Sudan draconian court and tyranical authority

By Steve Paterno

June 16, 2005 — With the current trend in Sudan, events do not look as optimistic and promising as they ought to be, especially due to the fact that it’s only a month left whereby the regime in Khartoum will form a government of unity with the warring parties, the SPLA/M in particular. According to the signed peace agreement between the regime in Khartoum and the SPLA/M, or according to the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) as it is popularly referred to, Sudan is due to form the government of unity sooner than later-next month as a matter of fact. However, the regime in Khartoum is consistently doing everything on its power to undermine the Southern Sudanese efforts of attaining peace in the country as the regime in Khartoum keeps remaining defiant and opposes everything unity and democratic in nature while doing things that have drove the country into conflicts in the first place. Such only creates more doubts on whether Khartoum will seriously consider Southerners as partner in a coalition government of a united Sudan.

Just as in recent months, leave alone the years of discrimination against the Southerners; the regime in Khartoum has violated all aspects of the agreements that would have bounded the north and the South Sudan together in a one united country that would uphold the principles that respect democratic values and human rights. For the last couple of months, the regime in Khartoum has committed atrocities against the Southerners, which ranges from massacring the internally displaced persons to abolishing the only English-language owned newspaper, the Khartoum monitor. The Khartoum Monitor has always been the voice of truth that exposes Khartoum’s wrong doings and an inspirational symbol for Sudan transition to freedom and democracy. Khartoum Monitor is noted for accurate reporting and their staffs are commented for excellence in journalism. In his recent visit to Khartoum, speaking to reporters, the top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, applauded the Khartoum Monitor’s reporting on the massacres in the Soba Aradi refugee camp. During the Soba Aradi incident, the paper was suspended by the Khartoum authorities at least for one day after publishing report and editorial on the incident. And now, the Sudan highest court revoked the license of Khartoum Monitor putting it out of business-one giant leap backward in democracy and freedom of expression.

After massacring the internally displaced persons from the Soba Aradi camp, one would expect that the regime in Khartoum would refrain from further massacres of such magnitude, but instead it agitated the situation even more by detaining more residence of the camp whom it termed as suspects, imposed unnecessary curfew in the camp, and robbed of the residence of the camp of their only essential kitchen utensils such as knives as the security forces raided the residences’ houses. Worse, the regime in Khartoum is insisting in forceful relocations of the internally displaced persons without being sensitive to the needs of those displaced persons or considering further implications of such forceful move. By showing insensitivity and recklessness, the Khartoum State Interior Minister, Ahmed Mohamed Haroon downplayed the whole massacre incident and boasted to the reporters that nothing is going to “stop the state from implementing its policy and plans of relocations.” Perhaps his Excellency Minister, Haroon should be reminded once again that people of his attitudes are the ones responsible for the war and suffering in Sudan.

Now the Sudan Supreme Court, which has been nothing but acts as the organ of suppression for the regime in Khartoum has uphold the ruling that suspend the operation of Sudan only English-language newspaper, the Khartoum Monitor. This is the very court that could not identify the real culprit on the massacres of the innocent civilians but unfortunately can claim authority in revoking the license of independent newspaper. If one may ask, where was such court if in this millennium Sudan courts still embrace barbaric justice that stone people to death for lesser offenses and crimes? It is more than clear that the Sudan courts are embarking on travesty of justice, which will lead one to wonder on what sort of a united government is due to be formed during interim period of six years if the Sudan Supreme court rulings are based on draconian codes while the authorities in Khartoum is implementing policies that lead to massacres.