Background
Protests against the policies of President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) first erupted in December 2018 in the city of Atbara, roughly 200 miles north of Khartoum, in response to drastic increases in the prices of bread and fuel. Within a matter of days, the protests had spread to Khartoum and other cities and towns throughout the country. At the same time, the focus of the protests shifted from grievances over prices of basic commodities to opposition to the alleged corruption of the NCP regime, which has ruled Sudan since 1989, and to President al-Bashir’s plans to amend the constitution to allow him to run for an unprecedented third term in 2020.
Repression
The Sudanese government has responded to peaceful protests with violent repression. National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) forces have fired live ammunition at street protestors, killing over fifty, according to some reports. More insidiously, NISS “hit squads” have abducted targeted protesters, either on the street or from their homes, and transported them to secret detention and torture centers.
The Role of Academics
Sudanese academics have taken a key role in these protests, not least by drawing the attention of international academic and humanitarian organizations to the Bashir government’s violent suppression of dissent. On 6 January 2019, government authorities briefly arrested eight University of Khartoum faculty members in order to prevent them from leaving campus to participate in protests. One hundred other faculty members who had fled to a campus building were prevented from leaving for three hours. Undeterred, some 300 University of Khartoum faculty members, students, and staff held a peaceful sit-in on 30 January, denouncing the government’s violence against protesters and calling for democratic elections. Fourteen faculty members were arrested as a result of their participation in this sit-in. After a second sit-in on 12 February, seventeen additional faculty members were detained.
Media Suppression
State of Emergency
On 22 February 2019, President al-Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency, dissolving the national government and all regional governments. He has called on Sudan’s parliament to delay the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for another term as president, and he has called on opposition groups to enter a political dialogue with the government.
MESA’s Position
MESA unequivocally supports the right of Sudanese academics, whether students, university faculty members, or independent scholars, to voice their opinions nonviolently without fear of retribution of any kind. We stress that freedom of expression, freedom of association, and academic freedom are expressly protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sudan is a party. We call on the Sudanese government and security forces immediately to cease violent suppression of peaceful protest and detention of non-violent protestors. We further call on them immediately to release all detained protestors, whether academics or otherwise. We express our alarm at the deteriorating condition of academic and personal freedom in Sudan and our hope that peaceful, democratic solutions will prevail.