One Year, on: Sudan Deliver on Protester’s Demands – Amnesty International

One year after protests broke out in Sudan leading to the ouster of President Omar al Bashir on 11 April 2019, the new transitional authorities must live up to the hopes and expectations of the Sudanese people, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

Seif Magango, Amnesty International Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes said

..the Sudanese people … can celebrate that their collective action brought an end to suffocating repression and revived hopes for a better Sudan.

“A year after the Sudanese people took to the streets to protest a spike in food prices ultimately ending three decades of the Al-Bashir regime, they can celebrate that their collective action brought an end to suffocating repression and revived hopes for a better Sudan,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

“The transitional authorities must honour the commitments they made to restore the rule of law and protect human rights. The Sudanese people deserve nothing less.”

The Sudanese people’s hopes now lie squarely with the transitional authorities headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and backed by the Transitional Constitutional Charter, which enshrines the country’s most comprehensive Bill of Rights yet.

The government is also required under international law to transfer Omar al Bashir to the International Criminal Court, in compliance with arrest warrants pending against him for crimes committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2010, the report noted.

Economic situation

Osama Abdel Qaioum Zain al-Abedeen, an 18-year-old student from Atbara, recalled the small spark that ignited the nationwide uprising last year.

“We went out to buy breakfast and found out that the price of a sandwich had risen from five to ten pounds,” Osama told AP news agency. “So we stood in front of our school and protested and soon other people took the streets and joined.”

“We’re looking at a deep state that for thirty years has been plagued by corruption and economic crisis,” Abdel-Jaleel told AP news agency. “But if the nation is given an opportunity to achieve democracy and development and peace, that will be an achievement for the world, not just for Sudan.”