stories she documented. I took down many notes, almost filling my notebook. </div>
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Story one: "Everyday, a different one picks me"</div>
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Fathia* came to Sara a year ago. A 40 year old women who was working at one of the factories. She complained about "pain in her stomach". </div>
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<i>Sara: she told me , there is something moving inside my stomach. After a few questions, I transferred her to a specialist in the clinic . </i></div>
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This is where Fathia's story began with Sara and Sara's stories began with women and men working in factories. She became curious about them, asking around, what happens to them? is the sexual harassment really that bad there?</div>
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Fathia's father remains unknown, but we know for sure that he does not live in Khartoum state. Her mother died and Fathia now lives with her mother's husband who is referred to as "Uncle- AlKhal". She told the doctor that he is a "women thief" and he comes at night. She didn't speak clearly about him, but it is clear that she was the victim of abuses within the family, did the "Khal" sleep with her? Is it possible that Fathia, from a simple family and uneducated, is even aware and is able to comprehend what has happened to her.</div>
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Fathia works at a factory and factories are the site of grave cases of sexual harassment . </div>
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<i>Sara: I asked a young boy who just took his high school examination about the factories… he comes by every now and then. I asked him because during the summer breaks, he does menial jobs including working in factories. He told me, innocently "ya Dr. don't remind me if I remember, I will not feel well…these people live together like they are married, they don't even shower after that, she told me…laughing at his sheer innocence.</i></div>
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Sara wondered what could have happened to this young man. young boys are usually at risk of sexual harassment just like women, especially in poverty and oppressive situations and the lack of awareness that plagues our society</div>
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When the doctor examined Fathia he found her 10 weeks pregnant. </div>
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<i>He asked: are you married? Who does the baby belong to?</i></div>
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Even Sara spoke to her, and she told her I don't know who the father is..they are a lot.</div>
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<i>"Everyday, a different one picks me," said Fathia, putting it simply.</i></div>
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Working in factories happens in shifts, there is the scary shift which is 8 pm to 8 am. It remains unclear whether all factories offer a private place for women workers to rest …and if there is supervision especially at night when the shift has less people and generally, more men than women.</div>
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Fathia wanted an abortion, in her lack of awareness, it was clear that the harassment she was subjected to from "Al-Khal" made her confused and a target for further exploitation.</div>
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Fathia vanished and didn't come back to Sara…</div>
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<i>Sara: did she abort the baby? What did "the khal" do? Did she leave to a faraway place to raise the baby somewhere where none knows her?</i></div>
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Sara continues to wonder and so did I.</div>
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<b>Story Two: "this factory is suspicious"</b></div>
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When the doctor began investigation the kind of sexual harassment happening to women at factories, she discovered dark secrets..to some, factories are like "houses for prostitutes"</div>
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<i>Sara: there was a lady I spoke to, she said that biscuit and sweets factories are the worst with high rates of sexual harassment and sexual exploitation….but one factory (hint: it does not make biscuits or sweets) is looked at as :suspicious". </i></div>
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This factory hires girls according to "physical traits"..in other words..they want pretty girls with nice bodies…the girl who works there is considered "a slut"…and in the society of factories and factory-workers, this is a known fact.</div>
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In Sudan, people gossip about such issues, but are silent about taking action, but then again, the society will blame girls working there….</div>
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"Why are they working there if they don't accept what happens to them," they will say…</div>
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So many girls working in the factories are "day-by-day workers", in other words, they earn money on a daily basis and many are living in crippling poverty even to the standards of a third world country.</div>
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The need to make a living makes a woman go everyday and work long hours and shut her mouth when she is subjected to sexual harassment….</div>
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On the public transportation on the way back to her house, she is thinking about what to do to stop this exploitation without getting fired…there are so many unemployed people, if they fire a woman, they won't have a hard time finding another woman…it is a vicious cycle of never-ending abuse…</div>
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Economic and social conditions force women to tolerate a lot, they always say that poverty knows no dignity. They ask why the girls are silent, do they accept it? </div>
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I assure you, silence is not "a sign of acceptance"…in this case, it is a sign of the quiet daily struggle to eat.</div>
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<b>Story Three: My daughter is fine, she has no problem</b></div>
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Dr.Sara told me a rape story…as usual in Sudan, the victim of rape is a little girl. Rapping children has become nothing short of an epidemic, fast-spreading and as a society, with our lack of awareness and our fear of "the scandal and the fact that your girl will be shamed into spinsterhood", we find ourselves implicated in this crime.</div>
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Because ya 3mo, your daughter is not fine and she does have a problem..</div>
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Lets take our heads out of the sand and listen…</div>
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<i>Sara: I saw the girl as she was crying and screaming, her mother was trying to force her out of the raksha and into the clinic (which the pharmacy is part of)</i></div>
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The mother in all honesty told the doctor, my daughter has vaginal secretions</div>
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<i>The doctor was astonished…"your daughter is 6 years old, this can not happen..I will examine here."</i></div>
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The girl was made to lie down and the doctor began examining her, it was not even a thorough examination because it was clear, the crime scene was evident. She was "open" and there were signs that she had been engaged in sexual intercourse for over a year.</div>
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The mother didn't know what happened to her daughter and the doctor could not tell her so she does not panic and leave.</div>
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<i>"Madam does your girl play in the streets a lot," asked the doctor</i></div>
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<i>"No, she doesn't leave the house," said the mother.</i></div>
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<i>"Do you have youth in the house, who else is staying besides you and her father," asked the doctor, attempting to reveal the criminal, the rapist.</i></div>
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<i>"Her uncles, my husband's two brothers are here with us, they are studying at the university," answered the mother, in all innocence.</i></div>
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At that moment, I remembered the statistics that reveal that 80% of sexual harassment and rape cases happen within someone's house..I've heard about the woman who killed her brother for rapping her baby…and the girl who did …everything…with her uncle who lives with them.</div>
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The problem is not the fact that Sudanese people are kind and they open their houses to their families. The problem is that "family are supposed to be good", they are not supposed to subject you to this harassment…Don't they said that " <span class="s1">العز اهل</span><span class="s2">"</span></div>
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The problem is we don't supervise our youth and understand the problems that result from the oppression they live in…</div>
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The problem is that the mother of the child after she was taken to another doctor...switched off her phone and when the doctor called on the cellphone of the girl's father, he told her "my daughter is fine and she has no problem" and hung up.</div>
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The problem is..the girl will grow up and understand what has happened to her and will hate her family who failed to change her reality even when they knew.</div>
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<i>Are her uncles still staying with them? Was she physically treated..at-least?</i></div>
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<i>I wonder</i></div>
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<b>Story Four: My friend did not die from a scorpion, she died from a doctor</b></div>
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When I was sitting with Dr. Sara, a doctor from the clinic passed by and listened to our conversation….. She then said that the ladies inside the clinic's lab are discussing similar stories. She asked us to come and went with her to listen.</div>
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We listened.</div>
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A young doctor who works at one of Omdurman's hospitals said that:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>"We had an Ethiopian domestic worker for three years, all of a sudden, her health deteriorated and she became very tired, I took her to the clinic for some tests, there was nothing strange. Then one day, she came up to me and said: I want to test my urine". I was trying to understand so I kept asking her questions."</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
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<i>She said "I stopped getting my period and I wanted to know if I am pregnant</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I got her the pregnancy test and we did it at home. It was positive, she was pregnant.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
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<i>I told her, "your husband and children are in Ethiopia and you need a man…how did this happen, you are only here or at the other house with your friends."</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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She found out that the lady got to know the mechanic whose shop is a few steps away from their house and instead of going to the Ethiopian house to see her friends, she went to Thawra - Hara 29 and she stayed with him on weekends.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
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<i>The doctor remembered: she came to me after that and asked to borrow money, 300 pounds to be exact , when I asked why, she said she wants an abortion.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>I told her: where will u have it?</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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"<i>There is an Ethiopian doctor with a Sudanese lady assistant in Om-bada," she told her.</i></div>
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<i></i><br /></div>
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<i>"How did you find him?" I asked</i></div>
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<i></i><br /></div>
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<i>"He did the surgery for "-----"," She answered</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<i></i><br /></div>
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<i>"Isn't she your friend who was stung by a scorpio and died"</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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"She was not stung by a scorpio, she died at his clinic" she answered.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The woman came to Sudan to work and send her family back a decent amount of money, this pregnancy simply ruins her plan…</div>
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<br /></div>
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1) she has no family to baby-sit this baby</div>
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<br /></div>
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2) how will she take back the baby to Ethiopia? </div>
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<br /></div>
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She was ready to try her luck with the doctor in Ombada, women go to him for a way out of their problems, he lets them out of their misery once and for all…She could die..</div>
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<br /></div>
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The woman disappeared. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The doctor spoke to her a few months ago and she told her that she is now a tea-lady.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Is the baby with her? Is she raising him? Did she tell his father?</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The doctor wanted to confront he "father".</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"He could easily…deny it…deny her and deny everything, it will be his word against hers"</div>
Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-65198724214005416572013-05-18T15:15:00.002-07:002013-05-18T15:15:39.203-07:00Sudan's shift from print to online newspapers<br />
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Bringing together journalists banned from writing in newspapers, Al-Taghyeer offers a chance for greater freedom online</div>
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In July 2011, while South Sudan was celebrating its independence, National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers walked into <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Ahjras Al-Hurriya</em>, a daily newspaper, in Khartoum, and closed it down. They told the staff that since the newspaper has foreign, in this case South Sudanese, investors, it is prohibited from publishing. The newspaper’s license was taken away a month later, not giving it space to challenge the decision of closure.</div>
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Rasha Awad was the head of the political section at the newspaper at the time. A month later, she became a columnist in <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Jareeda</em>, an independent daily newspaper. But that did not last long.</div>
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Awad was stopped from writing in early 2012. While the NISS does not legally stop journalists from publishing, it issues directives to newspapers asking them to stop a certain journalist writing if they want to avoid confiscations of newspaper issues or even closure.</div>
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By the end of 2012, the list of journalists not allowed to write in Sudanese newspapers grew to at least fifteen.</div>
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Some of them found other professions, or took on editing roles in newspapers, some decided to take matters into their own hands and start their own newspaper, an electronic newspaper.</div>
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On World Press Freedom Day, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://altaghyeer.com/web/main/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Al-Taghyeer</a></em>, an electronic newspaper, was launched. The newspaper’s name, which means “Change,” is enough to make the government uneasy, its byline reads “Our Bet is on the People,” and the newspaper’s writers, although known for their excellent reporting, are names that have been stopped from writing, detained and even tortured, or had lost their jobs due to newspapers closing down or cutting back on staff.</div>
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“Journalism should seek to create positive change in the society,” said Awad who is an editor at <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Taghyeer</em>adding that “the newspaper seeks to be professional in its reporting, but biased in shedding light on topics that are not covered in mainstream media.”</div>
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Awad said that in covering wars, corruption or human rights, they have to cover all sides in their reports, and this is where their professional abilities play a role; it is not about the topics they cover, it is about how they cover them.</div>
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The newspaper has attracted journalists such as Abu-Zar Al-Ameen who was detained and tortured for over a year, Khalid Fadul, who was banned from writing last year, veteran journalist and columnist, Faisal Mohamed Salih and Stella Getiano, a South Sudanese journalist and writer who was a staple in Sudanese newspapers before moving to Juba in 2012.</div>
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Now in its second week, the newspaper has covered the conflicts and political developments in Sudan, the displacement that will be caused by the dams in East and Central Sudan. It also distinguished itself by having a profile, a gender and a youth section, which are the kind of sections disappearing from other newspapers.</div>
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Salah Ammar who is in charge of the newspaper’s youth section said that it seeks to publish stories that touch on their readers’ concerns.</div>
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“85% of our readers so far are from Khartoum, although we think that the parameter of Khartoum could include the states that are bordering Khartoum. We also have an 80% readership in the 23-34 age-group on Facebook,” he told Doha Centre for Media Freedom.</div>
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Ammar added that although stories that are focused on one region or a state outside Khartoum are very difficult to research and write, they usually have low readership.</div>
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“In all cases, we are focused on bringing in the stories of Sudan’s periphery because they are important although the readers want national stories not local stories,” added Ammar who wrote an exclusive investigate piece citing that 150,000 face displacement in the states of Kassala and Gedarif in East Sudan due to dams.</div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Taghyeer</em> took six months to get up and running; the website was designed, the authors were attracted and many meetings took place to discuss the editorial line of the newspaper as well as to discuss the myriad of security problems that the newspaper could face.</div>
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“From the beginning, we decided that our articles will be professional and accurate to avoid any legal hurdles, but, if we face any other troubles, we will pursue peaceful advocacy like we always do,” said Awad.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Discouraging Experiences</strong></div>
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The early 2000s saw an increase in online Sudanese newspapers. The website <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://sudaneseonline.org/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sudanese-Online</a></em> was already popular when two new online newspapers, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.sudanile.com/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sudanile</a></em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.alnilin.com/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Al-Nilin</a></em> came into the picture in 2000 and 2001 respectively.</div>
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In 2003, a non-profit English-language newspaper called <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sudan Tribune</a></em> was launched from France. Then came <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.hurriyatsudan.com/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Hurriyat</a></em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.alrakoba.net/" style="color: #740413; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Al-Rakoba</a></em> which were quickly branded as “opposition” newspapers.</div>
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Although they were already familiar with the problems faced by online newspapers from financial hurdles to harassment to blocking by the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), the staff of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Taghyeer</em> held discussions with other electronic newspapers.</div>
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“We found the experience of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> the most relevant to us because it is based in Sudan while the other websites are based abroad,” said Awad.</div>
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In a cafe in Khartoum, Tariq Al-Gizouli, the founder and editor-in-chief of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> spoke about his frustrating experience in running one of Sudan’s top online newspapers, solely due to financial pressures and lack of advertisements.</div>
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“We started with a staff of 15, but slowly, people left due to lack of revenue. People think <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> is an institution, in fact <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> has one employee - myself,” said Al-Gizouli adding that every time he pursues an advertiser and manages to get advertisement, they pull out due to pressure from authorities.</div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> is the embodiment of challenge; Al-Gizouli uses personal resources to keep it moving and the end result is a balanced newspaper that attracts some of the biggest names in Sudanese journalism.</div>
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“Because I live in Sudan, I have a specific legal position, so I go through all articles for accuracy because I am directly responsible for the content. Sometimes I feel that if I leave, I will have more freedom to run<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em>, in a less stressful environment,” said Al-Gizouli who still gets summoned by NISS and receives messages to remove content.</div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile</em> along with <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hurriyat</em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Rakoba</em> have been subjected to hacking and even blocking. Sudanile has been hacked nine times, and on certain occasions, the hackers managed to close the website down for a number of days.</div>
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In October 2011, hackers entered <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sudanile’s</em> website through Al-Gizouli’s Facebook account. Calling themselves the “Sudan Cyber Army,” the hackers put the logo of the Republic of Sudan on the website and damaged many files, targeting the articles of specific authors.</div>
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When Al-Gizouli went to the electronic crimes unit in Khartoum North and to the NTC, he was told the website is a “.com” and not “.sd”, in other words, the NTC could only track hackers if the website was locally-hosted.</div>
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“Things escalated when the hacker hacked the server of my host in the US and my host sent me the address and phone number of the building where the hacking took place,” recalled Al-Gizouli.</div>
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His case came to a dead-end and he was told to stop pursuing it, but the hackers learned their lesson. Next time, in 2012, the website was hacked from India and Ukraine making Al-Gizouli even more confused about pursuing legal procedures.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Why the online crackdown?</strong></div>
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The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that 10% of the population in Sudan had internet access by December 2011. However, this statistics does not take into account the 26.3 million cell-phone subscriptions out of a population of 34 million.</div>
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Daily internet rates are as low as 1 SDG ($0.17) a day, enabling students and youth to access the internet from their phone.</div>
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Following the closures of newspapers such as <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Midan</em>, the Communist Party’s Mouthpiece, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rai Al-Shab</em>, the mouthpiece of the Popular Congress Party as well as the independent <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Ahjras Al-Hurriya</em>, and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Tayar</em> and the long-term suspension of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Alwan</em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Al-Jareeda</em>, journalists had no choice but to enter the digital age quickly, hoping that their traditional readers would cyber-locate them and that they would be able to attract youth readers.</div>
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In 2012, the editor-in-chief and managing editor of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hurriyat, </em>El-Hag Warrag and Abdel-Moniem Suleiman were awarded the Oxfam Nobin/PEN award for persecuted writers who continue working.</div>
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“Our plan of action is if we face security issues, we will not compromise on our editorial line,” Awad told DCMF.</div>
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Al-Gizouli also said that he is not planning to compromise, even when different bodies tempt him with steady advertisements if he censors the published articles.</div>
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First Published- http://www.dc4mf.org/en/node/3740</div>
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Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694951501116035172.post-39719544316730901712013-05-18T15:12:00.003-07:002013-05-18T15:13:57.507-07:00Sudan Nile Dam Threatens To Drown Nubian Villages <br />
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KHARTOUM, Sudan — On the morning of June 13, 2007, Mohamed Fageer Sid-Ahmed spent one hour convincing his mother that he needed to participate in a protest taking place later that day to protect his land.</div>
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Osman Ibrahim Holding Booklet on Massacre</div>
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His mother was adamantly against the idea — he was her only child after all — but he won the argument and joined the protest. Thousands of Nubian women and men protested that day from different towns and villages that would be affected by the Kajbar Dam, a dam project proposed by the Sudanese government in the mid-1990s.</div>
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The protesters marched to the dam site to protest; after being hit by heavy tear gas, all of a sudden, live bullets were fired and Sid-Ahmed was the first victim to fall to the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“He was shot in the back. At the time, he was giving water to the protesters, but police forces shot at the protesters from up the mountains,” said Osman Ibrahim, the secretary-general of the Higher National Committee to Resist the Kajbar Dam, in an interview with <em>Al-Monitor</em>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With tears in his eyes, Ibrahim told the story of Sid-Ahmed and the story of his activism against the Kajbar Dam since 1995.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ibrahim hails from Nubia, an area that stretches from northern Sudan to southern Egypt and dates back thousands of years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When Egypt built the High Dam in the 1960s, tens of thousands of Nubians in Egypt and Sudan were displaced. In Sudan, they were resettled in an area far away from the Nile, the bloodline of their community.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I feel that there is a conspiracy against Nubians, the government wants to get rid of us, they think we are all Communists,” said Ibrahim.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The government of Sudan stated through Yousef Tahir Qureshi, an adviser to the governor of Northern state, that the dam will generate 360 megawatts of electricity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Qureshi told the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) earlier this month that two large-scale agricultural projects will be established and services will be offered to those resettled.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The head of the anti-dam committee, Ezzeldeen Idris, told <em>Al-Monitor</em> that it is unclear how many villages will drown.</div>
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<o:p></o:p>“The dam implementation unit failed to provide us with a feasibility study that tells us how high the dam will be, so we can't clearly say how many villages will be submerged,” said Idris, who lives in Fareeg, one of the villages threatened.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes government officials make revealing statements about the dam, helping Nubians to estimate the extent of the damage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Qureshi said that the drowned area is 180 kilometers (112 miles), which means from Kajbar to Al-Guld, which is 25-30 kilometers from Dongola, the capital of Northern state,” Ibrahim said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Arif Gamal, a Nubian scholar now teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, <a href="http://www.rescuenubia.org/pdf/Kajbar_Dam.pdf" target="_blank">wrote on RescueNubia.org</a> that in 1964, as Nubians were being transported by train from their soon-to-be submerged villages, one woman left the train and ran back to the village. There was confusion on board for some time, and then as people were preparing to follow her, they saw her coming back. She went to lock her house, she told everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The woman's house was locked, but soon submerged in water. Half a century later, Nubians refuse to go through the same ordeal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“What is happening is seriously making us think about secession, why would we want to be in a state that wants to drown our villages along with our culture and history?” Ibrahim asked, bitterly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ibrahim was detained for a month in a wave of arrests of Nubian activists following the 2007 protest. He spent a year in detention in the 1970s for political activism when he was a student.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now in his late 60s, he walks around with a file full of statements by the committee, pictures of the protests and what the committee calls the “Kajbar massacre.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The police center in Kajbar refused to open the complaint into the 2007 killings, so activists took the struggle to the international community through Rescue Nubia, a Washington-based organization led by Nubians in diaspora.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the 2007 incident, the government grew silent about the dam project, before <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46466" target="_blank">speaking again</a> about the ambitious $1.5 billion project financed by China.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Even with the attractive development projects proposed by the authorities, the Nubians oppose the dam because it will drown their history and disperse a group of people whose identity is tied to this land.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“If they want to give us services in exchange for the dam, they are too late, we already built a hospital and are building a secondary school for girls now in Fereeg,” Idris said, adding that the residents have also sustained a collective agriculture project since the 1950s through donations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For the Nubians, the experience of the Manasir, an ethnic group displaced by the Merowe Dam — a multibillion dollar project completed in 2010 — makes them hesitant to even consider the Kajbar Dam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After waiting for compensation for years, 1,500 men from the Manasir took matters into their own hands and went to El-Damer, the capital of River Nile state, 300 kilometers (190 miles) from Khartoum, and organized a sit-in that lasted three months.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Although other groups were also affected, the Manasir were the most affected and were kept waiting for government compensation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The protesters demanded to be compensated; finally, a delegation from the government <a href="http://gmsudan.com/20120311/manasir-people-call-off-100-days-sit-in-strike/" target="_blank">signed</a> a memorandum of understanding with the Manasir in March 2012. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“The agreement is on paper, but the reality is we have not been compensated for our land. We want to be resettled around the lake, but the government wants to resettle us far away,” said Al-Rashid Al-Affendi, of the Executive Committee of the Manasir People Affected by the Merowe Dam, in an interview with <em>Al-Monitor</em>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Affendi added that the only compensation received was for the lost palm trees since they represented a large resource for the Manasir.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Peter Bosshard, the policy director at International Rivers, a US-based environmental and human rights organization that published reports on Kajbar Dam, said that this is an international test case.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The Kajbar Dam is an international project, and international actors — particularly from China — share a responsibility for it. The human rights violations caused by the Merowe Dam have tarnished the reputation of the Chinese companies and financiers involved in the project,” Bosshard said in an email interview with <em>Al-Monitor</em>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights <a href="http://www.ecchr.de/lahmeyer-case.html" target="_blank">filed a complaint</a> against two executives at Lahmeyer International GmbH, a German engineering company that was a consultant in the Merowe Dam project.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the villages of Nubia that will be affected by the dam, electricity is not available the whole day, but the citizens there confirm that there are many other ways to generate electricity other than the dam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Our area is very hot, they could try providing us with solar energy,” said Idris.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bosshard agreed.</div>
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“Sudan has a solar energy potential and a big wind energy potential that is much less damaging than the Kajbar Dam and other projects on the Nile.”</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"><br /><br />First Published: <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/sudan-kajbar-dam-nubians.html#ixzz2TgUynVE5" style="color: #003399;">http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/sudan-kajbar-dam-nubians.html#ixzz2TgUynVE5</a></span>Reemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239221674890223045noreply@blogger.com0