SUDO UK is concerned about continued violence by the security forces against students.
Three students were killed by the security and police forces on the background of violence events in Al-Gazira University, where the security forces besieged students and used electrified sticks against them.
On Wednesday, December 5, the director of Al-Gazira University in Wad-Madani allowed the security and police forces to enter the university in the backdrop of a sit-in by students from Darfur inside the university. The security forces attacked the students and beat them with electrified prods and skewers as well as firing volleys of bullets into the air to intimidate the students. As a result the students panicked and most of them fled to the university’s farm. Due to the panic some of the students fell into a canal, the security forces continued to attack the students, using the electric prods to prevent students from getting out of the canal.
The outcome of these violent events was the following:
On Sunday December 2, the students started a peaceful sit-in because, as part of the Abuja Agreement, the government agreed to pay university tuition fees for students from Darfur. Recently, the government lately breached the agreement and stopped paying the fees. Though some universities agreed to continue to exempt Darfuri students from fees, others like Al-GaziraUniversity did not. As a result the students at Al-Gazira University organized a sit-in in order to persuade the University authorities to continue the exemption.
SUDO UK expresses shock and condemnation at the use of firearms, electric prods and other violence against student demonstrators and calls on the Sudanese authorities to:
