Weekly Press Columns Digest
30 June, 2019
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) - A column published on Sunday by Aljareedah daily newspaper discussed a violent attack and dispersal of a sit-in beside the armed forces general command killing tens of protestors and raping woman sit-inners of an unspecified number earlier this June.
Sardonic columnist Al-Fatih Jabra commented on a statement by the Vice President of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), comondan (Sudanese for commander) Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (aka Hamidaty) in which he said they have identified the person who has dispersed the sit-in but would not disclose his identity so as not to influence the committee of enquiry.
Jabra said he and others thought that many persons were behind the massacre but it turned out that, according to the comondan, it was only one person who had taken the decision and made the arrangements of recruiting about 5,000 troops, 200 four-wheel drive vehicles and large quantities of small and heavy weapons and ammunition for killing and wounding hundreds, raping woman protestors and burning tents along with asleep people.
That person, according to the columnist, managed to mislead the TMC and its intelligence agents who could not discover the attack until the plan was carried out.
Commenting on a relevant statement by Hamidaty in which he said the dispersal of the sit-in was "a trap" set up for his Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Jabra questioned the relationship between the "person" and the RSF, adding that the people would wait for outcome of the investigation with that "person" who, according to the columnist, "must be a high-level, influential figure."
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The disapproval of the previous agreements was discussed by Osman Mirghani in a column by his Altayyar newspaper of Monday describing it as an immoral act by the Transitional Military Council (TMC).
Mirghani said the TMC, according to its spokesman Gen. Shams al-Dinn al-Kabbashy speaking at a press conference on Sunday, rescinded all agreements with the Freedom and Change Forces (FFC) on grounds they were not signed and that the negotiation between the two sides was sheer unbinding discussion and would not be considered seriously so long as it did not reach the stage of ceremonial signing.
He believes that, with this position and failure to observe the agreements, the TMC has lost credibility and nobody and no state, not even the nearest ones, would trust it as, according to Mirghani, the ethics is a pe-requisite to running a state.
The columnist said the TMC justified the abortion of the agreements with a change in the circumstances, referring to the dispersal of the sit-in, adding that the change was at the expense of the lives lost in the popular revolution.
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Columnist Shamail al-Nour, writing on the left side of the same back page, reminded the parties, particularly the TMC, that the unnecessarily protracted negotiations were about arrangements for a transitional period of three years to take steps for a real change, fair and free elections and a permanent government.
She called for an urgent action for filling in the "horrible vacuum" of an absent government.
Despite the fall of President Omar al-Beshir since April 11, the people are still suffering a lot and are losing new lives while schools are still closed due to the presence of the armed men of Hamidaty in the markets, the columnist said.
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In a column that was published by Alyoum Altaly daily newspaper of Tuesday, Jamal Ali Hassan has warned that the Sudan is heading towards globalization and trusteeship with the two parties- the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Freedom and Change Forces (FFC) - incapable of reaching agreement on a transitional government.
Hassan said the negotiations between the two sides were progressing well as first to the point that they both announced reaching 95% of a full agreement.
The FFC thought that they needed a small dose of a revolutionary escalation for attaining this 5% and thus they would achieve all of their goals but, looking for a bigger fish, they are apparently missing the first one, the columnist said.
He added that, realizing that the FFC depended on support by the huge numbers of the protesters, the TMC decided to get a similar weapon of rallying supporters from various sectors of the people to strengthen their position in direct or indirect negotiation or through a mediator.
Feeling that they are getting the same FFC advantage of a popular support, the TMC would be less prepared to make concessions, Hassan said.
The two sides reached a deadlock in the negotiation for settlement of the remaining 5% of the deal which they could have achieved between them but they had to accept regional and international mediation which is the first step for globalization of the internal issue and imposition of a trusteeship on the Sudan, the columnist said.
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The Sudan Workers Trade Unions Federation (SWTUF) that in the past used to sell out the interests of the workers for self-interests provided by the then ruling National Congress Party (NCP), has now come to life to voluntarily resume the serial of disgrace.
This remark was made by Murtadha al-Ghali in a column that was published by Al-Akhbar daily newspaper of Wednesday but this time, according to the columnist, the Federation has assumed a comic role that it began with its announcement that it would not take part in the general strike in observance of the interest of the country.
The behavior of the SWTUF is part of a counter-revolution being planned by the trade unions and other associations of the extinct Ingaz regime that used to sack the workers and offer their sweat, blood and toil for the sake of the regime, Ghali said.
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Columnist Lina Yagoub has criticized what she called a strange behavior the Transitional Military Council (TMC) conducts or allows to be carried out, saying that such a behavior leads to grave future consequences on the Sudan.
Bringing to memory unjustified tensions made by the defunct ingaz regime during its first days with a number of countries, Lina made reference to a protest the TMC permitted to be staged in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Khartoum denouncing the Ethiopian mediatory initiative for finding a settlement to the political crisis in Sudan.
In the column that was published by Al-Sudani daily newspaper of Thursday, Lina noted that the protesters carried placards reading: "We shall not tolerate the Ethiopian intervention in Sudan," in the presence of the media outlets that covered the "disgraceful" event.
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The Ethiopian mediation provides light at the end of the tunnel and aborts attempts by certain powers to prevent reaching any agreement by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Freedom and Change Forces (FFC), said Taher al-Mutasim in a column that appeared on Akhir Lahza daily newspaper of Saturday.
The consent to this mediation by the two Sudanese parties sends a message to the international community that the Sudan is capable of overcoming its difficulties and it demonstrates courage by those parties, compared to taking "an easy decision" of opting for infighting, the columnist said.
The alternative to the Ethiopian mediation will be unilateral measures by the TMC that were tried in vain by the regime of former president Omar al-Beshir, said Mutasim, warning against the consequences of resorting to violence by the military council.
He pointed to a number of proposals to be agreed upon by the two sides, including a sovereign council of seven members for each side plus a national personality as a chairman, previously agreed upon civilian Council of Ministers of Technocrats that includes military ministers of defense and interior and a legislative assembly that includes 33% of groups outside the FFC, organization of a constitutional conference, an emergency economic plan and free and transparent elections.
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