December 30th 2018
· The international community cannot continue to conduct business as usual with the Government of Sudan after its brutal behaviour over the last two weeks. Sudanese security forces have committed grave violations of human rights by using live ammunition against peaceful demonstrators in blatant defiance of warnings from the international community. It is estimated that over 40 people have been killed and hundreds wounded. The victims of the Government’s brutal behaviour have either been shot or tortured to death. Abdel Rahman Mohamed Al Amin, a student at the University of Khartoum, was tortured to death after being detained by the National Intelligence and Security Service for participating in a peaceful demonstration. Hundreds of demonstrators, activists, journalists and opposition leaders have also been arbitrarily detained and newspaper offices raided.
· Sudan has reached a point of no return. The whole system has failed and people can’t even afford the basic necessities of life. Spontaneous protests have erupted in more than twenty five towns and cities across the country, sparked not just by spiralling bread prices and fuel shortages but by three decades of anger over corruption, oppression, violence, injustice, war crimes and genocide. People have turned out in huge numbers, calling for freedom, peace and justice, and for General Bashir and his regime to go. They have shown great courage in defying the threat from government snipers and a massive presence of government security forces. Every sector of society is rising up, including the marginalised, the middle classes, professionals, intellectuals, women, shopkeepers, students, youth and even school children. Sudan will never be the same again.
· We appeal to the international community to condemn the Government’s deadly response to peaceful protests and we demand an immediate end to the killings. The international community needs to disengage from the Government of Sudan and raise the bar in pressing for democratisation and an immediate end to the wars in Sudan. General Bashir should immediately step down and an interim governance arrangement should be put in place. The people have voiced this demand clearly and loudly over the past two weeks. The political landscape in Sudan has qualitatively changed.
· The international community should stop talking about a strategic partnership with the Government of Sudan. Khartoum cannot be a genuine strategic partner on issues such as migration and counter-terrorism without fundamental change. Democratic countries cannot possibly have a strategic partnership with a rogue state that is killing and torturing its own citizens and showing such blatant disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms. This would simply not be understood by the people of Sudan or indeed by the citizens of those countries engaging with Khartoum. The Sudan Call welcomes very much the statements by the U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, the European Union, the Troika and Canada.
· We appeal to the US Congress and the European Parliament to pass resolutions, similar to the U.S. Sudan Peace Act of October 2002. The new resolutions should demand that the benchmark for any future engagement with the Government of Sudan must involve Bashir stepping down and an interim governance arrangement put in place to bring a just peace and democracy to Sudan.
· We appeal to the U.S Administration and Congress to link their second phase of engagement and any consideration regarding the removal of Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism with the current situation in Sudan and the need for Bashir to step down and an interim governance arrangement put in place. It is worth mentioning that religious discrimination, especially against Sudanese Christians, is still the order of the day in Sudan.
· We appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council in Geneva to ensure an independent and credible international investigation is conducted into the killing of significant numbers of unarmed protestors and those injured, tortured and arbitrarily detained.
· We appeal to all the friends of Sudan and of peace and democracy around the world to support our requests and to come to the aid of the Sudanese people who desperately need your help at this historic turning point.