Popular protests as a new tool of pressuring Sudan’s dominant party
By Dalia Haj-Omar
December 17, 2009 — There is optimism in Sudan nowadays. The recent breakthrough in negotiations between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP), on December 13, led to the passing of the Referendum Bills for South Sudan and Abyie and the Popular Consultation Bill for South Kordofan and Blue Nile State—all in one day. Commenting on this progress General Secretary of the SPLM, Pagan Amum declared that, “after four years we have discovered that the solution is in the Sudanese street”.
What started as an announcement for a peaceful procession in Khartoum on December 7 led by a coalition of opposition parties and inviting the participation of the “Sudanese street” quickly progressed into public protests in Sudan’s largest cities including: Juba, Wau, Kassala, Port Sudan, Hassahisa and Madani. To some the protests are reminiscent of the popular revolutions that overthrew the regimes of Aboud (October 1964) and Nimeri (May 1985). Protesters reported a jubilant atmosphere in the streets and inside the prisons. Revolutionary songs were heard outside prison gates and more than 300 citizens were detained and released on the same day in Khartoum alone.
The procession intended to hand a letter to parliament with concrete demands for reform. It marked the end of an ultimatum given by a National Coalition of opposition parties called the Juba Conference (led by the SPLM—a partner in government) to the NCP to pass and reform laws necessary for democratic transformation in Sudan mandated under the country’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. And to create space for free participation of political parties and citizens prior to the country’s first election in 24 years planned for April 2010. As well as address rising inflation and poverty and bring to justice those responsible for crimes of war in Darfur.
PANIC-STRICKEN NCP RESPONDS WITH VIOLENCE
The NCP, in a clear state of panic, responded with a last minute ban citing the procession’s illegality because, “the organizing parties did not get necessary permits”. December 7 was announced as a public holiday, “to permit more citizens to register for voting on the last day of registration”, according to state sources. On the eve of the procession residents of Khartoum reported intensified presence of riot police. A student activist summed it up by saying, “it is as if the government is in a state of war with its own people. They think they can scare us way”.
The NCP’s reaction was both exaggerated and violent. Protestors were beaten and dispersed with tear gas. Journalists were arrested and their equipment confiscated. Police violence did not spare SPLM politicians with state immunity, who were also beaten and detained. The most prominent being SPLM Parliamentary Spokesperson, Yasir Arman and SPLM General Secretary, Pagan Amum. This deteriorated an already tense relationship between the two partners. And made it clear who the police and military are taking orders from. The day after the protests a government body issued a fatwa banning all Muslims from participating in demonstrations.
The SPLM promised that, “the protests will continue in all of Sudan”. Prominent opposition parties (Sudan Liberation Movement, Haq, Umma Party and SPLM) announced a series of public talks at various locations in Khartoum and its peripheries to rally citizens for future demonstrations and speak about their visions of a Sudan post-NCP rule. A second protest did indeed take place on December 14 with a similar reaction from the NCP. The turnout to the public talks was massive and attracted citizens from all walks of life.
A TURNING POINT FOR THE OPPOSITION AND CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
By calling on citizens to participate in national protests, to increase pressure on the NCP, these events mark a turning point in the relationship between Sudanese opposition parties and the Sudanese street as well as between the opposition and the regime.
Opposition parties are usually dismissed by citizens for being “out of touch” with the street and too intellectual and elitist to address pressing issues faced by normal citizens. The most common complaint given by citizens indifferent toward the next elections is that: “There is no other choice”; “We are registering to vote for who?” and “We don’t want the same old faces”. A student from Khartoum University gave the following insight, “ political parties have been weakened by the regime in the last 20 years through regular arrests and the confiscation of their financial resources; the noose has been tightened around their necks.”
If the protests do indeed continue, it might be a time for Sudanese citizens to challenge opposition parties to articulate a clear agenda for the way forward. And a chance for citizens to engage the opposition in a debate based on issues relevant to livelihood, justice, distribution of wealth and citizenship rights.
Some nascent groups in civil society, such as “girifna” (meaning: we are disgusted/fed up) and “khalas” (meaning: enough) are running campaigns focused on the need to get rid of the NCP through supporting the coalition of opposition parties without much question about what this opposition block has to offer. There is a danger here of supporting the opposition just because it is “opposition” and letting Sudanese history repeat itself. And most relevant of all, missing the chance for a true democratic exercise that breaks old habits of traditional affiliations to personalities and/or political parties as opposed to campaigning based on pressure from constituencies.
A more experienced independent block of civil society issued a statement on December 10 addressed to the “Sudanese Nation” where they summed Sudan’s crisis in a list that departed from the usual emphasis on political roadblocks and focused on a balanced spectrum of political, social and economic challenges that included: poor government services in the areas of education, health and housing; the increasing cost of living; excessive poverty (regardless of increasing oil revenues) and food insecurity; high level of unemployment among university graduates; corruption and lack of transparency in dubious government projects. And the privatization of national development projects such as the Jazeera agricultural project.
These concrete needs are what opposition parties and the NCP can be pressed about in a realistic way and with agendas and timeframes that create no illusions or false expectations from citizens who are too impatient for change.
THE NCP AND THE CHALLENGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Although the SPLM and the coalition of opposition parties seem to have lost patience with the NCP and have found new tools to pressure it, they are still dealing with a regime that will use all its might to cling to power—especially with the shadow of the International Criminal Court hanging over the heads of its leadership.
In the next weeks, as the NCP engages in intensive closed-door discussions with the leadership of the SPLM, Umma Party and Democratic Unionist Party, one question that comes to mind is: even if the NCP concedes to legal reform of all the laws in question, how will it be held accountable for upholding the implementation of new laws (and other promises) when all the vital state institutions—the police, military and judiciary—are under NCP control? This loophole was demonstrated when the recent lifting of censorship and security laws from national media and newspapers was reversed on December 7 when the country was put under a new set of emergency rules overnight. And the police treated everyone (including journalists) on the streets as law-breaking thugs.
The question of reforming state institutions fundamental to governance has never surfaced in discussions with the NCP and it may be time to challenge power structures that allow absolute leverage of the executive branch of government over the army, police and the legal apparatus. Responding to this question the Political Analyst and Director of the Sudanese Studies Center, Haydar Ibrahim said, “this is absolutely impossible and will not happen in the lifetime of the NCP. The only way forward is to keep sustained pressure through popular protests. There also is an expectation that the Americans will put some pressure”.
The author is Sudanese activist based in France.