Weekly Press Columns Digest
27 February, 2022
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) - Following are summations of three press commentaries on the most pressing issues of the week. The three articles have, respectively, dealt with: (1) what a commentator considered the negative consequences of the Juba peace pact signed between the government and rebel factions from Darfur and the Blue Nile districts (2) The controversial visit to Russia by the deputy head of the Sovereignty Council, Commander of the paramilitary force The Rapid Support Forces, General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemaidti) and (3) the wide arrests of the peaceful demonstrators.
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Under the title “Juba Peace Pact, A big Booby Trap” wrote Ms. Rasha Awad, the Editor-in-Chief of the electronic publication Altaghyeer (The Change):
“In short, the peace deal is a natural outcome of the shameful weakness of former PM Hamdok before the military.
It was also the result of the mess made by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) - the power-base of the Hamdok government - and its lacking in strategic thinking about the national interests.
It was also the result of the military’s opportunism and the greed of the idle elements within the rebel movements for power.
And before this and that, this drastic consequence of the Juba peace deal was the result of the absence of a consultative power, like the proposed legislative assembly, that could have controlled the government conduct and protected the national interests.
By the result, all the leaders of those rebel movements have now become part and parcel of the Burhan-Hemaidti coup.
For that reason, the defeat of this coup should be followed with a new transitional set up. And because Burhan has torn out the governing Constitutional Document, so flawed as it was, the new political build up should bypass the Juba peace deal as well. New serious peace talks should be held with the true armed rebel movements that have real presence within the Sudanese territories.
It is my belief that the first to be held responsible for the spilled blood of the citizens of marginalized areas are generals Burhan and Hemiaidti with whom the idle rebel leaders have chosen to entrench out of keenness about jobs, money and personal gains, while the sons of Sudan (including citizens from those marginalized districts) readily sacrifice their lives in the struggle against this Burhan-Hemaidti coup.
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On the dimensions of the Wednesday official visit to Russia by the deputy head of the Sovereignty Council, General Hemaidti, wrote Mr. Taj Alsir Osman in the Sudanile electronic publication:
The visit by General Hemadti’s and his entourage of ministers and officials to Russia was made amid sticky situations (at the outbreak of the Russia –Ukraine war.)
The visit at this time is a reflection of the misjudgment of the military who now look as if they are under a satanic spell.
What made things even worse were the revelations by General Hemaidti in which he sided by the Russian government in the war against the Ukraine.
Regardless of the Foreign Ministry’s denial of these revelations, the visit at this specific time speaks of a support to Russia in the war.
The visit has put Sudan as a party in a struggle that does not matter the people of Sudan in any way.
It is just like when the Bashir government took sides in the civil war in Yemen and sent its mercenaries to fight alongside the Saudi-lead coalition in that country.
It is within the sovereign interests of the Sudanese people to stay away from the struggle of axes, never taking part in such struggles and never allowing its territories to become base for the conflicts of the ferocious imperial beasts that seek to loot the country’s wealth. If not, this will be just like what has now happened to the Ukraine that has now become a theatre of a proxy war between Russia on the one hand and America and its NATO allies on the other.
America and its allies seek to achieve their security, economic and military objectives and stop the Russian and Chinese economic and military expansion and to rob the American pole from its domination of the World.
It is certain that this visit to Russia by General Hemaidti would lead to further deterioration of Sudan’s relations with the US and its allies who seek to push the Russian-Chinese existence away from Sudan.
It was leaked that among the objectives of the visit to Russia could be the signing of an agreement allowing Russia to build a military base on the Red Sea, a matter that is sure to heighten the tension on the international waterway.
This is in addition to Russia’s longstanding interests in Sudan since the days of ousted Bashir of looting Sudan’s gold and minerals by Russian companies.
This is also in addition to the presence of the Russian Wagner mercenaries involved in the suppression of peaceful demonstrations in Sudan.
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Under the title: “Is Freedom of Expression a Crime In the Coup Era?” wrote Mr. Haydar Almikashfi in the daily publication Aljareeda (the newspaper):
On the evening of Sunday (the day of the massive protests in Khartoum) I was standing at a place where I could easily see what was going on.
Then a young man stopped by and asked me about the whereabouts of the Fedail private hospital.
My answer was that the hospital was nearby. But I told him that he cannot reach it from this place.
“Why?”, he asked.
“Don’t’ you see those heavily armed soldiers deployed on the street? They arrest people at random. And if you try to cross the road, they will detain you and accuse you of taking part in the protests,” I replied.
His response was that he was not part of the demonstration and will go his own way in order to deliver a sum of money to a patient at the Fedail hospital.
He could barely put his foot on the road when the soldiers clamped down on him, beating him very hard and then raised him on a standing by security truck.
The story of this young man and the random detention of people and putting them in jail has become a common practice whenever there is a protest. The troops hunt down anyone whom they can take hold of during the day of the demonstrations, perhaps just for fear of returning to their offices empty handed!
In fact they go out fiercely chasing the demonstrators they decide to capture, as if they receive incentives when they go back to their offices with such a big catch. As a result of these random arrests, many youths and children were caught although they did not take part in the protests,
Still .. let us suppose these youngsters had taken part in the demos .. then what is the crime they have committed to deserve this punishment ? The freedom of expression is not a crime that entails punishment.
The coup leaders have been giving us a headache with their repeated talk about their respect for the right of free expression.
Whenever one of them finds an audience or a mike, he would swear to preserve the right of expression. They say this in public, but in secret they permit their personnel to violate and undermine this right.
But unfortunately for these coup leaders, nowadays we are having the UN human rights expert Mr. Adama Dieng here with us for him to see and hear for himself.
It is now common knowledge that everybody has the right to free expression. This right has been reaffirmed and stipulated in all the secular and religious legislations. There is no argument about this.
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