Sudanese security bans women event in Khartoum

April 16, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Sunday prevented a women’s festival at the Ahfad University for Women (AUW) in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman.

The event, organised by the “No To Women’s Oppression Initiative (NTWOI), was scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, NTWOI said the NISS prevented the celebration at the AUW.

“This is not surprising action from the apparatus of repression and oppression, which has consumed 80% of the state’s resources and continued to arrest, torture and seize freedoms and violates human rights for more than a quarter of a century” read the statement

The statement stressed that such an action wouldn’t deter the NTWOI from continuing its activities which aim to raise awareness of women’s rights and expose violations and organised societal violence against them.

The initiative further announced that the events of the festival would be transferred to the headquarters of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), saying they seek to create a better reality for Sudan’s women.

It is noteworthy that the NTWOI was established in 2009 to defend women rights and combat violence and discrimination against women under the Sudanese laws.

(ST)