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PagesVol. 17 Issue No 470125th April, 201920th Shaaban,1440

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FCF Reiterates Rejection of Ex-regime Political Parties Participation in the Transitional Government

By: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum – Freedom and Change Forces (FCF) reiterated its suspension of talks with the political committee of Transitional Military Council (TMC) , affirming its rejection of the participa-tion of the political parties which were part of the toppled regime in the upcom-ing transitional government consider-ing it as part of the crisis.For his part, head of the FCF, Omer Al-Degair said in a press conference held yesterday in Teeba Press that they will continue the peaceful struggle, disclos-ing that they called on the army to take the side of the people and not seizing power, stressing on the importance of civilian authority.FCF press conference stated that the Su-preme Council should represent all the regions of Sudan besides women, af-firming that the continuation of consul-tation over the formation of the civilian government.

Speakers in the press con-ference rejected the period given to the TMV by the AU mini-summit held in Cairo under the chairman-ship of Egyptian President who is the chair of the AU current round, affirming their refusal to any kind of guardianship consid-ering that the Sudanese people are able to select the leaders of the peaceful transformation of power, adding that building of the transitional authorities will not be subject to any kind of guardianships.Member of the FCF, Ayman Khalid said that they don’t ask the TMC to hand transitional government but com-plete civilian authority, adding that the TMC political committee is taking the same methods of the ex-regime in ne-

gotiating with others. For his part, FCF member Farouq Al-Sheikh said that there are agreements on the transitional arrangements and 1 100-days emergency programme be-

sides the transitional constitution, af-firming that the suspension of the TMC political committee in continuous and that they are ready to lead a complete political strike.

TMC Negotiates Resumption of Dialogue with Freedom and Change ForcesBy / Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum - The Transitional Mili-tary Council (TMC) announced that the doors of dialogue and nego-tiation are open on the vision of the Freedom and Change Forces that it presented to the Council in order to achieve the aspirations of the people and the ambitions of young people and the demands of the revolution.TMC Spokesman, Lieutenant Gen-eral Shams Al-Din Kabbashi, said that the council relies heavily on the outcome of the meeting with the Freedom and Change Forces that is expected to be held yesterday evening, and where it includes Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, Omer Al-Digair, Mohamed Mukhtar Al-Khatib, Ali Al-Raiah Al-Sanhouri, and repre-sentatives of the Sudanese Profes-sionals Association, to resume the negotiations with these forces on the future of the country. He said that the meeting is an affirmation of the role played by the TMC at this stage, especially the political arena, which requires the accompanying of

all visions and the preparation of the climate that leads to the agreement on the structures of the transitional phase, its components and liabili-ties and that the Council insured on the leading and active role of the Freedom and Change Forces in the revolution, besides the national re-

sponsibility of TMC in maintaining security and reassuring and uproot-ing the roots of sedition and the mo-tives of exclusion and all remnants of the former regime and to ensure the care of the conditions to achieve the objectives of the revolution.

China and Ethiopia Support Sudan TMCBy: Al-Sammani Awadallah

\Khartoum – Chairman of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), 1st Lt. Gen. (PSC) Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan Abdul-Rah-man received in his office at the Republican Palace the Chinese ambassador, Mr. Ma xinmin in the framework of consolation between the two countries. The Chinese ambassador affirmed the ability of Sudanese to overcome the present difficulties.The ambassador added in press statements that the meeting dis-cussed the current political situ-ation in Sudan and the efforts of

the TMC in acquiring consensus over the transitional period.Ma xinmin said that China lauds the role of the TMC in this stage especially in launching talks with all the political components to reach a national accord.He affirmed that his country en-courages all the Sudanese politi-cal parties to work jointly and to concentrate in its negotiation on improving the Sudanese economy to achieve the aspirations of the Sudanese people.He expressed confidence on the Sudanese and their wisdom to overcome the present difficulties.Meanwhile, the TMC Chairman

received the Ethiopian ambassa-dor in Sudan who reiterated his country’s support to the Sudanese people option and the steps taken by the TMC.The ambassador said in press statements that Ethiopia is keen to follow up what is going in Su-dan from its position as the chair of IGAD and considering Sudan as a sisterly neighour.He added that the meeting dis-cussed the recent AU summit held in Cairo on the situation in Sudan, and the support of the steps taken by the summit, expressing hope tht the AUPSC endorse the rec-ommendation of the summit.

Industry and Trade Ministry Discusses Export Sector ObstaclesBy / Khalda Elias

Khartoum - Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Abdul Rahman Ajab Ahmed Ibrahim discussed the problems and obstacles facing the exporting sector, so as to benefit from the export earnings and promoting this sector to play its role in the national economy as one of

the largest sectors reliable in bringing hard cur-rency.During the meeting held yesterday that included the National Chamber of Exporters, Ibrahim announced the formation of a committee com-prising the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Sudanese Customs Authority, the Tax Chamber, Central Bank of Sudan and the National Cham-

ber of Exporters to overcome the obstacles facing the exporting sector, and providing all facilities to exporters so as to contribute in the national economy, pointing out that the Ministry of In-dustry and Trade is conducting an analysis of everything related to exports, praising the Cham-ber of exporters and its full cooperation with the Ministry to reach decisions supporting exports.

Judges to Join the Protesters for the First TimeBy / Khalda Elias

Khartoum - Sudan’s judges announced on Wednesday heir joining to thousands of pro-testers in a sit-in outside the Army’s General Command to demand for civil rule. “Today (Thursday), God willing, the march of judges of the Sudan will begin from the Constitutional Court at 4:00 pm to the Army General Command in support of change and for the rule of law and for the independence of the judiciary,” statement of Sudan’s judici-ary said.

TMC Announces the Kick-off Foreign Debts’ PaymentsBy: Najat Ahmed

Khartoum – Transitional Military Council Deputy Chairman, 1st Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Daglo revealed the deployment of Raid Support Forces in all Sudan’s states to protect the people and their proper-ties, affirming that they will protect the gold companies and factories following the negative aspects, adding that they are working hard to provide all the necessary commodities in the country. He said that they started paying the foreign debts, besides working in restoring the confidence in the banking system through provid-ing the cash to resume the withdrawal operations as was before.He affirmed that the TMC is ready to hand over the authority to the youth if they are ready, affirming that they will continue fighting corruption without mercy to any corrupt people.Daglo, who was addressing the Businessmen and Em-ployers Federation representatives at the republican palace, said that the TMC is moving forward steadily.

By: Shadia Basheri

Khartoum- Assistant Direc-tor General of Khartoum Stock Exchange (KSE) Nadir Abdul-Majeed Abdul-Rahman has dis-closed formation of a commit-tee to review the movement of shares at the bourse daily in the context of the instruction by the Transitional Military Council to

review ownership of shares and stop transfer of shares of compa-nies at the current period.He explained in a press statement yesterday that the work of the committee is progressing satis-factorily, affirming commitment to the directives of the Transi-tional Military Council for safe-guarding the national economy.Meanwhile, Khartoum Stock Ex-change witnessed yesterday in-

crease in the volume of exchange of 205%, compared to that of the previous day.It is noteworthy that the Chair-man of Khartoum Stock Ex-change (KSE), Dr. Azhari Al-Tayeb, announced in a press statement Tuesday in Cairo that the bourse has stopped the codes of businessmen who were among the figures of the deposed re-gime.

KSE Forms Committee to Review Shares Movement

Agencies

Sudan’s military rulers have suspended a concession contract with International Container Terminal Ser-vices Inc (ICTSI) for South Port Container Terminal at Port Sudan, pending its cancellation, the country’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) said in a state-ment.The suspension of the contract, reported by Reuters, follows the ousting of president Omar al-Bashir on 11 April as well as strike action by workers at Port Sudan’s southern container terminal in February to protest against the 20-year concession for ICTSI sub-sidiary ICTSI Middle East DMCC to operate, manage and develop the terminal.

“The TMC issued a presidential decree to suspend the contracts of the Filipino company working at Port Sudan’s southern port until legal measures are com-pleted to cancel the contract,” the statement, issued on 23 April, said.Last month, in response to the strike, Al Bashir said the deal was being reviewed to ensure it was fair. The strike was against the “privatisation” of the port, which was managed by the government-controlled Sea Ports Corporation, who signed the concession deal with ICTSI Middle East DMCC on 3 January.The Sudanese government was due to make US$2.44bn over a 20-year period from the deal.Port Strategy has contacted Philippines-headquar-tered ICTSI, but did not receive a response by dead-line.

Sudan Suspends ICTSI Contract

UK Diplomat Links Normalizing Ties with Sudan to Transition to Civilian Rule HOME2

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Agricultural Bank Pays 1.3 Billion Pounds for Wheat Purchase

 TMC Affirms Not to Allow Use of Force against Demonstrators and is Ready to Hand over Power as Soon as Possible

SUNA

Wad-Medani - The Acting Director of the Agricultural Bank, Gezira Sector, Dhu-Al-Kifl Ahmed Al-Amin has revealed the receipt of 2 mil-lion sacks of wheat from the farmers in the Gezira Scheme, including 1,162,000 sacks as a surplus production.Al-Amin announced, in a statement to SUNA, that the total payment of surplus wheat

production up to date amount-ed to 1.3 billion pounds and work is under way to receive the rest of the wheat crop.The Director of the Agricul-tural Bank, Gezira Sector urged farmers to expedite the delivery of the product before the closure of the wharehous-es in early May, adding that the delivery of wheat to the mills will be according to the amounts allocated by the Stra-tegic Inventory Management.

Report: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum- The Transitional Mili-tary Council (TMC) has reiterated its commitment not to use force against demonstrators who con-tinue to gather for the sit-in before the headquarters of the General Command of the Armed Forces, in affirmation of the Council’s sid-ing with the people in their slogan of (Freedom, Peace and Justice). The Council allowed them to be present at the area of the sit-in and gather at it shouting their slogans.The military council’s affirmation came in response to what had been stated by the Professionals Asso-ciation of what it called attempts to break the sit-in from several direc-tions in the area around the Gener-al Command of the Armed Forces and movement of some machiner-ies to remove the barricades put by the protestors on the most impor-tant roads in the capital Khartoum obstructing the movement of traf-fic. But the military council despite its instructions on the importance of removing those barricades and its call for opening the roads for the flow of traffic stressed in the words of the Chairman of the Transi-tional Military Council (TMC) First Lieutenant General (PSC) Abdul-Fattah Al Burhan that the Council will not allow the use of force against the demonstrators, who are demanding the transfer of power to a civilian government.Al Burhan stressed that the council wants to maintain security only and does not seek to rule.

The military council had warned earlier that there are a group of outlaws who are exploiting the current situation and they are terrorizing citizens and called in this regard on the people to contribute by the immedi-ate notification to prevent these phenomena and maintain security and stability in the country.Contacts with Sudanese Parties:The chairman of the military council stressed that the joint visions presented by the various Sudanese parties stipulate a transitional period that will be medium for two years and the formation of a joint mili-tary council, stressing that the council will

not stop attempts to communicate and con-tact with all the Sudanese parties to make the country reach a democratic free future.This affirmation comes as African coun-tries that participated in a mini-summit held in Cairo called on Sudan’s military au-thorities for peaceful transference of within three months. The regional partners of Su-dan called for extending the time allowed to the council by three-months for a peace-ful transfer of power in Sudan as there is urgent need for the Sudanese authorities and the political forces to work together in good faith to address the current situation in the Sudan, the speedy restoration of the constitutional order, the establishment of a comprehensive democratic system, the pro-motion of human rights and the achieve-ment of sustainable development.TMC Chairman Al Burhan conveyed to the US delegation headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State affirmation that the coun-cil does not want to continue in power and that the dialogue would be inclusive of all sectors of the Sudanese people and affir-

mation that the transitional pe-riod will move Sudan to a new situation.Al Burhan has said that for-mation of a government of national com-petencies is the way out of the current situa-tion in the coun-try. He said that if necessary, the council would go today, af-firming work to transfer power to the people as soon as pos-sible.The TMC Chairman said that dialogue is continuing on the admin-istration of the transitional pe-riod, stressing the Council’s readiness to

hand over power as soon as possible.In a special interview with Sky News Ara-bic, Al Burhan said that the military council made the change in response to the desire of the people, and that the national situation had required that the army and its members respond to the voice of the people.

He added that the military council seeks to hand over power as quickly as possible to its true owners, the masses of the people.He pointed out that dialogue with all groups in Sudan has not stopped, considering that the group of Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change as effective group and dialogue with them is extending.He stressed that the Council is working from the beginning “with all and open to all. Dialogue is for all the people of Sudan and I think all agree that the transitional phase is a stage of transition from a previ-ous period of rule to a period of rule that everyone looks forward.. A period of free democracy, where there is no hegemony.”

UK Diplomat Links Normalizing Ties with Sudan to Transition to Civilian Rule Asharq Al-Awsat

British Ambassador to Su-dan Irfan Siddiq voiced the international community’s willingness to normalize ties with Sudan on the long-term should the African state succeed in placing a civilian authority in power.Speaking on whether there is a deadline in place for the transition, Siddiq said that the West has no date by which Sudan needs to meet civilian rule conditions, and that it is considered entirely a sovereign decision in the hand of the Su-danese people.Deputy Assistant Secretary Makila James is on a visit to Khartoum, where she met op-position officials and Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and representatives of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC).

Other than assessing the situ-ation on the ground since the overthrowing of former presi-dent Omar al-Bashir, James encouraged the military council to transfer power to civilians in a way that ensures national stability, according to Western diplomatic sources in London.Siddiq, for his part, reaffirmed the British government’s sup-port for the demands of the Sudanese people, saying a true transition to civilian rule must materialize. But he noted that, insofar, there is no clear agree-

ment or consensus that matters are moving in that direction.The British diplomat, addressing the press in Khartoum, revealed that negotiations are ongoing for a sustainable solution with the TMC and other political parties in Sudan.On April 15, the African Union gave the TMC a three months window to

implement democratic reforms or face suspension from the 55-state body.Speaking at the end of a sum-mit attended by several African heads of state, Egyptian Presi-dent Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that the AU meeting agreed on the need to deal with the situ-ation in Sudan by working to “quickly restore the constitu-tional system through a po-litical democratic process led and managed by the Sudanese themselves.”

Attorney General Meets with Prosecution in Case of Killing of Teacher Ahmed Al-KhairSudan Vision

Khartoum – The acting Attorney General, Al-Walid Sid-Ahmed, met at his office with the pros-ecution committee assigned to investigate in the killing of the martyr teacher Ahmed Al-Khair,

which is headed by Advocate Omer Abdul-Atti, and includes a number of advocates.The prosecution committee has welcomed the Attorney General and expressed thanks to the At-torney General for addressing the Director of the Security and Intelligence Service regarding

the lifting of the immunity of suspects.He prosecution has demanded reviewing the investigation re-port and re-inquiry and conduct-ing and carrying out separate investigations with the officials who made misleading statements regarding the killing of the mar-

tyr Ahmed Al-Khair.He stressed the complementary roles between the Attorney Gen-eral and the lawyers in achiev-ing justice and establishing the principle of rule of law, affirm-ing that the Public Prosecution is independent from the executive and legislative authorities and

aims to achieve justice.He said that its doors are open to them and to all who seek jus-tice. In terms of their impartiality and legitimacy, and assured them that investigations will proceed according to law, asserting that this case and other cases will be given great concern.

Sudan to Participate in Joint Meetings of the Arab Financial Bodies in KuwaitBy / Shadia Basheri

Khartoum - Sudan will partici-pate in the joint meetings of the Board of Governors and share-holders of the Arab financial bodies scheduled to be held in State of Kuwait on the twenty-fifth of this April. Undersecretary of the Minis-try of Finance and Economic Planning, Head of Delegation of Sudan, Dr. Abdul Moneim Mohamed Al-Tayeb said that the meetings are held annually at the level of the Arab ministers of finance and economy in order to determine the performance of the Arab financial institu-tions in general and the ratifi-

cation of their annual budgets and final accounts and review and the issuance of decisions and directives on the promotion of the performance of these in-stitutions. He expected that the Sudanese delegation to meet with Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Saudi Fund for Development, the Ku-wait Fund for Arab Economic Development, in order to dis-cuss the relations of mutual fi-nancial cooperation and ways to develop them. The delegation will also discuss with the Arab Monetary Fund Sudan’s oppor-tunity to benefit from the facili-ties of trade finance program of the fund.

TMC Issues Important DecisionsSUNA

Khartoum - – The Sudan Ruling Transitional Military Coun-cil (TMC) , Tuesday, approved the suspension of the contract of the Philippine company operating in South Port Sudan until the completion of legal procedures for the cancellation of the contract. The TMC has, also, issued a decree instructing the Auditor-General to begin the financial and administrative audit of the General Administration of Hajj and Umrah and to report to the Council in this regard, immediately. The Council, same day, also approved the formation of a com-mittee, at the level of the center and the states, to enlist govern-ment vehicles for the last five years.

Committee on Corruption Crimes Meets Auditor General

SUNA

Khartoum – The supreme committee As-signed for corruption crimes and the crimi-nal claims concerning the recent incidents in

the country met Tuesday the Auditor General of the Republic of Sudan.The meeting discussed a number of issues, top of which were the reports of the Auditor General of the recent years which referred to criminal violations and the actions taken in this connection.

3SCIENCE

Thursday, April 25, 2019BEYOND THE HORIZON

E-mail: alulakidani@yahoo.comAlula Berhe

‘There is need to start form-ing a high level committee to investigate where the oil rev-

enues have went as well as the foreign loans and grants

The political let alone the economic and financial situation is still clouded with un-certainty about the future course of events since the ousting of Sudan the thirty years dictatorial regime of Al Bashir. Coup on a CoupThe manner in which the former dictator was ousted from power has from the start shed doubts upon the real motives and ob-jectives of the army.First on 11 April,2019 just 6 days after the strong wave of protests that was launched by the SPA (Sudanese Professional Associ-ation) on 6 April to coincide with the Thirty Fourth anniversary of the 6 April ,1985 Popu-lar Uprising that have led to the down fall of the 16 yeas dictatorship of General Gaafar Al Ni-meiry (1969-1985).On that day. 11 April came the announce-ment from the First Vice President and Minister of Defence and a close corny of the former dic-tator, Lt. General Abn Owaf that ousting of Al Bashir and the formation of transitional military council. This step was received by an increase in the volume of demonstrations as it was seen by the masses as recreation of the old dictator-ship in the form of new names. The newly formed transitional military didn’t live for more than two days and was ousted by an-other coup from inside the armed forces on Saturday 13 April, led this time by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, who in general is more an acceptable figure both to the mili-tary and the masses.The challenge facing the second Transi-tional Military Council is that due to two historical experiences in October, 1964 and April, 1985 the public confidence in the military is not great to be optimistic. In the first experience of 1964, the military ar-ranged the handed over of the political power to the traditional forces and undermined and marginal-ized the real forces behind the October, 1964 Revolu-tion.The second experience of

the April, 1985 Uprising was far bet-ter because it came after a 16 year military dictatorship. This time the military transitional council didn’t only pave the ground for the tradi-tional reactionary political parties and forces to gain power by ma-nipulating the election law but put the bases for the strong emergence of the National Islamic Front (NIF) to be became the third political force in the country. Later, the connec-tions between some of the leading

military figures in the transitional military council and the prime minister in the tran-sitional period became clear. The head of the council was later until his death was he president of the Islamic Dawa Organization which was backed lavishly by the rich Gulf oil states. So, now the attempt to replay the same scenario of 1964 and 1985 cannot be ac-ceptable and we can see clearly that some regional forces are working in this direction as they have eternal enmity with democracy and people freedoms.

Then the formation and more precisely the strong links, both of personal allegiance and others have raised the protestor’s doubts about the real inten-tions of the TMC. It is not enough in this context that some of the TMC are sincere because the TMS is valued as one body and not on personal bases. Also, some of the steps that the TMC have

taken have long rang implications which should have been left to the transitional government as it is supposed to be an inter-im body until the formation of the civilian transitional government but now what we see is the TMC is acting as a governing and not a transitional body. What is more worrying is the attempt of some members of the TMC to mix the cards again by the introduction of religion into the political arena which was the card used for thirty years by the ousted Al Bashir regime? These members of the TMC forgot that this didn’t prevent the protesting masses from sending Al Bashir regime to the dust bin of history accompanied by the curses of the

masses and if they continue on this road will sooner or later join their

old godfather Al Bashir in the samepin.

Massive CorruptionWe wrote several times be-fore that in the ousted Omer Al Bashir regime corruption have become institutional and as such have to be com-bated by a rational strategy that explore its depth and un-

cover the real players. Since the ousting of Al Bashir regime from power now there round the clock media reports about the seizer of volumes of cash in different cur-rencies both local and foreign. There is no argument that these are good steps. But this piece meal cases despite that are good steps in the right direction still need more serious in-depth investigations on the real source of this corruption. Further, where are the main bulk of the cor-ruption cases? There is need to start form-ing a high level committee to investigate where the oil revenues have went as well as the foreign loans and grants and what was the role of the high officials in the Cen-tral Bank of Sudan in the embezzlement of

these funds by the corrupt elements in the ousted Al Bashir regime? Illegal WealthThere have been many times to avoid a lot of legal jargon when dealing with the issues of corruption and stick to the effective law of Illegal Wealth. This law makes it obliga-tory on every one to justify the source of his wealth which we are quite sure that many of the deposed of regime members and cro-nies cannot do because their background is well known and couldn’t have accumulated such a huge wealth by legal means. Kfouri Land There is nothing that have symbolized the massive corruption of the deposed of Al Bashir regime like what happened in the

Kfouri are in Khartoum and the adjacent Kober area in Khartoum North. There have reports in the media that a com-mittee has been formed to review the situa-tion on this area as a start for a comprehen-sive review of all the other files relating to the illegal possession of land.We think this will be one of the most im-portant committees in combating the cor-ruption of the ousted regime leaders and supporters because most of them have in-dulged in this forum of corruption in one way or another. This have created wide spread grievance among the people which needs to addressed as some of them their lands have been illegally sized and given to others. The problem of the grabbing of land have by passed been limited to Sudanese nation-als to foreigners in the name of investors and in very huge tracks of land this have as well to be revised and evaluate their eco-nomic value to the country economy and the degree of corruption or transparency in the granting of these concessions and if some from the deposed of regime cronies are part of such projects. In conclusion ,this committee needs to be supported with the sufficient manpower and logistic to meet the huge demand on it to restore just and the rule of law.

Clouds over the future after ousting Al Bashir (1)

Next Up Live

A young woman has become a symbol for female rights pro-tests in Sudan after taking to the roof of a car and fielding calls for «thowra» — revolution — during a demonstration of thousands in Khartoum. Protests against Mr Al-Bashir’s regime have escalated in recent months, with the Opposition claiming about 20 people have been killed and many more in-jured at the hands of the Presi-dent’s troops since Saturday.What started as demonstrations about the increasing cost of liv-ing in Sudan escalated into calls for the President — who has held power since 1989 and faces charges for crimes against human-ity and genocide from the Inter-national Criminal Court — to step down. As the unnamed woman reportedly shouted, «In the name of religion, they burnt us,» the crowd, mainly comprising women, is believed to have replied, «Revolution!» Social media users have been struck by the unnamed woman’s white thobe. The thobe is a cotton robe traditionally worn by Sudanese women in the work-force, making it symbolic of the iden-tity of a working woman, and women’s rights. Meanwhile, the unnamed woman’s ear-

rings were reported to be the gold moons of traditional bridal jewellery.Some on social media have speculated that her choice to wear them was an effort to represent the accessories previous gen-erations of Sudanese women wore as they demonstrated against former regimes, while demonstrating against the current military dictatorship. Black lines decorated her face, which Sudanese women’s rights activist Hala Al-Karib told the Washington Post could have been painted to emulate the scars of female leaders from Sudanese history. Lana Haroun, who took the image of the unnamed woman which has since gone viral, told CNN: «She was trying to give everyone hope and positive energy and she did it.

«She was representing all Sudanese wom-en and girls and she inspired every woman and girl at the sit-in.«She was telling the story of Sudanese women … she was perfect.«I immediately thought, ‘this is my revo-lution and we are the future’.»In the wake of the fourth night of protests against Mr Al-Bashir’s regime, Sudan’s police spokesman said people should unite to achieve a peaceful transition of power and restore stability in the country.In a post on Facebook, General Hashim Ali Abd-al-Raheem confirmed the force had ordered its members not to target peaceful protesters. Analysts have said many will interpret the police statement as a show of support for the anti-Government protesters.

«In the name of religion, they burnt us», unnamed woman reportedly shouted

The moment a Sudanese protester became a symbol of feminist

resistance against Omar Al-Bashir

While we don’t be-lieve in principle on emergency reforms but under certain cir-cumstances it is a must. After the oust-ing of the thirty years dictator Al-Bashir and the unjustified forma-tion of the transitional civilian government, then such measures became a must.These measures should include urgent removal of the lead-ership of institutions besieged by wide spread allegations of corruption and in-competence to say the least. The institutions that comes on the top of the list are the Taxation Dept., Zaka Chamber , Water and Electricity Adminis-trations, Investment Authority at the cen-tral and capital lev-els. In addition all the present general man-agers of state owned banks should be sus-pended without any delay and same time the shareholders in private banks to do so as well. The list is long but let say this is just a first step in the long road to combat the destructive cor-rupt heritage of Al Bashir dictatorship.

Urgent Institutional Reforms

April, 1985 the public confidence in the military is not great to be optimistic. In the first experience of 1964, the military ar-ranged the handed over of the political power to the traditional forces and undermined and marginal-ized the real forces behind the October, 1964 Revolu-tion.The second experience of

history accompanied by the curses of the masses and if they continue on this

road will sooner or later join their old godfather Al Bashir in the

samepin.Massive CorruptionWe wrote several times be-fore that in the ousted Omer Al Bashir regime corruption have become institutional and as such have to be com-bated by a rational strategy that explore its depth and un-

Next Up Live

A young woman has become a symbol for female rights pro-tests in Sudan after taking to the roof of a car and fielding calls for «thowra» — revolution — during a demonstration of thousands in Khartoum. Protests against Mr Al-Bashir’s regime have escalated in recent months, with the Opposition claiming about 20 people have been killed and many more in-jured at the hands of the Presi-dent’s troops since Saturday.What started as demonstrations about the increasing cost of liv-ing in Sudan escalated into calls for the President — who has held power since 1989 and faces charges for crimes against human-ity and genocide from the Inter-national Criminal Court — to step down. As the unnamed woman reportedly shouted, «In the name of religion, they burnt us,» the crowd, mainly comprising women, is believed to have replied, «Revolution!» Social media users have been struck by the unnamed woman’s white thobe. The thobe is a cotton robe traditionally worn by Sudanese women in the work-force, making it symbolic of the iden-tity of a working woman, and women’s rights. Meanwhile, the unnamed woman’s ear-

«In the name of religion, they burnt us», unnamed woman reportedly shouted

The moment a Sudanese protester became a symbol of feminist

resistance against Omar Al-Bashir

4

AFRICA IN FOCUS Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Communities buckle as conflict ripples through the Sahel

Philip Kleinfeld Journalist covering conflict and humanitar-ian crises in Central Africa and the Sahel

As many note the defeat of so-called Islam-ic State group in Syria and Iraq, militant violence is spreading like wildfire in less-er-known Burkina Faso, uprooting lives, killing hundreds, and triggering a humani-tarian disaster that has caught many by surprise. Journalist Philip Kleinfeld spent four weeks travelling from the capital of Ouagadougou to remote villages in the north, on the front line of this spreading conflict, speaking to civilians, aid workers, and militia leaders.

The 23 Fulani captives froze in fear as they sat on a dusty patch of ground in January. They were surrounded by armed vigilantes from the local ethnic Mossi community.Moments before, the men had been trading cattle, goats, and food at a busy market in Sago, a poor village in the dusty plains of northern Burkina Faso. By the time the sun faded that day, all but three of the Fulani men would be dead.“They shot all of us,” said Allaye Diallo, a survivor who recalled the scene from a dis-placed persons camp in nearby Barsalogho, bullets still lodged inside his body.The killings at the market are one in a string of recent atrocities against Burkina Faso’s cattle-herding Fulani community that have signalled the entry of inter-communal con-flict into a spiralling crisis in this West Af-rican nation, which is beset by extremist violence.Attacks by Islamist groups have risen dra-matically in the past few months, trigger-ing widespread reprisals against marginal-ised Fulani communities, who are accused of joining and harbouring militants.While such violence is relatively new in Burkina Faso, it echoes a wider pattern in the Sahel where militants have been ex-ploiting the region’s ethnic fault lines and stirring inter-communal conflicts that are now – in some cases – far deadlier than anything the jihadists are doing directly themselves.

Last month, at least 157 Fulani men, wom-en, and children were killed in a single at-tack by a Dogon militia in neighbouring Mali – part of a year-long campaign of vio-lence that is now being widely described as “ethnic cleansing”.The January attacks in Burkina Faso have been blamed on a mostly Mossi citizen’s militia known as the Koglweogo – one of a number of community-based ‘self-defense’ groups that have proliferated in recent years amid growing insecurity.According to civil society groups, the vio-lence left more than 200 Fulani dead and thousands displaced, with many landing in this isolated, dust-blown cluster of tents in Barsalogho, just west of Sago.In late March, a fresh bout of inter-com-munal conflict – this time between ethnic Foulse and Fulani communities – left at least 60 people dead and thousands more displaced from the area around the north-ern town of Arbinda. The New Humanitar-ian has reported steadily on the deteriorat-ing situation since last year.“The potential for violence is very big,” said Mahamadou Savadogo, a researcher based in the capital, Ouagadougou. Though communal conflicts over land, water, and other resources are not uncom-mon here, Burkina Faso has previously been known in the region for peaceful co-existence between different religious and ethnic groups.Tensions worsened with the emergence of al-Qaeda and so-called Islamic State mili-tants as well as the homegrown movement Ansaroul Islam in late 2016. The group was founded by now-deceased Fulani preacher Malam Ibrahim Dicko, who was known for recruiting young members of the marginalised Fulani community in the northern province of Soum.Fulani in Soum, which borders Mali, have long felt abandoned by the state, pointing to a lack of economic development, poor infrastructure, and low representation in political and administrative positions.Though all ethnic communities have been targeted as the militants expand their grip, reports suggest the majority of recent vic-

tims have been members of the Mossi, Bel-la, and Foulse groups, who are perceived to be sympathetic to the government.This has increased anger toward the Fulani, even though the vast majority of the Fulani reject the Islamists who have also attracted individuals from other ethnic groups.‘I don’t understand why they did this’The worst of the recent violence against Fulani has been concentrated in the Cen-tre-North, a majority Mossi administrative region that sits just beneath the militant’s main area of influence in Soum.The region is considered a stronghold of the Koglweogo, a crime-fighting vigilante group that is known for its rough justice and kangaroo courts.koglweogo_manages_the_crowd_at_a_community_gathering_in_the_town_of_ziniare_2_1920.jpgSome locals say the Koglweogo began at-tacking Fulani civilians after jihadists ex-ecuted a prominent Mossi chief and two of his sons – both Koglweogo members – in the village of Yirgou.At the Sago market, the herdsman Diallo said the Koglweogo split the Fulani into a separate group from the Mossi. He as-sumed it was a routine ID check.Then they started shooting.The herder was hit in his arms, legs, and back. He survived by playing dead under a pile of bodies – men whom he had known

for years.He later escaped to the bush, where he was found by his brother and taken via bicycle to Barsalogho camp, where he now spends his days mourning the loss of his friends and livelihood.“I was at the market to sell my cows,” he said. “I don’t understand why they did this.”‘Guardians of the bush’The official line from the Koglweogo, which means “Guardians of the Bush” in the local Mooré language, is that the clash was between local villagers – the Koglweo-go were not involved. The group’s national president, Rassamkandé Naaba, blamed the killings on “a fight between two communi-ties” – Mossi villagers killing their Fulani neighbours in revenge for their chief’s death.“It was a settling of scores,” he said from Kombissiri, a town just south of Ouaga-dougou.Naaba said his group was focused on fight-ing bandits and didn’t necessarily want to be drawn into battles with well-armed groups of Islamists.Further north, some Koglweogo members took a more radical view.“We are preventing terrorists from taking over our region,” said Joseph Sawadogo, a vocal member of the armed Koglweogo in the village of Foube.

Though the men deny involvement in the January attacks – media reports contradict their assertions.Patchwork of militiasWhile the Centre-North has so far bared the brunt of the inter-communal violence, many fear it could spread into other parts of the country, where groups have also pro-liferated in recent years.The Koglweogo has a particularly strong presence in the east, where there is a grow-ing militant presence and a significant Fu-lani community too. In the west, traditional hunters known as Dozos – drawn from a number of ethnic communities – have al-ready clashed with reported jihadists as well as Koglweogo, while in the north some researchers say there are now also elements of Da Na Ambassagou – the Dogon armed group that has been slaughtering Fulani ci-vilians in Mali.«Remember that our only common en-emy… is the terrorists»Many fear the Fulani community will form their own ‘self-defence’ groups – as they have in Mali – or, worse still, turn to the jihadists.The outcome will largely depend on how the government deals with the militias, starting with the Koglweogo. Some have called for the group’s disarmament and dissolution, but it remains popular, particu-larly in the countryside, and has received support from prominent political figures.Instead of arresting those responsible for January’s violence, Burkinabe President Roch Kaboré has urged residents in the area to «forgive” and “remember that our only common enemy… is the terrorists».For those in Barsalogho camp, forgive-ness won’t come easily. Many here say the Koglweogo have threatened those seeking to return home; others are so traumatised they have no plans to go back.Djeneba Diallo, a resident of Sago, said two generations of men from her family were wiped out at the market massacre in January. Hunched over a chair, the 60-year-old Fulani woman said: “all I have left now are tears to cry”.

‘All I have left now are tears to cry

WHO hopes the vaccine, which in trials prevented about four in 10 cases, will cut the number of child deaths in Africa.Al Jazeera and news agen-cies

Malawi is rolling out a malaria vaccine pilot pro-gramme for children on Tuesday in a bid to pre-vent the disease which kills hundreds of thousands across Africa each year.The RTS,S vaccine, the first to give partial protection to children, trains the immune system to attack the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquitos.After more than three decades in development and almost $1bn in in-vestment, the cutting-edge vaccine is being rolled out in Malawi’s capi-tal Lilongwe followed by Kenya and Ghana in the coming weeks.Children between 5 months and 2 years of age will be inoculated and, according to the WHO, the vaccine will reach some 360,000 children a year until the end of 2022 across the three countries.Malawi, Kenya and Ghana were se-lected for the pilot introduction due to the high number of malaria cases they record.«There are over 250,000 deaths of children in Africa every year be-cause of malaria,» Mary Hamel, the coordinator for the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme at the World Health Organization told the DPA news agency.«It’s intolerable, the devastating ef-fect for the families, societies. It’s the potential to save so many chil-dren’s lives that makes this vaccine so exciting.»‘Provides partial protection’

The protein-based RTS,S vaccine went through five years of clini-cal trials on 15,000 people in seven countries.In one clinical trial, children who received doses of the vaccine had a lower chance of developing malaria and severe malaria, the WHO says.A study showed that the innovative vaccine prevented about four in 10 malaria cases among children and «overall, there were 29 percent few-er cases of severe malaria in children who received the vaccine.»Hamel said that while the vaccine wasn’t a perfect solution, the «WHO expects this vaccine could have con-siderable impact».«It is the world’s first malaria vac-cine that has been shown to provide partial protection against malaria in young children».These sentiments were echoed by Pedro Alonso, director of WHO’s Global Malaria Programme, who told DPA: «The fight against malaria is one where we use imperfect tools; only when we combine them can we achieve great impact. This malaria vaccine adds a tool to our toolkit.»«This vaccine will be rolled out at a time when progress in the global malaria response has stalled,» he added, noting that a resurgence of the disease has been seen in some countries that had once achieved great progress.

Pioneering malaria vaccine for children introduced in Malawi Thomas Daum, University

of Hohenheim Africa has the youngest popu-lation of any continent – 60% are under age 25. While this has evoked both hope and fear, it is clear that jobs are needed for the 12 million people enter-ing the workforce every year. Agriculture is best suited to provide a great many jobs as it can absorb much labour, and because prospering farms trig-ger employment opportunities in the rest of the economy. But agriculture is often unattrac-tive for the youth. To lure young people into farming, policymakers and development actors emphasise the need for modern technol-ogy, including agricultural mechanisation. But surpris-ingly little is known about the opinion of young people in ru-ral areas. Few have asked them what farming and rural areas need to look like to be more attractive.I conducted a study in Zambia and asked people in rural areas aged between 12 and 20 what would make farming attractive for them. I used two research methods to explore their aspi-rations and perceptions: inter-views as well as drawing ex-ercises.The results show that young people find more positive as-pects in agriculture than often assumed and that the attractive-ness of farming doesn’t only hinge on modern technologies. While some technologies are needed, having diverse and sustainable farms, a healthy environment and an attractive rural life is equally important. The findingsMost of the people interviewed for the study were proud of

the fact that they came from farming families that owned land and worked close to the nature. Ruth (15) expanded on this and said: We do not pay for maize, land, water and fruits such as man-goes. We have nutritious food. The respondents also com-mented on the attractiveness of the rural space. Asked where they want to live in the future, rural or urban, 53% preferred rural areas, because of their freedom and social networks. In contrast, urban life was often perceived as bad, char-acterised by road accidents, pollution, Satanism, thieves and drunkards. According to Talunsa (15) people are “poi-soned by alcohol and fight”. Many also found farming un-attractive, citing drudgery and weather dependence as rea-sons. They said they would rather aim for jobs with a reg-ular salary such as teachers. Lozi (16) said: Around half of the respond-ents preferred a future in ur-ban areas rather than in rural areas. These respondents were “pulled” away from rural areas because they were attracted by the perceived positive sides

of urban areas. But they were also “pushed” away from ru-ral areas which they associate with a lot of challenges. These included the high labour bur-den and risks associated with farming. This is what some of the respondents said about these “push” factors:It’s important to note that the decision to reside either in a rural or urban area was rarely perceived as a lifetime deci-sion. Respondents highlighted that one could work in town after harvest or for some years after school to save some money before return-ing to the village. Making farming attractiveSo what does farming need to look like to be attractive? The young people provided some direction on what they thought would make rural spaces more attractive. The most important factors were:* Modern technologies such as tractors and digital tools. But these shouldn’t be over emphasised. Low-tech solu-tions shouldn’t be neglected.* Non-material factors. Mak-ing agriculture attractive re-quires de-risking agriculture

and promoting sustainable and diverse farms. These were clearly depicted in the drawings I’d asked the re-spondents to sketch of their ideal farm. The drawings typically showed highly di-verse farms with trees, veg-etables, fruits and animals. * Ensure healthy landscapes. Having a sustainable, pollu-tion free environment was commonly mentioned as a key advantage of rural over urban life.* Rural areas must be devel-oped in ways that go beyond just infrastructure. Social life and networks, which are still an asset in villages compared to cities, were also cited as important. This included networks of neigh-bors, relatives and friend and the communal celebration of traditions. What nextPolicymakers often highlight the need for modern tech-nologies – including infor-mation, communication and technology – when discuss-ing rural development. But the young respondents I spoke to emphasised more low-tech solutions such as increasing farm diversity, having water wells and us-ing draught animals, which is already an advantage over manual labour.This suggests that policy-makers and development practitioners need to pay more attention to the actual aspirations of young people in rural areas to avoid well-intended but misguided poli-cies. In addition, the findings suggest that there is a need for several policies to reflect sev-eral types of young people in rural areas.

What young Zambians have to say about making farming more attractive

5 Thursday, April 25, 2019BUSINESS ECONOMY

Mohamed Abdalla

Economic Vision

Email: moabd31@yahoo.com

The economic outcome of the ousted regime is frustrated, Sudan has been suffering for 30 years, in terms of banking system, Sudan fi-nancial policies, registered the worst “Bank-ing” system, throughout the history, we didn’t hear, watch and read stories of clients who failed to withdraw from their bank accounts, the banker answer the questions of clients, that “we don’t have enough money for you to with-draw” they fixed certain amount, which is not meet even 1% of their needs.In Sudan many people were died due to the lack of liquidity, no cash in banks, millionaires who save money in banks failed to buy medi-cine to the family patients, or to buy enough food items, the corruption and wrong policies created lack of confidence between Banks and Clients, 90% of the supply fund is out of the bank circulation.Sudan debts is US$ 47 billion, the inflation rate reached to 70%, while the poverty percentage is 95%, the fact of Sudan contradicts the re-sources and the economic potentials, this fact astonished even the economists, according to media reports, that Sudan public treasury re-ceived sum of US$ 100 billion during the last 10 years, it is a huge amount, it can change the fact from poverty to richness, the unemploy-ment rate totaled to nearly 80%, most of the youth are jobless, while the ex-president didn’t exert efforts to tackle the economic crisis, he promised to more reforms, and asked citizens to be patient, at the time that he saved billions and millions of both national and foreign cur-rencies.Since 11th of April, Sudanese hear an attrac-tive financial corruption stories, the media everyday reveals the biggest Sudan financial scandals exercised by the ex-president Al Ba-shir and the top leaders of the ousted regime.To put things on the right track, we need fair, honest, transparent and patriotic politicians and economists.

Sudan Economic Facts after Revolution

Sudan Tourism Industry: ATB President St. Ange wants Africa to stand by Sudan

Sudan Railways to Support the National Economy Report by Neimat al Naiem

Khartoum- Sudan railways sector is one of the cheapest transportation worldwide, beside the air and sea transport .It has played multi-pule roles in transporting people as well as goods and lug-gage’s. It links the product areas with the consum-ing areas in big towns, cities and the rural areas and the harbors and ports for export. It began in 1907 during the colonizers regime to provide services. Since that time Sudan railways witnessed developments during the different gov-ernments governed Sudan after independence of Sudan in 1956 to become a national transport. But unfortunately, since 1970s this sector and de-spite of its economic contribution in the Sudanese economy, it is highly affected with the misman-agements of some those governments. This was appeared clearly in the decrease of the revenues from the railways. In addition to the development of the land trans-port and the appearance of new transport compa-nies working in linking the different of Sudan This vital sector of transport expects to have its major role in the national economy after the youth

revolution kickoff in all cities of Sudan on 11th April 2019 ended 30 years of the regime of the former President al Bashir. The long trip of Al Nil

train kicked off fromAtabra in the river Nile state to Khartoum on 23rd April 2019, to support the Youth Revolutionists and demonstrators who are

protesting and gathering in front of the Armed forces waiting to fulfil their demands in realizing Freedom, Peace and justice. This trip had shaped and re-backed the image of the Sudan railways at its golden age. The arrival of this trained crowed with southlands of people of different age ,youths and aged try to convey a message explain the important role of the rail-ways in supporting the national economy. Economic experts and employers and workers who had being worked at Sudan Railways for many decades pointed to that this sector in a bad need to be rehabilitated, and developed. They ex-plained its economic, social and cultural role in linking all parts of Sudan, created good and in-timate relations among the different components of the Sudanese Society.They described Sudan railways as one of the pil-lars of the national economy. They called for Re-habilitation and reconstructing of this important of the railways in transport and exporting goods. Training and capacity building is also important to the employers at these sectors including engi-neers, and workers. AlNil train which wor

eTN

People in Sudan are tasting freedom for the first time. It will be impossible to go back and tourism is a way to eventually rebuild the confidence and economy of this great nation.African Tourism Board (ATB) president Alain St. Ange had monitored what is happening in Su-dan. He said: “The situation that Sudan is facing needs for Africa as a whole to understand their dilemma and to be by their side.The Government change in Sudan now needs to move to the reconstruction phase and enable their tourism industry players to rally and put the economy on the road of consolidation.The USPs (Unique Selling Points) of Sudan are really sought after assets. Their pyramids are some of the biggest in the world and their under-water world in Sudan’s Red Sea remains a real gem.Members of the Sudan tourism industry are in-vited to join the African Tourism Board with-out charge. The African Tourism Board remains committed to being by their side.Currently, there are four members from Sudan registered in the ATB DirectoryIn the meantime, African Union leaders Tuesday

have given Sudan’s transitional military council three months to achieve power transfer to civil-ian rule stressing that this delay should not be prolonged.The meeting convened by the Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is also the Chairperson of the African Union in Cairo attended by the leaders of Chad, Djibouti, Somalia, South Africa, Ethio-pia’s deputy prime minister, head of African Un-ion Commission, foreign ministers and presiden-tial envoys of Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda.

The meeting was held on the backdrop of a two-week delay given to the Sudanese military coun-cil by the Peace and Security of the African Un-ion to hand over power to civilian rule.The consultative meeting was briefed by Moussa Faki chairperson of the AU commission and who was in a two-day visit in Khartoum to assess the situation and met with the Sudanese stakehold-ers.“The participating countries recognized the need to give more time to the Sudanese authorities and the Sudanese parties to implement these meas-ures, taking into consideration that they will not be lengthy, and recommended that the African Peace and Security Council extend the sched-ule given to the Sudanese authority for three

months,” said the statement.After a meeting held with the military council last Saturday, the Freedom and Change forces decided to suspend talks with the military accus-ing them of working to reproduce the regime of President Omer al-Bashir and refusing to recog-nize their revolutionary legitimacy.The head of the TMC political committee Omer Zain al-Din who negotiate with the opposition forces for his part says that they want only to es-tablish a comprehensive government represent-ing the whole political spectrum.The meeting stressed that the Sudanese authori-ties and the political forces should work together in good faith to address the current situation in Sudan and to speed up the reestablishment of a constitutional regime.This democratic political dialogue should be owned and led by the Sudanese themselves, “in-cluding all Sudanese parties including the armed movements,” further stressed the statement.The Sudanese opposition groups said they will mobilize the street to press the military to fully respond to their demands.However, some point to the need to get rid of Islamist generals in the military council as a con-dition to compose with the Sudanese military on the formation of the transitional institutions.

By Ahmed Ibrahim Ballal

Now, the country has economically been plagued by the biggest deficit which estimated at $US 6 billion- while the imports reach US$ 9 billion, the exports are only US$ 3 billion.Many have expressed the desire to express their opinion on this matter. To begin with, Siddig Hedoub, secretary general of export-ers’ department, talks about application of strict measure regarding the ones who abstain to bring the returns of exports back to the country, suggesting that to have their heads been cut off if the situ-ation necessitates, going further to associate the few returns of exports with the rising of the value of the dollar and the rates of inflation.The head of the department of oil seeds exports, Mohamed Abbas, says that in the last season there are about 600,000 tons of sesame in addition to one million and a half tone of groundnut which have been produced whose value amounts to $US 1.5 billion which is supposed to be pumped in via the official channels. ‘But, alas, noth-

ing as such materializ-es’, adding that there are many commodi-ties being smuggled to the neighboring countries without the least export returns, calling on the transi-tional military council

to deal firmly with the subject matter. He laments that what defeats the export policies are the levies that are imposed on exports along the national roads which func-tion as a biggest stumbling block in the pro-cess. ‘For instance, along all the stations that range from Obeid to Port Sudan, puzzling taxation rates are put on by the localities on the export commodities’. Deputy secretary general of employers’ union, Dr. Abas Ali Al Sayid, comments that exports are one the main gates through which hard currencies can enter the country, seeing that it is much imperative to adopt scientific and objective plans to associate lo-cal products with export domains.And Dr. Abdalla Al Ramadi, banking expert, calls for the benefiting from the huge resources of Sudan which has now been viewed as topping the Africa’s economic tigers, affirm-

ing that the returns of exports have not entered the treasury of the central bank of Sudan, pointing out commodities set for exportation are smuggled abroad.

How Salaries in South Africa are Expected to Increase over the Next YearAgencies

South African organizations have continued to have a conservative approach to awarding in-creases.This is according to PwC’s latest Human Re-sources report for South Africa, which looked at upcoming changes in the business sector for the next 12 months.Based on market data analysis, PwC found that the average increases to be awarded in the next 12-month rolling period will be 6% on total guaranteed package – compared to 6.3% in Oc-tober 2018.

The report shows that the cost of human capital remains the highest contributor to overall costs in most organizations while attracting and re-taining key skills influences sustainability over the long term.“From this publication, it is also evident that only 34% of the responses indicated that the par-ticipants ‘regularly measure’ some or all of the employee costs listed and associated with the loss of key skills,” PwC said.“Although direct costs such as replacement costs in the form of agency fees are easier to track, the hidden real cost of staff turnover remains some-thing of a ‘black box’.“Accurate tracking of these costs may influence

the retention strategies of many organizations, and it remains concerning that organizations are not more dedicated to measuring these costs on a regular basis.”IncreasesThe table below shows the minimum and maxi-mum expected total package increments for the next 12-month period.At the lower-end, PwC found that South Afri-cans will likely see minimum increases of be-tween 4.5% and 5.0% across every major sector – in-line with the current inflation rate.At the higher-end, the data shows that employ-ees can expect increases of between 7.3% and 7.5%

Imports Outweigh Exports to the Tune of US$ 6 Billion

EditorialAU Grace Period

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Thursday, April 25, 2019

African Union leaders have given Sudanís Transitional Military Council (TMC) three months to achieve power transfer to civilian rule stressing that this delay should not be pro-longed. The meeting was held on the backdrop of a two-week delay given to the TMC by the Peace and Security of the African Union to hand over power to civilian rule. The meeting stressed that the Sudanese authorities and the political forces should work together in good faith to address the current situation in Sudan and to speed up the reestablishment of a con-stitutional regime. According to the AU state-ment the democratic political dialogue should be owned and led by the Sudanese themselves, including all Sudanese parties including the armed movements. However, the three compo-nents of the revolution i.e. TMC, sit-in youth, and the Freedom and change Forces, should recognize the fragility and the complications of the situation through providing all possi-ble concessions to preserve the gains obtained towards achieving the goals of the change to meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people. There is only o ne way out for the components of the revolution is to agree on the formation of civilian government, interim constitution or re-turning to 2005 constitution before the amend-ment or constitutional declaration. The first and urgent step is to nominate an agreed on prime minister to lead the talks with the sit-in youth on their representation in the government ac-cording to their ambitions considering that the youth are the spearhead of the change. The ap-pointed prime minister is supposed to start ne-gotiations with the Freedom and Change Forc-es to form technocratís government, besides interim legislature to be represented by all the parties involved in the revolution. Such steps if taken urgently afar from the present reluctance, will avoid our country from slipping into chaos considering that there are still those who are waiting for any signs of conflict over power to abort the youth revolution. It is high time for all the components to consider that the grace period granted by the AU is very short and not enough if the process continues in the current rhythm All should provide concession to prove their loyalty to the homeland and not to their entities or interests. In such inflammable situa-tions, the Sudanese always prove that they can overcome their differences for the sake of the nation.

The United Nations had once upon a time tasked a team to hold a census in Central Africa, which was then ruled by Emperor Bokassa. Bokassa received the team when it completed its work. The Tu-nisian head of the mission informed the ruler that some 4.5 million people lived in the country, drawing the ire of Bokas-sa, who did not want to be emperor of a small country. He replied that 10 mil-lion people lived in Central Africa. The Tunisian expert objected and soon found himself in jail. He could only be released after African and UN intervention.Numbers do not have the right to defy rulers. Bokassa had previously spent a quarter of the countryís budget for his coronation. When asked if it he was be-ing over-the-top, he replied that he sim-ply followed Napoleonís example.A French businessman spoke of a trip on board the yacht of Zaireís President Mobutu Sese Seko. He recalled how the president became upset with the service of one of the waiters and how he ordered that he promptly be tossed into the river to be fed to the crocodiles. The presi-dent chose his name, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, which means ìthe rooster that watches over all the hens.îOne day, a bootlicker from the Ivory Coast visited Moammar al-Gaddafi and convinced him that he was too powerful

to be simply the ruler of Libya. He in-stead told him that he should be the ìK-ing of Kings of Africa.î And so it was. Gaddafi ordered that a lavish ceremony be thrown. Africa did not have kings, but sultans of groups and tribes. Gaddafiís aides had to scramble to find a crown. They bought one and celebrated. Prior to this, Gaddafi had informed the world that he refuses to be called president, but should instead be addressed as ìLeader of the Revolution.î He then changed the name again to the ìinternational revolutionary,î before settling on ìLeader of the Revolution and the King of Kings of Africa.î The Foreign Ministry had no choice but to inform the world of the new name.One day, Gaddafi summoned his for-eign minister and African affairs expert Ali Abdussalam Treki. He tasked him with the simple mission of ìdelivering a message to King Hussein II that clearly informs him that he was a traitor and a spy.î He also used to ring up Treki to order him ìto contact Amr Moussa and curse him.îOne day, Gaddafi addressed the UN General Assembly and made a deliber-ate point to deliver a speech that was longer than Barack Obamaís. He stood before the cameras and tried to tear up the UN Charter. When he failed, he threw it on the ground. He also requested that the Libyan ambassador to the UN demand that the investigation into John Kennedyís assassination be reopened. He also did not forget to demand his foreign minister to work on expelling the Swiss

ambassador to the UN and on dividing Saudi Arabia.During one summer, the Iraqi army in-vaded Kuwait. Hours later the Defense Minister and chief of staff were sum-moned to be informed by an officer of the invasion. Days later, Saddam Hus-sein would inform the two men that for the sake of secrecy, he chose to give the command to units that directly receive orders from.The above are not anecdotes that can be found on the internet, but they are some of several tales that I have heard from people concerned with these develop-ments. Among them is Libyan former Foreign Minister Treki and Nizar al-Khazraji, who was chief of staff when Iraq invaded Kuwait.These stories are examples of what hap-pens when men, who have nothing to do with the state, the economy, rights and national treaties and managing peopleís lives, come to power. These tales are a reminder of the tragedy that is created in the absence of institutions. Would Iraqís catastrophic invasion of Kuwait have happened had there been an insti-tution whose members would have had the right to speak their minds and warn of the dangers of such a move? Could Gaddafi have ordered the kidnapping of OPEC ministers and the murder of the Saudi and Iranian ministers in 1975 had Tripoli enjoyed institutions that could have thwarted such mad and reckless de-cisions?Several Arab countries have paid a heavy price for the sudden absence of the ìsav-

iorî, who governed for a long period and engineered his ìstateî on a single rule: his continuation in power with his en-tourage. Such rulers rejected the idea of institutions and separation of authorities. The only characteristic needed was loy-alty, not competency. This is how a par-liament becomes the parliament of the commander. The same goes to the army and judiciary. When disaster strikes and the ìsaviorî is no more, the major collapse takes place and the country becomes exposed to deadly chaos, militias or foreign med-dling. We have seen this in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddamís regime and we are still witnessing the tragedies sparked by the demise of Gaddafi and his re-gime.In recent days, we have seen how the Su-danese people have regained their ability to dream of better days. We have seen millions of peaceful Algerians voice their ambitions for a state that does not fall prey to corruption and monopolies. We have heard pressing demands in Su-dan and Algeria to put on trial officials who have squandered the peopleís rights and funds. These demands are legitimate and understandable. Opening the doors to the future, however, remains more important than holding the past account-able. By this we mean establishing po-litical agreements and stressing the need to build a modern state and institutions.It is time to quit playing old and costly games. A normal president for a normal state, which is governed by institutions and the rule of law, are needed.

The agricultural sector is the most im-portant economic sector in the country. It created 39 percent of the GDP, employed about 80 percent of population, and contributed 80 percent of the country’s exports in the late 1990s. Cotton is the main agriculture export item, although its export volumes have been decreas-ing recently. The lack of any marketing or developed market policy is evident. The government has suggested the end of export taxes in order to promote more agriculture products in the future. Other agricultural products include sesame

seeds, sorghum, and gum Arabic.Sudan’s climatic conditions, mainly the rainy sea-sons, enable double annual harvests (in July and November) in the southern parts of the country. Most of the agricultural activities are concentrated near the Nile River. The Al Gezira irrigation system that is located between the White and the Blue Nile Rivers (both rivers merge to form the Nile River) is the most im-portant agriculture project and, accord-ing to some statistics, is also the largest artificially irrigated region in the world. As the irrigation, system has been put in place, sorghum, wheat, and groundnuts have been planted instead of cotton in an effort to make Sudan self-sufficient in foodstuffs. Animal husbandry represents a very important part of the national econ-

omy, as well. Its production increased during recent years as a result of better veterinary treatment, better credit policy, and higher prices in the market. Fishing is another important sector of the national economy. The average yearly production averages around 33,000 tons, from which sea fish represent about 1,500 tons. Perch is the most important fresh-water fish, which is caught mostly in the Nile River. The agricultural sector repre-sents about 80 percent of the countryís export. There is a new trend regarding agriculture in Sudan. Large investments in agriculture by acquiring large tracts of most fertile agricultural lands by interna-tional companies that belong to China, India, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Gulf and other countries which have interest

to invest in agriculture in Sudan.Agriculture remains a crucial sector in the economy as a major source of raw materials, food and foreign exchange.Sudanís primary resources are agricultur-al. The contribution of agriculture indus-try to total manufacturing output is 60 per cent, in the form of raw materials. The variety of agricultural zones in Su-dan is suitable for a wide range of crops. Agriculture depends principally on rain-fall and irrigation from major rivers ? the Nile and its tributaries. Sudan has the largest irrigated area in sub-Saharan Af-rica and ranks second on the continent in terms of irrigated agriculture. Commer-cial agricultural activities are mostly con-centrated in a belt across the centre of the country, known as the central clay plain.

I’m glad Benjamin Netanyahu won ree-lection. Since I realize that saying this won’t sit well with many folks, let me explain: As the election developed, it be-came clear that Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition «Blue and White» coa-lition, for a number of reasons, had come to be seen as the darling of the liberal set ñ especially here in the US. Some, for example, were justifiably up-set by Netanyahu’s gross corruption or unnerved by his authoritarian actions designed to intimidate the press, silence non-governmental organizations, and strip the courts of their power. Others were optimistic that should Gantz win, Israel’s image would improve in the US and there would be the possibility of a «reset» in the US-Israel relationship. One publication described a Gantz victory as creating «a fresh slate and an opportunity to re-energize support for Israel.» Driving this support for Gantz was the concern of liberal Democrats who have been troubled by recent polls showing a significant erosion of support for Israel among core Democratic constituents ñ especially millennial and minority voters ñ including American Jewish millenni-als. This growing alienation from Israel has in part been due to both Netanyahu’s repressive policies and his close relation-ship with Donald Trump. There could be no doubt that Trump had been exces-sive in his support for his Israeli partner: canceling the Iran Deal; moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem; the «gift» of the Golan Heights; cutting all US aid to the Palestinians; and remaining silent in the face of settlement expansion and Netan-yahu’s declared intent to apply Israeli sovereignty to West Bank settlements. This virtual Trump/Netanyahu marriage most certainly had a role to play in the embrace of Gantz by many liberals. Because American liberals have em-braced the mantra of a «two-state solu-

tion» and see Netanyahu’s aggressive settlement construction and his pledge to «annex» the settlements as obstacles to t hat goal, they also fretted that a Netan-yahu victory might spell the end of their idea of two states ñ one «Jewish and democratic» and one for the Palestinians. At the same time, American Jews had an additional frustration with Netanyahu as a result of his accommodation of the il-liberal policies of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious community on issues of mar-riage, conversion, and women’s rights. It was in this context, that Gantz became the «great hope.» I, however, never be-lieved that he was. In the first place, on the issue that mattered most to the future of peace ñ the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories ñ there was lit-tle that separated Netanyahu from Gantz. In fact, Gantz’ opening campaign adver-tisement featured Gaza in rubble (Gantz had been in charge of the most brutal and devastating of the Gaza wars), boasting the he had reduced parts of Gaza «back to the Stone Age.» And right before the election, an American Jewish publication reported on a Gantz speech laying out his «seven pillars» for peace with the Pales-tinians: «he said his priority was to ensure a Zionist <end stateí ñ Jewish and Demo-cratic ñ and not a binational state, while keeping the Jordan Valley, a united Jeru-salem, and modifying the 1967 lines...I don’t want to rule the Palestinians.» In addition to these goals, he added keeping the settlements and maintaining security control west of the Jordan River.In other words, Gantz might have been a «fresh face», but, on the central issue of dealing with Palestinians and the oc-cupied territories, he was no different than the prime minister he was seeking to replace. In addition to the positions he espoused, I felt that it was important to look at the composition of the governing coalition Gantz would have assembled had he emerged victorious. While the press routinely referred to Gantz as the «center-left» candidate, in reality, only a small fraction of his potential partners

could be seen as «left.» In fact, most of his eventual partners were quite comfort-able with Gantz’s «seven pillars». And because Israeli politics have moved so far to the right, even if he had won the opportunity to form a government, Gantz never could have assembled a coalition of 61 Knesset Members without adding the parties representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel ñ something that, early on, Gantz had said he would never do. This avoidance of Arabs was in response to the negative anti-Arab campaign waged by Netanyahu. Recognizing that Gantz couldn’t have formed a government without Arab support or acquiescence, Netanyahu advanced the slogan that the voters’ choice was «Bibi (Netanyahu’s nickname) or Tibi» (referring to Ahmed Tibi, the leader of one of the Arab par-ties). Instead of pushing back against this patently racist Arab-baiting, Gantz made a pledge not to consult with the Arab par-ties in the Knesset or include them in his government. With Netanyahu back for his fifth term as Prime Minister, liberals must now face reality. They can no long-er see Israel as a romanticized «idea» of a progressive state governed by liberal values. Rather it has demonstrated that it is an illiberal ethno-nationalist society that has applied an apartheid-like repres-sive system to enable their continued rule over a captive Palestinian people. Liberals may continue to say that they oppose settlements and seek a two-state solution. But here too they will now have to confront reality. The settlement expansion that occurred on their watch, and which they took no concrete steps to curtail, has made a two-state solution impossible to implement. And, they must now admit that Netanyahu, who for years they tolerated and even feted, has in re-ality «played them like a fiddle.» This won’t come easily. It was interesting to watch how a few leading liberal pundits and Democratic elected officials reacted during and after this election. When it appeared that Gantz might win, they felt that it was safe to denounce Netan-

yahu and even call him a racist, now with Netanyahu emerging as the victor, they have flipped on a dime, congratulating him on his victory and pledging to work with him to implement the two-state so-lution ñ some illusions do die hard. But with Netanyahu expected to continue his extremist anti-Palestinian, anti-peace, anti-rule of law, and pro-Trump agendas, the debate about Israel here in the US will intensify. Because the base of the Democratic Party has awakened to the realities of the occupation and is deeply offended by everything both Netanyahu and Trump stand for, several develop-ments can be expected. The rift between the base of the Demo-cratic Party and its elected officials will continue to grow. This will take the form of candidates for higher office increas-ingly being called to account for their failure to challenge Israeli behaviors. The debate within the American Jewish community will also intensify, with lib-eral Jews forced to reexamine their views of Israel and their support for the policies of that state. As a result of these develop-ments, the Democratic Party is moving toward becoming the anti-Netanyahu, anti-settlements, anti-annexation party ñ with an increasing number of Democrats even voicing support for cutting aid to Is-rael and advocating for the rights of citi-zens to support the BDS movement. We are on the threshold of a major change in how Israel will play out in American politics. I’m afraid that it has come too late to save the two-states that were en-visioned by the long dead Oslo Accords. But it is a good thing that we will now finally be able to have an honest debate about the dreadful situation created by American complicity in enabling Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians. This debate might have been aborted for a time had Gantz won. The occupation and settlements would have continued ñ but liberals would have been less inclined to challenge him. With Netanyahu back, the debate will be energized. It might be late in the game, but better late than never.

Tales in the Absence of Institutions

The Only Outlet for the Sudanese Economy Is Agriculture

Why I’m Glad Netanyahu Won

Asharq Al-Awsat

Ghassan Charbel

Moonlight

hurga65@gmail.com

Ahmed Hassan Omer (Hurga)

Dr. James J. Zogby (c)

WashingtonWatch

CURRENT7 Thursday, April 25, 2019

I watched as our Egyptian revolution was stolen by the military – now Algeria and Sudan must avoid the same trap

The history of Arab uprisings has been both stupid and brutal – apart from when the generals stood aside

Ahmed Aboudouh @Abodou7 The Independent Voices

I was a protester in Cairo’s Tahrir square in 2011, and so I have been following the Sudanese and Alge-rian uprisings with a ringing note of caution. I know exactly what might go wrong in the coming days.There is a risk of miscalculation driven by overconfidence. The protestors managed to control the public space in their millions across Algiers and Khartoum, but now the political activists and af-filiated politicians are becoming aware of their limited resources. How should they seek to run the country’s institutions?The Sudanese and Algerians – un-like us Egyptians eight years ago – seem to be more clued up. They understand that although the mili-tary generals must be involved, the essence of their intervention is to defend all sorts of long-accumulat-ed power put together during their former master’s time in office.We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and

extras.Subscribe now This should be enough to put an end to any potential romantic, quixotic and unrealistic perceptions that the military might intend to deliver to the crowds their dreamed-of, rosy, “democratic” future.The history of Arab uprisings has been both stupid and brutal – apart from when the generals stood aside. Putting the military in charge of the transitional period after a pop-ular uprising means making the nation hostage to the soldiers’ will

and one-eyed notion of patriotism. After a while, whoever opposes the military’s interests will soon be labelled unpatrioticSudan revolution may be more at risk of following the fate of Egypt, where the army pushed Hosni Mu-barak aside following the 2011 mass protests and led the country into a very messy transition and the bloodiest point in Egypt’s modern history. The generals would later create an unprecedented form of authoritarianism and whip away any hope for change.

The Egyptian uprising highlighted an underlying democratic aspira-tion among Arab nations, but after a number of setbacks, the Egyptian military became the real inspira-tion for all Arab generals. They have offered a blueprint for how to contain a powerful uprising and maintain power. In Algeria, General Ahmed Gaid Salah has stuck to the constitution and rule of law in paving the way for a limited change within the re-gime’s ranks. The Sudanese gener-als meanwhile, have torn the 2005

constitution apart, announced a state of emergency, curfew and formed a military council to sim-ply replace President Omar al-Ba-shir, whom they arrested.It is true that in Arab republics, people have been conditioned to value the generals’ position within the ruling elite. For many, the mili-tary is not just the fighting force, but also the supreme leader (even above the president, elected or not) who will guide the nation in times of despair. Both Sudan and Alge-ria will not descend into Syria-like chaos simply because the generals will do what they are there for. But their role must stop just there, and must not go any further.Removing Abdelaziz Bouteflika and al-Bashir from power is not the end, it is the end of the beginning. Algerians will have a long battle ahead to stop already looming at-tempts by Bouteflika’s men from overseeing a change-of-names-only operation. The Sudanese peo-ple will have to fight the military’s violent and incompetent vision for their own future.There is hope in the fact that pro-testers in Algeria and Sudan proved that Arabs are not intimidated by the experience in Syria and Yemen, by which dictators elsewhere in the region stunt the people to head off the threat of protests. Algeria and Sudan have again opened Pandora’s

box, and triggered what might be a second wave of sweeping change around the Middle East.People across the region are watch-ing events in Sudan and Algeria closely. They are no longer distract-ed by Iran’s hostility (which has been used as propaganda by Gulf monarchies). The mood in the Mid-dle East is once again for change, and dictators should be worried.Support free-thinking journal-ism and subscribe to Independent Minds And in that there is a chance that the Middle East’s fate might not be determined by the fight Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are willing to pick with Iran. In-stead, perhaps it will be drawn by the success or failure of Sudan and Algeria’s near future. For the first time the Middle East’s destiny is in the hands of countries which are not part of the classic central sphere of the Arab club.Both countries have a genuine chance of a complete transforma-tion, but it is still the military maths in the equation that will set the rules for the future.“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relin-quishing it”, George Orwell once said. The Arab world so far proved him right. Let’s hope the Sudanese and Algerians will show the oppo-site to be true.

By Declan Walsh

KHARTOUM, Sudan — As protesters massed at the gates of Sudan’s military headquar-ters, calling for the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Ba-shir, the country’s Air Force chief stepped outside to ad-dress them.Lt. Gen. Salah Abdelkhalig, a hard-bitten veteran of Sudan’s many wars, assured the pro-testers they had nothing to fear from the military. “This army is your army,” he recalled say-ing. “We are not going to fight you.”What few in the crowd knew was that among the faces gathered in front of him was his own son.“I had to be there,” said the son, Abdelkhalig Salah, 28, a commercial airline pilot whose frustrations with dec-ades of decline under Mr. al-Bashir had prompted him to protest outside his father’s of-fice.General Abdelkhalig, seat-ed beside him on Saturday in military uniform at their richly appointed Khartoum villa, nodded. “I didn’t agree at first,” he said. ”But this is the change that young people wanted.”The family split mirrors the broader tensions in Sudan, where civilian and military leaders are engaged in testy negotiations over the future of this vast and impoverished country. Each side is vying to take control, promising to undo the legacy of three dec-ades of misrule under the au-tocratic leader, Mr. al-Bashir.General Abdelkhalig and other senior generals ousted Mr. al-Bashir in a bloodless coup in the predawn darkness of April 11. They used jamming devic-es to block his cellphones, and when he realized he’d been outmaneuvered, Mr. al-Bashir was stunned and furious, Gen-eral Abdelkhalig said, reveal-ing for the first time details of how the coup was engi-neered.Now General Abdelkhalig is one of Sudan’s most powerful men, part of the 10-man Mili-tary Transitional Council in charge of the country. And Mr. al-Bashir, the former presi-

dent, languishes in a notorious Khartoum prison. He is un-der investigation for money-laundering and other financial crimes. Over the weekend, prosecutors confiscated $112 million worth of currency in a raid on Mr. al-Bashir’s home, said General Abdelkhalig.But toppling Mr. al-Bashir may prove to be the easy part of Sudan’s revolution.Tens of thousands of youthful protesters remain camped out-side the military’s headquar-ters, refusing to leave until the military grants their demand for a swift transition to civil-ian rule. Until now, the sit-in has been an exuberant, peace-ful affair, drawing vast crowds of young Sudanese who sing, dance, deliver speeches and flirt, visibly relieved that Mr. al-Bashir’s gloomy, repressive rule is over.But talks about the country’s future between the military and the protest leaders, led by the Sudan Professionals Asso-ciation, collapsed this week-end, and tensions are rising.On Sunday night, tens of thou-sands of people gathered for one of the largest demonstra-tions yet, holding their cell-phones aloft to create a sea of pinpoint lights. Protesters sat over the edge of a railway bridge, banging stones in uni-son to emphasize their chants. Some decried Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s interim leader, as “filthy.”On Monday, General al-Bur-han called on the protesters to abandon the checkpoints that

ring the sit-in area, where vol-unteers in yellow vests politely search protesters for weapons. Security, he noted pointedly, is the military’s responsibility.General Abdelkhalig, in an in-terview, said he supported ci-vilian rule, eventually. But he warned of dark consequences if the protest leaders continued to press their demand for the military to immediately turn power over to civilian leaders.“This idea will take us to civil war,” he said.Recent events mark an abrupt change for General Abdelkha-lig, not long ago a Bashir loy-alist. As the protests swelled in February, Mr. al-Bashir pro-moted General Abdelkhalig to Air Force chief as part of an effort to shore up his crum-bling authority.A framed photo of the two men still occupies a corner spot in General Abdelkhalig’s living room. But once pro-testers camped at the gates of the military’s headquarters on April 6, the general started to have a change of heart.He had already grown disil-lusioned with corruption, he now says, and American sanc-tions caused him to be refused entry into several Arab, Afri-can and European countries, which stung.Then he lost control of his troops. When armed men loy-al to Mr. al-Bashir opened fire on protesters, some Air Force soldiers deserted their posts and defended the protesters. Sporadic gun battles erupted outside the military gates.

The Son Protested the Dictator. The Father Helped Throw Him Out

By Declan Walsh and Joseph Goldstein

Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the authori-tarian president, has been ousted after nearly four months of mass protests. But demonstrators are wary about what will happen now that the military has said it was taking control. As Sudan’s military announced at lunchtime on Thursday that it had fi-nally unseated President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, a brief burst of joy exploded outside the military headquarters in Khartoum where huge throngs of pro-testers had massed.Nearly four months of protest, dozens of deaths at the hands of the security forces and endless chants of “revolution!” had finally come to this: the ouster of the de-spised leader who had ruled their vast country, plagued by famine and war, for 30 years.But the euphoria quickly soured when the protesters realized who had replaced Mr. al-Bashir.The somber man reading the speech on television was Lt. Gen. Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, the defense minister and a confidant of Mr. al-Bashir. Gener-al Ibn Auf, like Mr. al-Bashir, had been accused of perpetrating war crimes in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.The protesters fell silent as he laid out his terms: the release of political prison-ers, but also a two-year transition steered by a military council, the suspension of Sudan’s Constitution, the dissolution of government and curfews starting at 10 p.m. that night. Loud groans and lamen-tations rippled through the crowd, fol-lowed by a current of anger.New cries rang out. “We do not replace a thief with a thief,” some chanted.“We don’t want the same guy!” shouted others. Within hours, another taunt at the regime was circulating online: “It fell once, it can fall again!”Protesters were caught between their ju-bilation at the ouster of Mr. al-Bashir, a ruthless leader who promised greatness but ultimately brought war, internation-al isolation and economic ruin, and their abiding anxiety over what will follow him.“What has been just stated is for us a coup, and it is not acceptable,” said Sara Abdelgalil, a spokeswoman for the Su-danese Professionals Association, which has been organizing the protests. “They are recycling the faces, and this will re-

turn us to where we have been.”Mr. al-Bashir at Parliament this month. He has ruled Sudan longer than any leader since the country gained inde-pendence in 1956.CreditMohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

Even by the standards of the world’s autocrats, Mr. al-Bashir, 75, had a low reputation. He was the only active lead-er of a nation to be wanted by the Inter-national Criminal Court, which accused him of playing “an essential role” in a genocidal purge in Darfur by overseeing the forces that killed, raped and terror-ized hundreds of thousands of civilians.Mr. al-Bashir ruled Sudan longer than any other leader since the country gained independence in 1956, and was seen as a pariah in much of the world. In the 1990s, he hosted Osama bin Laden, in-viting American sanctions, and in 1998 an American cruise missile struck a fac-tory in Khartoum for its alleged links to Al Qaeda.He presided over a ruinous 21-year war in southern Sudan, where his forces pushed barrel bombs from planes onto remote villages. The country ultimate-ly divided in 2011, when South Sudan gained independence. But Mr. al-Bashir kept fighting brutal conflicts with rebels in other parts of Sudan.In addition, he sent thousands of Suda-nese soldiers to fight outside the coun-try, including in the civil war in Yemen, and it is not clear whether a successor will call them home.The protesters who ousted Mr. al-Bashir on Thursday were driven, principally, by his domestic failures. Demonstrations in December over the soaring price of bread evolved into a countrywide street movement that harnessed the frustra-tions of many young Sudanese.Those protests, largely ignored by the world for months, captured global atten-tion this week. A striking photo of one protester standing on a car and wear-ing a white thoub — a long robe — and gold earrings as she urged on a crowd was widely shared online and called an iconic image of the demonstrations.And the open dismay that greeted Mr. al-Bashir’s successor — another mili-tary man, cut from essentially the same cloth — suggested the protesters had learned lessons from the failures of the Arab Spring in 2011 in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Is Ousted, but Not His Regime

8INTERVIEWS

Thursday, April 25, 2019SCIENCE

AFP

TOKYO: A Japanese university has stopped hiring professors and teachers who light up, officials said Tuesday, as the nation steps up an anti-smoking campaign ahead of the 2020 Olympics.Nagasaki University spokesman Yusuke Takakura said they have “stopped hiring any teaching staff who smoke,” although applicants who promise to kick the habit before taking up their post could still be offered employment.The university will also ban smoking entirely on campus from August, opening a clinic for those who cannot give up, said Takakura.“We have reached a conclusion that smokers are not fit for the education sector,” the spokesman said, adding that the university had sought legal advice and does not believe the policy contravenes discrimination laws.Local media said it was the first state-run university to introduce such a condition of employment

and the move comes after Tokyo’s city government passed strict new anti-smoking rules last year ahead of the 2020 Summer Games.Japan has long been an outlier in the developed world, considered a smoker’s paradise where lighting up is allowed in many restaurants and bars.Tokyo’s new laws ban lighting up at restaurants in the capital, regardless of size. Restaurants can set up separate indoor smoking areas, but customers cannot eat or drink there.Smoking is also banned entirely on school premises from kindergartens to high schools, although space can be set aside outside university and hospital buildings.The World Health Organization has given Japan its lowest rating for efforts to prevent passive smoking, and it even scores poorly in the region compared with countries like China and South Korea.Despite that, tobacco use in Japan has been falling in line with a broader global trend.

Stubbed out: Japan University Stops Hiring Smoking Professors

Samsung Electronics Retrieving all Galaxy Fold Smartphone SamplesReuters

SEOUL: Samsung is retrieving all Galaxy Fold samples distributed to reviewers to investigate reports of broken screens, a day after it postponed the phone’s launch, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.The retrieval comes as the world’s biggest smartphone maker met with embarrassment ahead of the foldable device’s US release on April 26, with a handful of technology journalists reporting breaks, bulges and blinking screens after a day’s use.The South Korean tech giant postponed the handset’s launch for an unspecified period of time while it investigated the matter. It said initial findings showed the issues could be associated with impact on exposed areas of the hinges.A representative declined to comment further on Tuesday.A person with direct knowledge of the supply chain said KH Vatec conducted an internal review of hinges used in the Galaxy Fold and

found no defects. The supplier declined to comment.In March, Samsung released a video showing robots folding Galaxy Fold handsets 200,000 times for its durability test.Samsung’s head of IT and mobile communications, DJ Koh, has repeatedly said foldables are the future of smartphones.

Though the issue does not hurt Samsung’s balance sheet, the postponement damages the firm’s effort to showcase itself as an innovative first mover, not a fast follower, analysts said.In some cases, reviewers had peeled off a layer of film which they mistook for a disposable screen protector.“It’s disastrous that Samsung sent samples to reviewers without clear instructions on how to handle the device, and that the firm needs to fix screen flickering,” said analyst Kim Young-woo at SK Securities.One Samsung employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “On the bright side, we have an opportunity to nail down this issue and fix it before selling the phones to a massive audience,

so they won’t have same complaints.”Samsung emailed pre-order customers upon delaying the launch, online outlets said on Twitter.“Your pre-order guarantees your place in the queue for this innovative technology,” Samsung said in the email. “We’ll update you with more specific shipping information in two weeks.”

Reuters

SYDNEY: A dingo dragged a sleeping toddler from a camper van on a popular Australian holiday island late on Thursday, but his father awoke and pulled his 14-month-old son from the jaws of the dog-like dingo.«The parents woke up to the baby screaming and chased after him and had to fight the dingoes off to take the 14-month-old boy away,» paramedic Ben Du Toit told local media on Friday.The boy suffered head and neck injuries in the attack on Fraser

Island off the northeast coast and was taken to hospital.Australia’s dingo is a protected species on Fraser Island and are a popular attraction for camping tourists. The latest dingo attack was the third this year on Fraser Island.In 1980 baby Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from a tent in a camping ground in Australia’s outback, with her mother claiming she was taken by a dingo. The baby’s body was never found, creating a mystery that captivated Australians for years and was made into a book and a film

with Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.Azaria’s mother Lindy was jailed for three years over her daughter’s death before later being cleared, but it wasn’t until 2012 that a court ruled that a dingo killed Azaria.Dingoes, introduced to Australia about 4,000 years ago, are protected in Queensland state’s national parks, World Heritage areas, Aboriginal reserves and the Australian Capital Territory. Elsewhere, they are a declared pest species.Dingoes hold a significant place in the spiritual and cultural

practices of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.Fraser Island’s dingo population is estimated to be around 200, with packs of up to 30 dogs roaming the island, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.The department warns that generally dingoes go about their lives and stay clear of people. «From time to time, dingoes may come close and some encounters can turn to tragedy,» a statement on the department’s website warns. «Stay alert and stay calm.»

Dingo Drags Sleeping Toddler from Bed on Australia’s Fraser Island

AP

CHICAGO: Accidental suffocation is a leading cause of injury deaths in US infants and common scenarios involve blankets, bed-sharing with parents and other unsafe sleep practices, an analysis of government data found.These deaths “are entirely preventable. That’s the most important point,” said Dr. Fern Hauck, a co-author and University of Virginia expert in infant deaths.Among 250 suffocation deaths, roughly 70 percent involved blankets, pillows or other soft bedding that blocked infants’ airways. Half of these soft bedding-related deaths occurred in an adult bed where most babies were sleeping on their stomachs.Almost 20 percent suffocated when someone in the bed accidentally moved against or on top of them, and about 12 percent died when their faces were wedged against a wall or mattress.The authors studied 2011-2014 data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention registry of deaths in 10 states. The results offer a more detailed look at death circumstances than previous studies using vital records, said lead author Alexa Erck Lambert, a CDC researcher.The authors said anecdotal reports suggest there’s been little change in unsafe sleep practices in more recent years.“It is very, very distressing that in the US we’re just seeing this resistance, or persistence of these high numbers,” Hauck said.The study was published

Monday in Pediatrics.For years, the US government and the American Academy of Pediatrics have waged safe-sleep campaigns aimed at preventing accidental infant suffocations and strangulations and sudden infant death syndrome. These include “back to sleep” advice promoting having babies sleep on their backs, which experts believe contributed to a decline in SIDS deaths over nearly 30 years. But bed-sharing has increased, along with bed-related accidental suffocations — from 6 deaths per 100,000 infants in 1999 to 23 per 100,000 in 2015, the researchers note.Dr. Rachel Moon, a University of Virginia pediatrics professor not involved in the study, said the results are not surprising.“Every day I talk to parents who have lost babies. They thought they were doing the right thing, and it seems safe and it seems OK, until you lose a baby,” Moon said.Some studies have found bed-sharing increases

breastfeeding and it’s common in some families because of cultural traditions. Others simply can’t afford a crib.Erika Moulton, a stay-at-home mom in suburban New York, said bed-sharing was the only way her son, Hugo, would sleep as a newborn. Moulton struggled with getting enough sleep herself for months, and while she knew doctors advise against it, bed-sharing seemed like the only option.Now 14 months old, “he’s still in our bed,” she said. “Trying to transition him out is a little difficult.”The pediatricians group recommends that infants sleep on firm mattresses in their own cribs or bassinets but in their parents’ room for the first year. A tight-fitting top sheet is the only crib bedding recommended, to avoid suffocation or strangulation.Young babies can’t easily move away from bedding or a sleeping parent; all of the study deaths were in infants younger than 8 months old.

Blankets, Bed-sharing Common in Accidental Baby Suffocations

Reuters

PARIS: E-commerce giant Amazon and French retailer Casino are expanding their partnership, with Amazon installing pick-up lockers in Casino stores and more of the French company’s products to be available on Amazon.The move, which follows an initial co-operation between Casino’s upmarket Monoprix supermarket chain and Amazon in Paris, could re-ignite speculation of a bigger deal later on.An Amazon spokeswoman said it had a policy of not commenting on market speculation. Amazon’s purchase of bricks-and-mortar US food retailer Whole Foods Market last year has raised speculation it could seek to buy a European food retailer.The extended partnership comes as Casino is selling assets and cutting debt to try to allay investor concerns over its finances and those of parent company Rallye.The deal, unveiled on Tuesday, will see Amazon lockers installed

in 1,000 locations across France in nine of Casino’s brands, including Monoprix, Monop, Geant, Hyper Casino, Casino Supermarche, Leaderprice, Viva and Spar by the end of the year. The lockers store Amazon products to be picked up by customers.More Casino-branded products will also be available on Amazon, while Amazon and Monoprix will extend their partnership on Amazon’s Prime Now grocery delivery service outside Paris and into new cities in the next twelve months.“This announcement represents a new step in strengthening Casino’s omnichannel strategy to always be a little more in the heart of consumers’ lives,” said Casino’s chief executive Jean-Charles Naouri in a statement.Monoprix, seen by analysts as similar to Whole Foods, started filling orders for subscribers to Amazon’s Prime loyalty program in parts of Paris last September.This partnership has been closely watched as Monoprix was the

first French retailer to agree in March 2018 to sell products via Amazon, causing a stir in the fiercely competitive domestic market.France is Amazon’s third largest market in Europe, after Britain and Germany. Amazon is the e-commerce leader in France with a market share of 17.3 percent, but its grocery market share stands at just 2 percent, according to Kantar data.The US group, which has run its Amazon Prime express delivery service in Paris since 2016, has made no secret of its desire to launch a grocery delivery service in France as part of its ambitions to expand in food retail.But the French supermarket sector has powerful incumbents such as Carrefour and Leclerc, operating at low margins and with a dense network of stores.Earlier this week, Casino said it would sell 12 Casino hypermarkets and 20 supermarkets to Apollo Global Management in a deal worth up to €470 million ($529 million).

Amazon Strengthens Ties with French Food Retailer Casino

WORLD NEWS9 Thursday, April 25, 2019

China Wins Belt and Road Fans but Criticism PersistsAFP

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping will lead a hard sales push at a Beijing summit this week, to cor-ral more countries into a global infrastructure project at the core of China’s superpower ambitions and win over those who see a stra-tegic threat.The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) envisages massive invest-ments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa that col-lectively account for 30 percent of global GDP.If fully realized, it could shape the world economic and geopolitical landscape for decades to come.But its scope and ambition have divided Europe, while US officials have called it a “vanity project,” and detractors have warned that it is laden with debt risks and opaque deals favoring Chinese firms and labor.Despite the criticism, momentum appears to be on Xi’s side, with leaders from 37 countries flocking to Beijing for the three-day sum-mit beginning Thursday.It’s the second such event, with an inaugural 2017 summit bringing 29 leaders together.China added a key nation to its Belt and Road roster when Italy became the first G7 member to

sign on to the project last month.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will participate in the summit and Switzerland appears set to sign on with President Ueli Maurer flying to Beijing.Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Europe, Asia and Africa will also attend, but major EU nations are sending

ministers and the United States said it would not have a high-level delegation.Since Xi launched Belt and Road in 2013, China has invested $90 billion in projects while banks have provided between $200 bil-lion and $300 billion in loans, according to Xiao Weiming, a Chinese government official over-

seeing Belt and Road.Examples of debt trouble abound.Sri Lanka turned over a deep-sea port to China for 99-years after it was unable to repay loans. Paki-stan needs an international bail-out. And Montenegro has had to make difficult choices after taking on crushing Chinese debt to pay a Chinese company to build a new

highway.It has also become an election is-sue in some countries.Chinese officials say the projects foster development in poor coun-tries and Xiao dismissed “debt trap” warnings as repeating “the same old tune.”Foreign Minister Wang Yi denied last week that the project was a “geopolitical tool,” though he ad-mitted that “jointly building the Belt and Road is a developing process, it won’t happen over-night, and there will inevitably be some troubles.”Italy rolled out a red carpet for Xi Jinping in Rome last month and signed a memorandum of under-standing on the Belt and Road, with Beijing planning to invest in Italian ports.The NATO member country’s ascension drew consternation in Brussels and Washington, and even within the leadership of Rome’s ruling coalition — Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said Italy would be “no-one’s colony.”For China, the initiative is both a practical solution to economic is-sues at home and a way to expand its global influence — a key con-cern for Xi, who frequently trum-pets the goal of a “great rejuvena-tion of the Chinese nation.”It “alleviates a lot of the built up excess industrial capacity that re-

sults from the Chinese economic model,” said James Bowen of the Perth US-Asia Center.“Chinese workers need jobs and China has materials that need to be exported and built out in other countries rather than in China.”The World Bank estimates that Belt and Road funded infrastruc-ture could marginally boost trade and officials there say it is offering funding in areas where it is sorely needed.But the money comes as loans in-stead of aid, requiring countries to pay China back for the massive projects its companies and people build.Pushing back has proved a suc-cessful election issue in Asia, in-cluding in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Malaysia, as the trademark infrastructure push is used to whip up fears about eroding sovereign-ty.In the Maldives, Ibrahim Moham-ed Solih claimed victory last year on the back of an anti-corruption campaign targeting the opaque deals with Beijing and “China’s colonialism.”Opposition candidates in Sri Lan-ka and Malaysia similarly wielded the debt laden deals to victory.The new Malaysian prime minister canceled some and renegotiated a rail project cutting 30 percent off the price tag.

AP

ALGIERS: They’re on the peaceful front line of the protest movement that toppled Algeria’s longtime ruler, facing down water cannons with at-titude, memes — and fearless calls for shampoo.Oil-rich Algeria is one of the most youthful countries in the world with two-thirds of the population under 30.They are politically engaged, educated, on social media and funny. And they initiated nationwide protests in mid-February that toppled the only leader they’ve ever known — former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power since 1999.“Only Chanel does No. 5,” read the placard of a young Algerian protest-ing against Bouteflika’s failed bid for a fifth term. “Love the Way You Lie,” read another, referencing Rihanna’s hit song. Yet another, featuring the “Ghostbusters” movie poster, was a humorous rebuke to the infirm 82-year-old who’s rarely been seen since a 2013 stroke. And when police unfurl the water cannons, they start to sing in rhyming Arabic: “Bring me some shampoo and I’ll feel good!“A quarter of these under-30s are out of work, creating a deep well of frus-tration against the North African country’s veteran rulers and the policies that have left them behind.“I came to protest against this power structure because we, the young peo-ple, we are the main victims,” said Belkacem Canna, who just turned 30, and works for the local water company on what he described as a miser-able salary. “We get diplomas but can’t get jobs.”For two decades, Algeria has been ruled by Bouteflika and other survivors of the 1954-1962 War of Independence against colonial power France.“Algeria’s leaders have one foot in the War of Independence and the other foot in the post-colonial period. This is a generational problem. Algeria is a gerontocracy that can’t represent the country’s majority,” said Rachid Tlemcani, political scientist at Algiers University.Bouteflika had for years used Algeria’s oil and gas wealth to fund afford-able homes and handouts. The country escaped the Arab Spring uprisings that began in Tunisia in 2010. But tensions began simmering after oil pric-es slumped in 2014, exposing a country blighted by youth unemployment where more than one person in four aged under 30 doesn’t have a job.Over a decade ago, Bouteflika’s government made a half-baked attempt at helping the country’s youth by creating a funding initiative for young entrepreneurs. However, it only stoked further anger amid perceptions it was a handout scheme, after borrowers who didn’t repay debts faced no consequences.“Mentalities have to change,” said Imad Touji, a 22-year-old geology stu-dent at Bab Ezzouar University. “It’s not just about going out and shout-ing. We really need to change things in a concrete way.”In February, it was clear that many Algerians were aghast at their plight.Many trapped at home with their parents and with seemingly little to lose, took to the streets some ten days after Bouteflika announced he would seek a fifth term. Students and professionals such as doctors, lawyers and magistrates all joined in.Bouteflika’s replacement, the 77-year-old Abdelkader Bensalah, is yet an-other veteran of the War of Independence. It’s an open question if fresh presidential elections announced for July 4, will appease the vociferous movement.“We are raising awareness, all the youth is,” said Sofiane Smain, a 23-year-old computing student. “We are trying to make all the Algerian people fol-low us so we can be unified to make a better Algeria, God willing.”Social media instructions told protesters to come equipped only with “love, faith, Algerian flags and roses,” and to remove trash. In a poignant detail, many of them were observed cleaning up.“Algeria’s youth are an example to the world of what a smiling and peace-ful protest movement can achieve,” Tlemcani said.Though the protests have been largely judged to have been peaceful, they have claimed their first casualty. On Friday, an unemployed 19-year-old from a town south of Algiers was buried. Police say he died after falling from a truck, while his friends say he was beaten by police with trun-cheons.

Wit and Grit: Algeria’s Sizeable Youth Lead Fight for Change

Reuters

A Wisconsin woman used hacked Face-book accounts to provide lessons in making bombs and poison on behalf of the Daesh militant group, prosecutors said Monday.Waheba Issa Dais, 46, of Cudahy, Wis-consin, pleaded guilty to one count of “at-

tempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, a des-ignated foreign terrorist organization,” the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin said in a release.Her support in 2018 took the form of pro-viding expert advice on the Internet on bombs and biological weapons in order to help Daesh, officials said.“Remember Boston Marathon bombing?” prosecutors said she posted to an under-cover F.B.I. agent on Facebook. “It was very easy to make. All it needs is a pressure cooker, shrapnel and explosives. Join my channel and research.”They said she also gave instructions on how to make the poison ricin, derived from cas-tor beans.US Attorney Matthew Krueger said in a statement that “From her home in Cudahy, Dais promoted ISIS’s hateful, violent agen-da and provided detailed instructions on how to harm innocent people.”Dais faces a sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, officials said, and is set to go before a judge in September for sentencing.

Her attorney, John Campion, told the New York Times that he and his client, “look for-ward to the September sentencing hearing where we will address the complicated his-tory that led to her online conduct.”Her attorney was not immediately available to Reuters early Tuesday.In a separate case, prosecutors announced the conviction of Yosvany Padilla-Conde, a Cuban national who was residing in Mil-waukee, Wisconsin, for attempting to pro-vide material support to Daesh.In a release from the US Attorney’s Of-fice, prosecutors said Padilla-Conde made videos swearing his allegiance to the group and stated his intent to travel to the Middle East. He also faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Craig Powell, an attorney for Padilla-Conde, told the Times that his client was set up by an undercover F.B.I. agent who offered to help him travel to Mexico if he made an Daesh video.Padilla-Conde’s attorney could not immedi-ately be reached by Reuters early Tuesday. His sentencing hearing is set for August, of-ficials said.

Wisconsin Woman Taught Bomb-making Online for Daesh

AFP

TOKYO: Japan on Tues-day dropped the push to apply “maximum pres-sure” on North Korea from its official foreign policy, an apparent sof-tening of Tokyo’s posi-tion as major powers en-gage with Pyongyang.In last year’s “Diplomat-ic Bluebook,” published when tensions on the Korean peninsula were soaring, Japan said it was coordinating efforts with its allies to “maxi-mize pressure on North Korea by all available means.”But this language was dropped from this year’s edition, drawn up after diplomats had “taken comprehensively into account the latest de-velopments surrounding North Korea,” accord-ing to chief government spokesman Yoshihide

Suga.“There have been major developments in the situ-ation surrounding North Korea in light of events such as the US-North Korea summits in June last year and February,” Suga told reporters.Abe, seen as a foreign policy hawk, has also sof-tened his rhetoric toward North Korea, frequently offering to meet leader Kim Jong Un to negoti-

ate the decades-old issue of Japanese civilians kid-napped by the North.“Japan seeks to normalize its relations with North Korea by comprehensive-ly resolving outstanding issues of concern such as the abductions, nuclear and missile issues as well as settling an unfortunate past,” Suga said.Tokyo has been one of the most hawkish of the major powers on North Korea and

has been on the receiving end of some of Pyongyang’s harshest rhetoric — as well as missiles launched over its territory.Until late 2017, North Korea repeatedly tested missiles that flew toward or over Japan, sparking warnings blared out on loudspeakers and stoking calls for a tough stance against Pyongyang.However, Japan now finds itself battling to keep itself relevant in the fast-moving North Korea issue as Kim

expands his diplomatic cir-cle.Kim is now preparing for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, after multi-ple meetings with US Presi-dent Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in.Abe will soon meet Trump at the White House where the issue of North Korea is bound to be on the table.

Japan Drops ‘Maximum Pressure’ on N. Korea from Diplomatic Book

Malaria Day‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’

Aggressive Approach

New data from the World malaria report 2018 shows that progress in the global malaria response has levelled off and, in some countries, the disease is on the rise. To get the response back on track, the WHO Director-General has called for an aggressive new approach that will jump-start progress against malaria. ìHigh burden to high im-pactî is a country-led approach that will be supported by WHO, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and other partners.The attainment of the targets of the WHO Global Techni-cal Strategy for Malaria 2016ñ2030 ñ or the failure to do so ñ will define whether the high impact approach suc-ceeds in achieving its most pressing goal: getting the re-sponse back on track, and then making further gains to ensure that the 2030 goals are met According to WHO Sudan is considered a high-burden and high-risk country for malaria. Malaria is a major pub-lic health problem in the country. The main vector con-trol interventions are indoor residual spraying in targeted areas with irrigation schemes, use of long-lasting insec-ticidal nets, larval source management and space spray-ing in emergency situations. The proportion of household ownership of insecticide-treated nets in target areas is a little over half and the proportion of people who slept under insecticide-treated nets the previous night is low. Annual indoor residual spraying operational coverage has remained above 90% in Gezira and Sinnar states, the two priority states supported by Global Fund resources. Only a little over a third of areas in the country are covered by larval source management interventions.A comprehensive malaria programme review was con-ducted in 2012 based on which a malaria control strategy was developed for the years 2014ñ2016, addressing the gaps highlighted in the review.The main challenges include integration of malaria sur-veillance into the already established communicable disease surveillance system, improving the reporting of primary health facilities to the federal department health management information system, overcoming financial limitations to the expansion of indoor residual spraying to other target states, sustaining government resources committed to the expansion of larval source management services, increasing utilization of insecticide-treated nets in target areas, achieving 80% coverage of persons sus-pected to have malaria with a diagnostic test and improv-ing compliance of health care providers with national ma-laria treatment guidelines.Officials indicated that coverage should be increased with larval source management services will go hand in hand with sustaining high coverage with long-lasting insecticid-al net and indoor residual spraying in target localities. The main priorities for malaria control are increasing access to malaria diagnostics, improving compliance of health care providers in use of malaria diagnostics for confirm-ing the disease and ensuring easy access of positive cases to free first line artemisinin-based combination therapy. Ensuring the compliance of more private sector facilities with the national protocol for diagnosis and treatment of malaria, and integrating routine malaria surveillance into the communicable disease surveillance system, which has wide country coverage, are other areas of focus.

hafielyas@yahoo.com

Haffiya Elyas

Feel it

After more than a decade of steady advances in fight-ing malaria, progress has levelled off. According to WHOís latest World malaria report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases in the pe-riod 2015 to 2017. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 435 000, remained virtually un-changed over the previous year.

Urgent action is needed to get the global response to malaria back on track ñ and ownership of the chal-lenge lies in the hands of countries most affected by malaria. On World Malaria Day 2019, WHO joins the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the African Union Commission and other partner organizations in promoting ìZero malaria starts with me,,î a grass-roots campaign that aims to keep malaria high on the political agenda, mobilize additional resources, and empower communities to take ownership of malaria prevention and care. Who is at risk ?

In 2017, nearly half of the world’s population was at risk of malaria. Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the WHO regions of South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific, and the Americas are also at risk. In 2017, 87 countries and areas had ongoing malaria transmis-sion.Some population groups are at considerably higher risk of contracting malaria, and developing severe dis-ease, than others. These include infants, children un-der 5 years of age, pregnant women and patients with HIV/AIDS, as well as non-immune migrants, mobile populations and travellers. National malaria control programmes need to take special measures to protect these population groups from malaria infection, tak-ing into consideration their specific circumstances.

Disease burden According to the latest World malaria report, released in November 2018, there were 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, up from 217 million cases in 2016. The estimated number of malaria deaths stood at 435 000 in 2017, a similar number to the previous year.The WHO African Region continues to carry a dispro-portionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2017, the region was home to 92% of malaria cases and 93% of malaria deaths.Children under 5 years of age are the most vulnerable group affected by malaria; in 2017, they accounted for 61% (266 000) of all malaria deaths worldwide.Transmission: In most cases, malaria is transmitted through the bites of female Anopheles mosquitoes. The intensity of trans-mission depends on factors related to the parasite, the vector, the human host, and the environment.Transmission is more intense in places where the mos-quito lifespan is longer and where it prefers to bite humans rather than other animals. The long lifespan and strong human-biting habit of the African vector species is the main reason why approximately 90% of the world’s malaria cases are in Africa.

Transmission also depends on climatic conditions that may affect the number and survival of mosquitoes, such as rainfall patterns, temperature and humidity. In many places, transmission is seasonal, with the peak during and just after the rainy season. Malaria epi-demics can occur when climate and other conditions suddenly favour transmission in areas where people have little or no immunity to malaria. They can also occur when people with low immunity move into ar-eas with intense malaria transmission, for instance to find work, or as refugees.

Human immunity is another important factor, espe-cially among adults in areas of moderate or intense transmission conditions. Partial immunity is devel-oped over years of exposure, and while it never pro-vides complete protection, it does reduce the risk that malaria infection will cause severe disease. For this reason, most malaria deaths in Africa occur in young children, whereas in areas with less transmission and low immunity, all age groups are at risk.

Prevention: Vector control is the main way to prevent and reduce malaria transmission. If coverage of vector control in-terventions within a specific area is high enough, then a measure of protection will be conferred across the community.WHO recommends protection for all people at risk of malaria with effective malaria vector control. Two forms of vector control ñ insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying ñ are effective in a wide range of circumstances.

Antimalarial drugs Antimalarial medicines can also be used to prevent malaria. For travellers, malaria can be prevented through chemoprophylaxis, which suppresses the blood stage of malaria infections, thereby preventing malaria disease. For pregnant women living in mod-erate-to-high transmission areas, WHO recommends intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, at each scheduled antenatal visit after the first trimester. Similarly, for infants living in high-transmission areas of Africa, 3 doses of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine

are recommended, delivered alongside routine vaccinations.Since 2012, WHO has recommended seasonal malaria chemoprevention as an additional ma-laria prevention strategy for areas of the Sahel sub-region of Africa. Resistance Since 2000, progress in malaria control has re-sulted primarily from expanded access to vector control interventions, particularly in sub-Saha-ran Africa. However, these gains are threatened by emerging resistance to insecticides among Anopheles mosquitoes. According to the lat-est World malaria report, 68 countries reported mosquito resistance to at least 1 of the 5 com-monly-used insecticide classes. Despite the emergence and spread of mosquito resistance to pyrethroids (the only insecticide class used in ITNs), insecticide-treated nets continue to provide a substantial level of pro-tection in most settings. While the findings of this study are encour-aging, WHO continues to highlight the urgent need for new and improved tools in the global response to malaria. To prevent an erosion of the impact of core vector control tools, WHO also underscores the critical need for all coun-tries with ongoing malaria transmission to de-velop and apply effective insecticide resistance management strategies.Diagnosis and Treatment Early diagnosis and treatment of malaria reduc-es disease and prevents deaths. It also contrib-

utes to reducing malaria transmission. WHO recommends that all cases of suspected malaria be confirmed using parasite-based di-agnostic testing (either microscopy or rapid diagnostic test) before administering treatment. Results of parasitological confirmation can be available in 30 minutes or less. Treatment, solely on the basis of symptoms should only be considered when a parasitological diagnosis is not possible. Drug resistance Resistance to antimalarial medicines is a recur-ring problem.Protecting the efficacy of antimalarial medi-cines is critical to malaria control and elimina-tion.At the World Health Assembly in May 2015, WHO launched the Strategy for malaria elimination in the greater mekong subregion (2015ñ2030) , which was endorsed by all the countries in the subregion. Urging immediate action, the strategy calls for the elimination of all species of human malaria across the region by 2030, with priority action targeted to areas where multidrug resistant malaria has taken root. With technical guidance from WHO, all coun-tries in the region have developed national ma-laria elimination plans. Together with partners, WHO is providing ongoing support for country elimination efforts through the Mekong Ma-laria Elimination programme, an initiative that evolved from the ERAR.

0930008680 -

10 Thursday, April 25, 2019HEALTH & POPULATION Edited by: Haffiya Elyas

11HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Reuters

Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir has been ousted after three decades in power following months of mass protests. The military has announced a transitional period of up to two years followed by elections, but dem-onstrators are pushing for a quick hando-ver of power to civilians.How did Bashir fall? Bashir, 75, was one of the longest-serving leaders in Africa and the Arab world. He took power in a coup in 1989 and had sur-vived isolation from the West, civil wars, the split between Sudan and South Sudan, indictment by the International Criminal Court, and several previous bouts of pro-test.But in December, a worsening economic crisis triggered protests that quickly spread across the country of 40 million, calling for Bashir to go. The protests continued for 16 weeks despite a security crackdown in which dozens died and thousands were detained.FILE - Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is seen during a swearing-in ceremony of new officials after he dissolved the cen-tral and state governments in Khartoum, Sudan, Feb. 24, 2019. On April 6, protest-ers stepped up the pressure with a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khar-toum. Riot police and intelligence serv-ices tried to clear the area, but the army shielded them before announcing Bashir’s overthrow on April 11.Despite Bashir’s close ties to the military’s top leadership, mid- and lower-ranking of-ficers more connected to society sympa-thised with the protesters’ demands, said Hamid Eltigani, a Sudanese professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo. As pressure from the street mounted, factions within the security establishment distanced themselves from Bashir as they sought to protect their positions, he said.One Sudanese military officer said a deal was struck within the military leadership.

«The faces had to be changed, and they all decided to change them without any blood-shed.»What happened next? The appointment of defense minister and vice-president Awad Ibn Auf as head of the Transitional Military Council fueled wide-spread anger among protesters because of his close association with Bashir.FILE - Major General Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, who was to lead a mili-tary council to run Sudan over the next two years, speaks to the media, in Khartoum, Sudan, Feb. 24, 2019. Ibn Auf resigned within 24 hours.He survived just 24 hours, stepping down late Friday.Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, better known as Salah Gosh, resigned as the head of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) the following day.Long considered the second most power-ful man in the country after Bashir, Salah Gosh was another key target for the pro-testers.Who is in control now? Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replaced Ibn Auf as head of the military council. Burhan was the third most senior

general in the Sudanese military and is lit-tle known publicly. As chief of Sudan’s ground forces he over-saw Sudanese troops fighting in the Saudi-led Yemen war and has close ties to senior Gulf military officials.Burhan’s deputy is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known by his nickname Hemedti, who heads Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is a paramilitary grouping that grew out of the Janjaweed militias that fought in Darfur and has provided troops to fight in Yemen.FILE - Sudan’s General Mohamed Ham-dan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, head of the Rapid Support Forces, is sworn-in as the appointed deputy of Sudan’s Transi-tional Military Council, standing before the head of transitional council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, right, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 13, 2019 in this image from video.Other members of the 10-man military council include a NISS representative and the chief of police.A Sudanese source close to Sudan’s mili-tary leadership said the United Arab Emir-ates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt had a role in planning «the removal of Bashir and Gen-

eral Ibn Auf and Salah Gosh» as part of a strategy of «weakening the power of the Islamists in power in Sudan.»Bashir came to power in an Islamist-backed coup. He belonged to the Islamic Move-ment, Sudan’s equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood, and imposed Sharia law.Who supports the new leadership? The UAE, a leading member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was quick to welcome Burhan’s appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhan’s nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan.The UAE and Saudi, which supported the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mo-hamed Mursi in Egypt and have worked to counter Islamists linked to the Brotherhood across the region, are following the same goal in Sudan, said the Sudanese source.«They want to use economic aid to encour-age some power centers in Sudan to weak-en the presence of Islamists and their full control over economic institutions.»The influence of their regional rivals Qatar and Turkey, which both had ties to Bashir, will be limited, said the Sudanese military officer. «It was a tug of war, and right now UAE and Saudi won,» he said.Hemedti has received of Western diplomat-ic envoys, several of whom say they have pressed him to ensure a rapid transition to civilian rule. The British ambassador said the meeting was «not to endorse or con-fer legitimacy.» The Dutch envoy said the meeting was held at Hemedti’s invitation.How much could the military concede? Burhan has promised a civilian government after consultations with the opposition, and announced an easing of emergency meas-ures and the release of political detainees. But there has been little word from the military on protesters’ demands for a ci-vilian presence in the ruling council, and for members of Bashir’s entourage ó some of whom face international sanctions and charges ó to be held to account.

Sudanese demonstrators rally near the mil-itary headquarters in the capital Khartoum, April 16, 2019. Protesters toughened their stance Tuesday by calling for the dissolu-tion of the transitional military council, to be replaced immediately with a civilian power.The military may be wary of ced-ing ground if it faces opposition from other parts of the security apparatus.Bashir had the strongest links across dif-ferent, overlapping branches of the secu-rity forces, which could start competing with each other now he’s gone. While the RSF and the NISS are linked to Saudi Ara-bia and the UAE, Islamists within Sudan’s Popular Defense Forces have connections to Qatar, said Alex de Waal, Executive Di-rector of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University.Military officers «basically wanted a soft landing for Bashir, and the army to be kept intact as an institution, and they have Egyptian backing in that strategy,» said de Waal. «The problem is that the demands of the demonstrators are for democracy and they are the only people who want democ-racy. Nobody else wants democracy.»What fate for Bashir? When Ibn Auf announced Bashir’s over-throw, he said the former president had been detained. Sources told Reuters he was being held at the time under heavy guard at his residence.The military council has said it will not ex-tradite him, but may try him in Sudan.The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his final years as president he defied the court, visiting friendly nations including several ICC member states.Sudan and Bashir denied war crimes were committed, saying casualties in Darfur were exaggerated.Some have speculated that he could fol-low the example of Tunisia’s former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and seek refuge in Saudi Arabia.

Explainer: What’s Next for Sudan After Bashir’s Fall?

Sudan stand-off after Omar al-Bashir ousted

The military have made their move in Algeria and Sudan - but is there something the generals have missed?The 21st century is proving that Arab soldiers

are no longer the only educated, organised and well-disciplined faction of societyBy Alastair Leithead BBC News, Khartoum

Share this withThese are external links and will open in a new window EmailShare this with Email FacebookShare this with Fa-cebook MessengerShare this with Messenger Messenger-Share this with Messenger TwitterShare this with Twitter PinterestShare this with PinterestWhatsAppShare this with WhatsApp In the searing heat, the music and the speeches blare from the banks of speakers as the people who have already achieved so much in Sudan push for even greater and lasting change.While the military council is offering what it considers to be concessions, the protesters want more guarantees that the gains they have made so far will not be lost.They have barricaded themselves into a large area of central Khartoum near the military headquarters, creating traffic chaos which is testing people’s patience.But their presence and the pressure they are applying are pivotal to the discussions going on behind the scenes as politicians and technocrats furiously work towards a civil-ian transition. Building a functioning, democratic state after 30 years of military rule does not happen in a week, and the opposition is far from being one cohesive unit.Like in Egypt the military here is strong. Its generals will not give up power easily as they have a great deal to lose, even if they give the impression of moving towards democ-racy. The Sudanese Professionals Association has led the street protests and is key to the talks with the military coun-cil over a transitional civilian authority.They are part of an umbrella group known as the Forces for Freedom and Change which has been meeting the ruling military council.Together with a political opposition group known as Sudan Call, the leftist Consensus Forces, an offshoot of the Un-ionists, and representatives of civil society, they provide a strong unified opposition block.But 30 years of division and in-fighting, alliances and rival-ries within the traditional political parties makes it harder to put on a truly united front against the military council.Image caption Demonstrators have vowed to stay on the streets until there is a move to civilian rule One of those at the table is the University of Khartoum’s Professors’ Initiative.Since young people began to drive the demonstrations in December, hundreds of academics have been involved - se-cretly at first - bringing experts together to plan the transi-tion.«It was a surprise for everyone that it was started by the youth. We think they don’t know much about politics and that they sit in restaurants drinking coffee or playing com-puter games, but they know a lot about politics and history,» said Intisar Soghayroun, an archaeology professor.Image caption Months of protests led to the ousting of Pres-ident Bashir She says they began to write papers, gather experts and aca-demics and set up working groups looking at key issues like the economy, infrastructure and agriculture.They are urging the protesters to stay on the streets to main-tain pressure on the transitional military council which Prof Soghayroun believes will allow change. «At the beginning we weren’t sure, but now they are mak-ing some steps towards convincing people and gaining trust,» she said.

«All the people in the sit-in do not trust this government be-cause of 30 years of violence, mischievous work concerning economy, health, education and the collapse that happened in the Sudan.»While the professors plan a four-year interim period run by technocrats they have the established politicians to deal with.«All the groups who are under the change and freedom - if they can come together, then in one or two days they can decide who is going to be the prime minister,» said Prof Soghayroun.«But what we want is all the other parties that ruled or had been part of the ruling government before - we don’t want them in power during the transitional period.» Mohammed Usman Yahya is from the Unified Unionist Party and believes they are united.«This revolution represents the entire Sudanese people. All the parties agreed to be united to the declaration of change and freedom. Consider it the voice of all Sudanese people,» he said.«We want the military council to deliver the authority to a civilian government and protect the Sudanese nation and maintain internal security.»The ability of the opposition to create a strong, united front and have a clear vision of what a civilian-run Sudan could look like will be crucial to the success of negotiations with the military. The Sudanese Professionals Association has led the street protests There is also international pressure for different outcomes.The African Union has given Sudan two weeks to establish civilian rule. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE fa-vour the stability of a military council, but the troika of the US, Norway and the UK want a move towards democracy.«Sudan is at a moment of potentially huge historic change and what we’re looking for is this change to be positive and that means rule in Sudan returning back to civilians,» said the British Ambassador to Khartoum, Irfan Siddiq.«The military is currently in control and we are really keen to see civilians take over this transition.«The civilian leadership of the protest movement have been very clear about how they want to form a civilian council, parliament and government. I think this is something the military council needs to listen to.»Image caption Protesters and opposition groups are in talks with the military The call for a million people to join the protest was an at-tempt by organisers to give more momentum to the move-ment.Huge numbers of people have been marching to the area surrounding the military headquarters - passing through nu-merous barricades controlled by demonstrators.But there’s little sense among the crowds that the changes announced by the military council are real concessions or compromises.People want to see proof that former President Omar al-Bashir is in jail, and that justice will come to those who carried out atrocities under his regime.«We cannot accept that justice has been served unless we see former president Bashir and those <fat cats’ in his re-gime actually tried,» said Daud Ismael.«We need a fair and neutral justice body to deal with them; otherwise we want them sent to The Hague,» he added. re-ferring to the International Criminal Court.

Ahmed Aboudouh @Abodou7

The Independent VoicesBeing an army chief has al-ways been a shortcut to be-coming president in the Mid-dle East. Sudanís uprising is just the latest example of that doctrine.Since the first Arab military coup, led by Hosny al-Zaim in Syria in 1949, the Middle East political establishment has re-sembled a military camp. Gen-erals have dominated political, The fall of Arab kingdoms and royalty, post-independence, helped speed the rise of the army to become the modern threat to civilian rule. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt can take some of the blame. He created a heroic image of the military officer who could change the course of a nation, a champion who could em-body its new identity.From 15p Ä0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.Subscribe now At least now Middle East gen-erals are having to work hard-er. They face a cataclysm of awareness from young people about what the military is re-ally after. But as much as there are lessons for the people from uprisings elsewhere, there are also lessons for the soldiers on how to squash them.In Sudan, the Transitional Military Council (TMC) chose to go by the book, aping the Egyptian military Junta post the 2011 Tahrir Square upris-ing. General Abdelfattah Bur-han, who has been appointed over the weekend as the head of TMC will be, in effect, the president of Sudan until the end of the two-year transi-tional period, just like Egyptís Tantawi.In Algeria, General Ahmed Gaid Saleh is following Ab-del Fatah al-Sisiís rules which were used to force the Muslim Brotherhood to step down in

2013.Yes, they take different roads, but theyíre heading in the same destination. The desire is to protect what power is left from the military heyday of the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, generals were the real revolu-tionaries in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Algeria. Just like todayís youths, but with guns in their hands.The military played a crucial role in modernising the Arab world, but it came with an op-pressive system of domination. Now, the political, economic, social and religious systems the military put in place over the years are collapsing. It seems the last to see it were the generals.The 21st century is prov-ing that Arab soldiers are no longer the only educated, or-ganised and well-disciplined faction of society. Cheap tech-nology and social media have changed the rules of the game. Young people who have edu-cated themselves by spending their days staring at a compu-ter screen and now know that a uniform alone does not give you authority.This is a latest stage in a longer trend. The militaryís strength has been chipped away at by open competitive markets, much-needed for-eign investments and the by steady pressure of left-wing groups (including the ìKefayaî movement in Egypt and the

workers unions in Tunisia). In addition, a new class of busi-ness oligarchs, protected by powerful civilian politicians, has emerged to threaten the militaryís interests.But the chaos of the 2011 up-risings gave the generals new hope. Here was a chance to re-coup the ground they had lost during the 2000s.In Algeria, the generals see themselves as the only legiti-mate defenders of the countryís liberation revolution against French occupation. In Sudan, they are the sole guardians of the countryís independence from the British colonisation.Support free-thinking jour-nalism and subscribe to Inde-pendent Minds Now, both the military and the protesters, in Algiers and Khartoum, are in gridlock over two very different paths to salvation. The 20th century gave us a glimpse of how military rule starts in the Middle East; the 21st century may be show-ing us how it ends. It is never smooth. On the contrary, only four rattling events are ca-pable of bringing a generalís term in power to its finale: death, another military coup, foreign invasion or a popular uprising.Gone are the days where mili-tary coups were rejoiced by people in the Arab world. It seems the generals are the only ones who do not see it.

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What a difference a day can makeSky News Stuart Ramsay

The suspension of the negotiations between protesters and the military council has changed the whole dy-namic in the protest zone.Demonstrators in Sudan have staged massive protests demanding that the military hands power to ci-vilians.It comes after former president Omar al Bashir was ousted, with the military council taking over.From rock festival party to poten-tial rock throwing confrontation, in the blink of an eye.The Sudanese revolution got its an-ger back and the «kids» are prepar-ing for battle. The military council isn>t listening and they are deter-mined to make it hear - just as they have done for the past 120 days of defiance.Even as we walked to the pro-test site, through the barricades they refuse to take down, past the checkpoint volunteers searching everyone>s bags, towards the vari-ous speakers addressing small and large groups of demonstrators, you could feel the difference.There is a defiance and an anger in the air. Make no mistake: everyone is absolutely lovely to us, but they aren>t smiling like they have been for the last week. There is a steely determination, there>s an anger in their chanting. It has replaced the joyous uplifting song of celebration that made us smile hour after hour, day after day.The breakdown in talks between the protesters> negotiating teams and the military council has come as a reminder to the thousands of people involved, that the road to this revo-lution, already pockmarked with the deaths of so many, still stretches into the distance.The sense of unease is not helped by the ever present sight of very heavily-armed militia fighters. They are everywhere. Every road, every roundabout, every junction and every bridge across the Nile is controlled by uniformed men car-rying machine guns, on trucks with 50 calibre machine guns and carry-ing more rocket propelled grenade

launchers than I have ever seen in one place at one time -

and, trust me I have seen a lot.This is not the regular army. They are the so-called Rapid Support Forces, the RSF. It>s an acronym synonymous with brutality and fear. They are a militia created by the now deposed dictator Omar al Bashir. Once his own private army, they are the force that effectively carried out the coup against him.Now they say they are protecting the revolution and the protesters. They surround the protest site. In truth nobody really trusts them, but for now they are there and there isn>t really much anyone could do about it even if they wanted to.An order from the military council for the barricades to be dismantled and the roads to be opened, was ob-viously ignored. But the effect has

been to cloak the camp in an atmos-phere of nervousness and paranoia.Social media posts warn of phantom camp clearance operations sending shivers through the crowds as they brace for non-existent trouble.A shout and a sudden movement of people can turn into a furious stampede as people run to help. In one instance a poor soul had fallen into a canal of sewage, hundreds ran forward, only a few gingerly helped him out. The suspension of the negotiations has changed the whole dynamic in the protest zone.What feels like a world away, but is still within the protest zone, is the campus of the University of Khar-toum.Built by Lord Kitchener in 1902 as a memorial to General Gor-don of Khartoum, it is a beauti-ful - if slightly dilapidated - haven of cool cloistered walkways and classrooms; it>s also home to the so-called «godfather of the revo-lution», Professor Muhammad Yousif.We spoke for an hour, the drums, trumpets and roars of the protesters ever present in the distanceHe firmly believes that some mem-bers of the military council are de-termined to undermine the revolu-tionary process at all costs and are imposing problems on the negotiat-ing process in an attempt to ensure

that the old regime survives in some form.

«They have no intention to

submit power or transfer power to civilian administration, any ci-vilian administration,» he told me.«In fact, we are calling for change, they are calling for perpetuation of the old regime and if they can, to reproduce it with all of its charac-teristic features. That is a basic dif-ference between us and them.»He told me that the military council had decided almost immediately to say that they could not hand over power because there were too many differences between the opposition groups. He says that there have been two incidents of major differences but that they were overcome, and that the opposition remain united.The professor said that talks would resume, implying that the current break down was more about ma-noeuvring. He said that they decid-ed to go back to «Square One» to send a clear message to the military that they were not prepared to com-promise.«That is why we are exerting this kind of pressure, for them to go away,» he said.I asked him if the positioning of the opposition could lead to the loss of more lives.«We are ready for that. We are ready to give more sacrifices for our country. This is the fate of our country, this is the destiny of our country and we are determined to regain the dignity of our country and to put our country in the place it deserves,» was his stark reply.

The most optimistic here really do hope that the talks breakdown is more about maneuvering than con-frontation. Out in the crowds they aren>t so sure. But one thing is for

cer-t a i n : t h e y aren>t go-ing anywhere