We Celebrate the Anniversary of Bashir Removal from Power in Sudan
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
After a Year of Political Upheaval in Sudan comes the Saturday, April 11, 2020, as a Special Day for the people of Sudan as it coincides with the Day of the overthrow of the longtime Dictator Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir a year ago.
Today, SATURDAY 17 Shaaban 1441 AH – 11 April 2020 AD will coincide and mark the First Anniversary of the Toppling of a Thirty Year-long period serving arbitrary ruler Marshall Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir that took place on Thursday the 11th April 2019. That event took place following the Glorious Popular Revolution during which the components of the Sudanese citizens young and old women and men chanted the three Eternal slogans of Freedom, Peace and Justice and when they were supported by the Intervention of the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) that sided with the popular demand to complete the task of removing the despotic Islamism – aka-affiliated to the International Muslim Brotherhood Movement (MBM), the National Congress Party (NCP) regime that has ruled Sudan for 30 lean years since Tuesday 30 June 2009.
Although the ruling regime of the deposed Omer al-Bashir and his corrupt government went to extermination, the legacy continued to be heavy for the people of Sudan, especially the daily difficulties of living especially in the wake of the pandemic conditions of the renewed COVID -19, the Virus that quarantined the entire world’s population.
The worst is still remaining as the people suffer from it, which is the high cost of living in light of the continuing weakness of the Sudanese pound against the US dollar, which equals now 145 pounds, knowing that the price of the US dollar was 45 Sudanese pounds in 2019. That is why the Forces of Declaring Freedom and Change (FDFC) Coalition handed over the government an urgent request to change the Sudanese currency, especially that the (FDFC) has noted a large expansion in the size of the monetary mass due to the proliferation of counterfeit currency factories, especially the categories of “500” and “200” pounds while praising the efforts of the detective police in seizing Two factories of the counterfeit national currency in the Capital Khartoum and Nyala.
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In spite of the foregoing gloomy picture, some optimism prevails in the Sudanese peace negotiations in Juba the city of South Sudan. In that, Ustaz Ahmed Tugod Lisan, Chief Negotiator of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has been quoted as saying that Peace Negotiations remain between Reality and Misinformation. https://sudanjem.com/2020/04/%d9%85%d9%81%d8%a7%d9%88%d8%b6%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%b9-%d9%88-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%b6%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%84/
Ustaz Ahmed Tugod Lisan continued to indicate that the attempt comes in the context of a comprehensive assessment of the peace process underway in the Juba Peace Platform (JPP) in and the results and achievements of the peace process that have entered its final stages after about six months of continuous dialogue and negotiation, and what distinguishes these negotiations from others, is that what it have been achieved in comparison to previous experiences; it is comprehensive in terms of issues and parties were able to reach advanced understandings that resulted in tangible results represented in many agreements between the parties to the Sudanese crisis, starting with the Juba Declaration for confidence-building measures and preparation for negotiations, and the political declaration signed between the Republic of Sudan and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and along with the detailed record on the agenda and identification of the negotiation files in the various tracks. This is in addition to the agreement to renew the cessation of hostilities for humanitarian purposes, the signing of the framework agreement for the paths of Darfur and the two regions (the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile), and the signing of the Agreement for the Eastern Sudan Region, along with the Central and Northern Path, in addition to negotiating many files related to the crisis in Darfur and the two regions. Ustaz Tugud continued to reiterate the facts about which he indicated that the Juba Declaration was renewed until May 9, 2020, as a final date for reaching a comprehensive and final peace agreement. This renewal came after the recent stumbling in the negotiating process as a result of the sudden death of the Minister of Defense and who was the head of the government delegation to the security arrangements, God’s mercy and forgiveness for him. Moreover, the precautionary measures are taken by the Government of South Sudan as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, which was called by means of innovation and new ways to continue the negotiating process and supplement what remained of files and negotiating issues through indirect dialogue.
HOW THE YEAR LONG POST 19th DECEMBER 2018 EVENTS WENT ON TO TOPPLE AL_BASHIR?
The Events accelerated in a series of incidents to support the determination of the people of Sudan to get rid of the ruling regime of the National Congress Party led by dictator Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, who escaped from international justice at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his reprehensible crimes he committed against the defenceless Sudanese civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan. That was followed by a Year of Political Upheaval in Sudan – in the following TIMELINE:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-politics-anniversary-timeline/a-year-of-political-upheaval-in-sudan-idUSKBN1YN1WF
ACCORDING TO THE (Reuters) – Sudanese people on Thursday celebrated the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir.
Here is a timeline of the main events since the unrest began:
Dec. 19, 2018 – Officials declare a state of emergency in the city of Atbara protests against price rises and the local headquarters of President Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is set ablaze.
Jan. 3, 2019 – On Jan. 3, the first secretary-general of Bashir’s NCP calls on him to step down as protests spread across Sudan, spearheaded by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).
February 2019 – Lawmakers indefinitely postpone amendments to Sudan’s constitution that would have allowed Bashir to run for another term.
March 2019 – Bashir promises dialogue with the opposition as protests continue despite emergency measures and delegates his powers as head of the NCP.
April 6, 2019 – Thousands of protesters set up camp outside the Khartoum compound housing the Defense Ministry, intelligence service headquarters and Bashir’s residence.
April 11, 2019 – Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf announces on television that Bashir has been deposed and detained, causing widespread celebrations.
April 12, 2019 – Ibn Auf resigns as head of the newly formed Transitional Military Council. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are named as the respective head and deputy.
April-May, 2019 – Protesters led by the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) political coalition demand a swift handover to civilian rule, and nationwide strikes and a civil disobedience campaign begin.
June 3, 2019 – Security forces storm the sit-in outside the Defense Ministry and open fire, killing dozens of people.
June 11, 2019 – The FFC halts its strike and civil disobedience campaign and resumes talks with the military council, suspended after the June 3 killings.
Aug. 17, 2019 – A power-sharing deal is finalised, setting up a transitional government.
Aug. 20, 2019 – A ruling Sovereign Council is formed, including FFC and military representatives, and a day later a new prime minister, Abdallah Hamdok, is sworn in.
Nov. 28, 2019 – Authorities dissolve the NCP and repeal the public order law that regulated women’s behaviour under Bashir.
Dec. 4, 2019 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says his country and Sudan agree to begin exchanging ambassadors after a 23-year gap.
Dec. 14, 2019 – A Sudanese court convicts Bashir of corruption and sentences him to two years in a reform facility. He faces further charges of incitement and involvement in killing protesters and undermining the constitutional order.
Jonathan Swift, the Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, “Dean Swift” has been quoted as saying: “ May you live all the days of your life?” https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jonathan_swift_101069?src=t_anniversary
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people marched in cities across Sudan on Thursday to celebrate the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir and demand justice for people killed in protests. Waving national flags and chanting slogans, marchers vowed to press on with the political transition that stemmed from the protests that began on Dec. 19 last year in the city of Atbara and led to the military deposing Bashir on April 11 2019.
A year of political upheaval in Sudan
“WE ARE Revolutionaries AND Revolutionaries! We will complete the journey!” thousands chanted in Freedom Square, which protesters took over in the Capital Khartoum in July and where Bashir held a big rally in his last months in power.
Others chanted: “Our martyrs have not died, they live with the revolutionaries!”
Repeating a rallying cry for justice for those killed when security forces opened fire to end a sit-in this year near the Defense Ministry headquarters and Bashir’s residence, they shouted: “Blood for blood, we won’t accept blood money!”
A Sudanese court on Saturday convicted Bashir on corruption charges and sentenced him to two years of detention in a reform facility, the first ruling against the former president.
Some protesters waved posters of Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s civilian prime minister who heads a technocratic government. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-politics-anniversary/sudanese-celebrate-uprising-anniversary-demand-justice-for-victims-idUSKBN1YN1W9
Thus, and at last, today, the eleventh Saturday, April 2020 is the day that made Omer Al-Bashir and his group say that they will remain in power forever in the rule of Sudan and there is no being who can remove them has been proved beyond doubt that it is a lie that the world has heard and as well seen. And it was really for the people of Sudan to celebrate had it not the outbreak of Pandemic conditions of the Coronavirus aka COVID -19, which locked the nations of the world inside the home as a protection against this deadly disease.
Nevertheless, we feel over the moon, as they say, that the Génocidaire Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir and his criminal entourage are no longer the rulers for the Sudanese Nation. However, the legacy left by the Islamists is heavy, but the people of Sudan, the makers of Revolutions and the overthrow of dictatorships deserve the cleanliness of their country from the remains of the dirt of the thirty-odd years that Bashir and his cortège have left. We chant shouting with the loudest Voices, LONG LIVE the Struggle of the Sudanese People. We will build our country Sudan with the highest determination, despite the existence of the three Giants, Poverty, Disease and Corruption. The Sudanese Public will be the Victor at the end of the day despite the presence of side battles, raised by some political parties who have become addicts of Authority, keeping racing and running after the mirage of authority!
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/