Sudanese, African and International civil society calls for protection of the democratic will of the people of Sudan.

Excellency,

We, the undersigned Sudanese, African and International civil society organizations write to express our solidarity with the people of Sudan who, over the past several months, have been calling for a peaceful, democratic transition. This effort has been endangered by the 11 April military coup. Although recent statements from the military transitional council are encouraging, the Security Council must not forget that a military regime is still in power and must take action to ensure a speedy transition to civilian authority and to sustain democratic reform. As the Troika of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway said on 14 April, “To date, the legitimate change that the Sudanese people are demanding has not been achieved. It is vital that that the authorities listen to the calls from the Sudanese people.”

The Sudanese people’s quest for peace and democratic change has propelled country wide protests since December 2018, which developed on 6 April 2019 into massive protests including a sit-in at the military headquarters in Khartoum which continues to the present moment. The protest movement has engaged across Sudan and been led by a wide variety of professionals and political forces. Women have, and continue to, play a critical role in the protest movement, sometimes constituting as many as two-thirds of protestors and becoming emblems of the movement.

Although the people of Sudan have been calling for an end to the regime of President Omar Al Bashir, they did not want him to be replaced with a military regime. Over his 30 year tenure, President Bashir has overseen the waging of several wars that have primarily targeted civilians (in both Darfur and more recently in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile) and were designated by the Security Council as threats to international peace and security, severe repression of political opposition and civil society, shrinking of civil society space, the secession of South Sudan and denial of humanitarian access to conflict zones. Military authority threatens more of the same.

To read the full letter, Click here