ANSD : Bashir visits Qatar as fresh Sudan protest erupts

TUE 26 - 11 - 2024

Date: Jan 23, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Bashir visits Qatar as fresh Sudan protest erupts

KHARTOUM/CAIRO: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir left Tuesday for a two-day visit to Qatar, state media reported, in what is his first trip abroad since nationwide protests against his rule erupted last month.

Bashir was scheduled to meet top officials in Qatar, including its ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the official news agencies in both countries said.

“Bilateral relations will be discussed during his visit,” the SUNA news agency in Sudan reported.

The veteran leader was expected to discuss with Doha “ongoing peace efforts in Darfur,” it added, referring to the western region of Sudan that has been ravaged by a conflict between Sudanese forces and ethnic minority rebels. Qatar and Sudan are long-term allies.

The Gulf state has mediated between Khartoum and rebel groups involved in the Darfur conflict that erupted in 2003.

Bashir’s regime has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and he has been charged by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

The visit to Qatar is Bashir’s first overseas trip since anti-government protests erupted across Sudan on Dec. 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

Officials say 26 people have died so far in the protests, while rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at more than 40.

The protests are the biggest challenge yet to the authority of Bashir, who swept to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed coup.

Riot police Tuesday fired tear gas at crowds in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman protesting against the fatal wounding of a demonstrator last week, witnesses said.

Sudan is facing an economic crisis, driven by a shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation.

Bashir has accused “conspirators” for causing the violence without specifying who they were.

An estimated 60,000 Sudanese live in Qatar.

Sudanese authorities have cracked down on Arabic-language foreign media working inside the country, news channels said Tuesday.

Qatari satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera said its correspondents in Sudan had their work permits withdrawn by security officials, while its Saudi competitor Al Arabiya said its correspondent had his permit revoked as well. Both channels have been reporting on the unrest despite a media blackout by authorities, who firmly control the press.

In a statement late Monday on the Arabic-language Facebook page of its Sudanese channel, Al Jazeera said its Khartoum office was told the decision was made after a review of the work of Osama Ahmed and Ahmed Alrehaid, as well as cameraman Badawi Bashir.

It later denounced the move in a statement from its main press office, calling the decision “arbitrary” and saying it “lacks any credible justification and contradicts the basic norms of press freedom.”

“Al Jazeera Media Network expresses its demand to the Sudanese authorities to reinstate the accreditation of our colleagues at the earliest to enable them to carry out their duties safely and without intimidation, as we believe that Journalism is not a Crime,” it said, adding that its work in Sudan would continue.

The channel says that the men had previously had their permits approved for 2019 by the government Press Council.

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