By DR Barodi Mustafa Fashir
Time is Running out of The Most Bloody Dictator in History
Al-Bashir came into power in June 30th, 1989 by a military coup backed by Islamist party overthrowing the only truly democratic government in the region. He formed a military government with Islamic ideology similar ISISs, “kill opponents to pave your way”. He wasted no time dismissed all the senior military and police officers, senior civil servants and replaced them with Islamists loyal to their regime regardless of their efficiency or qualifications. By doing so they consolidated and maintained an iron-grip on power. They established a strong, well-trained underground paramilitary force loyal to the regime. Their mission is to protect the regime in case of military or civil movement against them. They will crack dawn even peaceful protests with brutality, cruelty and barbarism as they are doing now in the current uprising. They killed a school teacher after he was detained by sodomising with iron bar.
They built an underground detention centers called “Ghost Houses” . It got the name “Ghost House” because people get in but not out. This is where detainees are brutality tortured, sexually assaulted, their genitals mutilated in some cases. Eventually, most of the detainees are executed without trial.
They declare “Jihad” which means “Holy war” against majority Christians in south Sudan because they resisted sharia law. They wanted a democratic secular government with equal opportunities for jobs and wealth distribution. As a result of this war, more than two million civilians died. Eventually, with international pressure South Sudan got its independence.
Then the Darfur conflict began in 2003. The darfurians were marginalized ,they demanded equal opportunities for jobs , education and wealth distribution .. The government again declared war against them . The regime exploited the ethnic differences among Darfurians as some claim Arab descent, they are nomadic pastorals and the majority Africans are agriculturist. They always had differences and conflicts regarding land and water resources . The government trained and armed those claim Arab descent known as the( Janjaweed) to fight alongside the government forces . The Janjaweeds with help of the army wiped out almost all villages belong to African Darfurians killing more than 350,000 civilians .. Again, the international community intervened and deployed United Nations forces to protect the civilians.
The United Nations indicted some officials including the president himself for war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide. However, the world failed to capture the perpetrators . He was the first president in history to be indicted while in power, but he did not care. He continues to rule in a virtue of ruthless killing.
After 30 years of totalitarian rule, he decided to amend the constitution to allow him to stay in power indefinitely. He is tired of renewing presidency every four years. If he is not in power then he would be facing justice. Therefore, he decided to spend the rest of his life in power no matter how many people lose their lives as a result. His regime is one of the most brutal, corrupt and incompetent. He failed to manage the rich resources of the country and led the country into total economic meltdown. Sudan has become one of the worse performing stats. The Transparency International ranked Sudan at 174 out of 177 countries surveyed. Sudan is experiencing the worst inflation in history reaching up to 85 percent. The value of Sudanese pound dropped to a very low record. It is now 80,000 Sudanese pounds for one dollar. It was only 12 Sudanese pounds per dollar when the dictator took power in 1989. The total economic meltdown led to a severe shortage of basic goods and commodities. This resulted in long queues for bread, gas and cash from ATM’s. Banks ran out of cash as a result of the shortage of cash in circulation. This led to large protests across the country since December 19 2019. The popular uprising this time is different from the previous ones. The popular uprising of 2013 was limited to the Capital Khartoum it was cracked down with brutality. However, this time itis different. It is not limited to the capitol Khartoum as previous time. This time it began across all Sudan cities. The leaders this time are professionals , Ellet party leaders, workers , students and also many clerics are on board. This time the government’s old tactics of exploiting ethnic and religious diversity did not work because all Sudanese are united against him. The government used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse protestors causing massive causalities. So far, until today April 7th 2019 more than 63 people have lost their lives. Most of them were students, doctors and other young people including two children aged 13 and 10 years. Thousands are detained, many injured and many have disappeared feared being executed.
The president has no many options left other than declaring state of emergency . he gave the military and the security officers the power they need to crack dawn the peaceful protesters.
Despite of the severe crack down the uprising continued nationwide with resilience to the bloody repression and polarizing more and more into the street. Thousands of protesters were able to break through the strong military barricades and stationed in front of the headquarters of the General Command of the Sudan Armed Forces. They declared an open-ended sit-in until the present steps dawn.
Will President Al-Bashir step down saving lives?
I know this man’s psychology. He will not give up easily. He will fight to the finish at any cost. On the other hand, the protestors have crossed the point of no return they are now stationed in front of his house . They will continue protest peacefully no matter the brutality and barbarianism of the regime to crack down .
Unless the international community intervenes quickly or the army take over in a coup as happened in 1964 and 1985, there will be a massacre in Sudan. The African Union is watching from a distance. It never solved any problem , it is always part of the problems.
Arab leaders support the dictator as they are no better than the Sudans dictator. They don’t want a renew of the Arab spring, which is their nightmare. They don’t want a truly democratic country in their neighborhood.
Western nations have no interest in poor African countries like Sudan, did not decided to take action to help stop killing innocent people . So far only Weak condonations and empty threats for sanctions certainly will not work with this man.
Americas Trump certainly have no time for countries such as Sudan.
If the West want to save lives in Sudan they should intervene more powerfully and send a strong message to the dictator to stop killing his own people and allow them to exercise their basic human rights peacefully. His regime should be held accountable for the many lives lost, injured and tortured.
We count on our own military to be on the right page of the history , to be with the nation not to support a bloody ailing dictator .
By DR Barodi Mustafa Fashir
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حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية