{"id":2786,"date":"2019-01-01T19:58:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-01T19:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2019-01-01T19:58:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T19:58:11","slug":"hrw-urges-sudan-not-to-use-lethal-force-against-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2019\/01\/01\/hrw-urges-sudan-not-to-use-lethal-force-against-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW urges Sudan not to use lethal force against protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Human Rights Watch<\/a>\u00a0has urged\u00a0Sudan<\/a>‘s government to show restraint and not use lethal force against protesters during the weeks-long demonstrations against President\u00a0Omar al-Bashir<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York-based group, citing estimates from independent groups, said on Monday that Sudanese forces have been using tear gas and live ammunition against protesters, killing more than a dozen people.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement came in the face of renewed protests on Monday, with demonstrators in the capital, Khartoum, expected to try to march on Bashir’s palace to demand he step down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bashir, who has been in power since 1989, vowed in a meeting with police commanders on Sunday that his government would not tolerate any attempt to undermine the stability and security of Sudan, according to the state news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also sought to justify the killing of protesters, quoting from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, according to a video clip of his comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s deterrence to others so that we can maintain security, which is a valuable commodity and, God willing, we will not risk the security of the citizens or the nation,” said Bashir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The objective is not to kill the protesters, but … to safeguard the security and stability of citizens.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehanne Henry, associate director at Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, said Bashir’s speech appeared to “justify excessive use of force instead of condemning this brutality”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With more protests planned, Sudanese authorities should send an unambiguous message to all security forces to respect the rights of protesters and not to use lethal force,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty International has said it has “reliable reports” that 37 protesters were killed in the first five days of protests, which began on December 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has acknowledged 19 deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests were sparked by an increase in bread prices, with demonstrators rallying against the government tripling the price of a loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three ($0.02 to $0.06).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, demands have widened to include calls for Bashir’s resignation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan is facing an acute foreign exchange crisis and soaring inflation despite Washington lifting economic sanctions in October 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation is running at 70 percent and the Sudanese pound has plunged, while shortages of bread and fuel have regularly hit several cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human Rights Watch\u00a0has urged\u00a0Sudan‘s government to show restraint and not use lethal force against protesters during the weeks-long demonstrations against President\u00a0Omar al-Bashir. The New York-based group, citing estimates from independent groups, said on Monday that Sudanese forces have been using tear gas and live ammunition against protesters, killing more than a dozen people.\u00a0 The statement came in the face of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2788,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions\/2788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}