Items by Khalil Charles
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- December 19, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan hovers between hope and fear on first anniversary of protest movement
As Sudan celebrates the first anniversary of the beginning of the protests which led to the fall of the three-decade old regime of Omar Al-Bashir, it also completes the first 100 days of its new government led by a coalition of army generals and the Freedom and Change movement....
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- November 17, 2019 Khalil Charles
Amid economic woes Sudan’s revolution hits an identity crisis
An arrest warrant for two leading members of the 1989 coup d’etat; a lawsuit against a conservative scholar accused of breaching religious freedom, an accusation the curriculum is being re-written to take out references to the Quran are just three issues changing and challenging the social fabric and identity...
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- November 3, 2019 Khalil Charles
Trump's refusal to remove Sudan from terror list may force interim government to make tough decisions
The decision by United States’ President Donald Trump to continue sanctions against Sudan is the clearest indication yet of the unwillingness to acknowledge or accept the progress made by Sudan’s December revolution and its new interim government. Following last week’s visit by a delegation led by Sudanese Finance Minister,...
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- July 19, 2019 Khalil Charles
How could Turkey respond if US imposed sanctions over Russia’s S-400 delivery?
With the arrival at the Murted Airbase outside Ankara of Russian planes, over the past six days, carrying the S-400 missile defence system, the expected fall out between the United States and Turkey still threatens to bring relations between the two countries to an all-time diplomatic low. Turkey must...
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- July 4, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s ‘revolution’ was a military coup in disguise
According to well-informed sources, on the night of 22 February this year, as the invited guests in Sudan’s presidential palace gardens and television crews waited for the President to arrive and address the nation, the country’s former head of intelligence was also waiting. Enraged by President Omar Al-Bashir’s words,...
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- June 24, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s revolution fades as the Transitional Military Council rejects mediation
Few Sudanese support the notion that the ideals of the revolution should be abandoned, but most have surrendered to the reality that the desired civilian transitional rule is unlikely to be delivered anytime soon. The latest Ethiopian mediation efforts proposed by Mohammed Darir, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed’s envoy,...
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- June 17, 2019 Khalil Charles
Competing visions about civilian rule make any agreement in Sudan unlikely
Historians and political scientists who have followed recent events in Sudan closely will point to the irony of the current dispute between the military and protest groups over the definition of, and demand for, civilian rule. In 1999, a well-documented split between former President Omar Al-Bashir and National Assembly...
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- May 24, 2019 Khalil Charles
Gulf countries, Egypt will not allow Sudan to hand power to civilians
There are at least a dozen reasons, some fictitious, why Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) appears reluctant to give up power, but protest groups are becoming increasingly aware that the two major Gulf states – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and Egypt have a vested...
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- May 21, 2019 Khalil Charles
Why did the talks between Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and protest groups break down?
If the walls of Sudan’s presidential palace could speak, they would tell of a stark difference in the atmosphere of the talks between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) before and after the 72-hour delay imposed by the TMC last week. The...
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- May 15, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s transitional agreement and its importance for Africa and the Arab world
The agreement between the signatories to the Declaration for Freedom and Change and the Transitional Military Council in Khartoum has not been fleshed out in great detail, but the historic deal has paved the way for a new Sudan and a new model of change in Africa and the...
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- May 1, 2019 Khalil Charles
Climate of mistrust created by Bashir’s 30-year rule threatens Sudan’s stability
There is an almost hysterical level of mistrust in Sudan which in the view of some observers is crippling the country’s attempt to reach an agreement about its future. For some that future has little to do with an understanding of policy and ideology, and everything to do with...
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- April 20, 2019 Khalil Charles
The self-inflicted end of Bashir’s 30-year rule
Here in Sudan, claims of responsibility for the downfall of the government of Omar Al-Bashir have become commonplace. On the dusty walls of buildings are graffiti-like writings proclaiming hashtags “just fall and still not fallen”. Sudanese capital Khartoum is awash with major players claiming victory for the removal of...
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- April 17, 2019 Khalil Charles
The return of communism and the battle to define Sudan’s true identity
Almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall which brought communism to an abrupt end in Europe, communism has emerged alive and flourishing in Sudan. After last week’s removal of President Omar Al Bashir from power, it has now become clear that the campaign was partly funded and...
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- April 9, 2019 Khalil Charles
Splits within Sudan’s defence forces embolden the protest movement
The events unfolding in Sudan are unprecedented. Tens of thousands of protestors have gathered for a fourth consecutive day outside the Armed Forces headquarters in the capital Khartoum demanding the removal of President Omar Al-Bashir. For the second night, attempts by the police and security forces to disperse protestors staging...
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- March 19, 2019 Khalil Charles
There is no real change in Sudan’s new government and protests are ongoing
The Sudanese President’s government reshuffle following the imposition of a state of emergency on 22 February has been greeted with mixed reactions. The most outstanding feature of the changes is the lack of any appointments worthy of mention. Many of the same faces remain or have returned to government...
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- March 11, 2019 Khalil Charles
Qur’an recitation saves protestor from torture in Sudan
Outside an unmarked building in a residential area of Khartoum, Um Mohammed crouched down with her head between her knees unable to stand any longer. She and a few family members were waiting for news of her eldest son detained by security forces after being bundled into a pick-up...
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- March 7, 2019 Khalil Charles
Is Sudan’s president safe or has he created a false sense of security?
Permanently dressed in his army fatigues when seen in public, President Field Marshall Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has downed his civilian attire and has rolled up his sleeves to begin the task of rebuilding the country. Despite the pockets of continuing unrest, calls for civil disobedience and opposition demands for...
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- February 26, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s President agreed to resign as party leader but was prevented by the army
As the world awaited President Omar Al-Bashir’s speech on Friday, frantic negotiations resulted in a last-minute change of direction. Intelligence Chief Salah Abdullah Gosh had been told to announce to the world’s media that Al-Bashir had agreed to step down as the leader of the National Congress Party (NCP)...
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- February 24, 2019 Khalil Charles
Is the 30-year rule of Sudan’s President Al-Bashir coming to an end?
The decision to dissolve the government, the Council of Ministers and declare a state of emergency will come as little comfort for the hundreds of thousands of protestors who have demonstrated against the government for the past two months. Angry responses from protest groups on social media platforms vowed...
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- February 12, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s protest movement is revolutionising youth culture
In a country with no nightclubs or bars, strolling along the River Nile or picnicking in Khartoum’s parks used to be the usual form of entertainment for young people in Sudan’s capital. However, since the outbreak of street protests in December the daily routine has changed. Free time now...
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- February 5, 2019 Khalil Charles
Sudan’s protests may have slowed, but they have undoubtedly changed attitudes
Signs that the pace of the protests in Sudan is slowing down became apparent this week when a call for mass demonstrations on Monday went virtually unheeded. This has prompted Sudan’s security forces to lower the threat level from code red to code blue, a move which reduces the...
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- January 31, 2019 Khalil Charles
Why has Sudan just set some protestors free?
The decision by Sudan’s Intelligence Services to release protestors arrested during the ongoing demonstrations across the country may come as a surprise to human rights organisations and detainees alike. However, those close to President Omar Al-Bashir are aware that after 30 years he remains an astute strategist capable of...
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- January 25, 2019 Khalil Charles
Why has Sudan’s Islamic Movement become the target of street protests?
A prominent feature of the revolution in Sudan has now become a target of the on-going protests across the country. The noticeable increase in the nation’s religiosity and the numbers of people attending mosques and religious ceremonies was touted by Omar Al-Bashir’s National Salvation government as one of the...
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- January 22, 2019 Khalil Charles
Can Sudan protests succeed without a leader to replace Al-Bashir?
A month after a spontaneous protest in the Northern Sudan of Atbara, known as the “City of Iron and Fire,” morphed into a series of organised demonstrations, there are still no signs that the resistance movement is coming to an end. What began as a protest against bread, fuel...