Sudan: Deadliest Day in Sudan's Fuel Subsidies Protests, Nationwide Internet Access Cut Off

Food is distributed by aid agencies.

Khartoum — The Sudanese government announced on Wednesday that orders were issued to the army to deploy to public government buildings and gas stations to protect from protesters who continued demonstrating against the decision to cut fuel subsidies.

Ahmed Bilal, the country’s information minister and government spokesperson, told the pro-government Ashorooq TV that the army was asked to move in against "outlaws".

"What we see confirms that they are not peaceful protesters but outlaws," Bilal said.

He also acknowledged reports of an internet shutdown saying that the government has exercised "plenty of self-restraint" but promised that the cyber-blackout will soon end.

The spokesperson accused unspecified elements of inciting the demonstrations which started on Monday in Sudan’s central state of Gezira and spread later to other parts of the country including Khartoum, Omdurman, Darfur and Eastern Sudan.

In Gezira state capital of Wad Madani, Bilal said, the protesters attacked more than 37 policemen before adding that only 5 people were killed on both sides.

Bilal also claimed that some of the protesters were carrying knives and firearms. He also denied reports that some of the forces joined hands with protesters.

The Sudanese 1st vice-president Ali Osman Taha who was addressing an event in Khartoum today, said that his government does not fear those demonstrations and insisted that the economic measures decided this week will remain in place.

But in an apparent bid to prevent escalation, the Khartoum state government announced that schools will be closed till next Monday. Many of the protests were comprised of students, eyewitnesses said.

This follows announcement of several universities this week that they will close in light of the unrest.

CONFLICTING DEATH FIGURES

Today’s demonstrations spread to down-town Khartoum and saw protesters setting fire in police stations and even buildings belonging to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in south of the capital as well as gas stations.

Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who threw rocks at them, burned tires and even blocked a main road in the capital.

The protestors chanted slogans which included "The people want the fall of the regime!", "Freedom, Freedom!".

It has been hard to ascertain the number of deaths in today’s demonstrations given the internet shut-down and suspension of transportation services. Businesses and shops were also closed as merchants feared looting.

The director of Omdurman hospital Osama Mortada told the BBC’s Arabic Service that 21 people sent to his hospital had died, and that about 80 were injured.

"All have gunshot wounds, some in the chest," he said.

Opposition figures put the death toll between 50-80 but there was no independent verification.

Despite government assertions that police did not use force, several eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune they have seen dead friends or family members with bullet shots on their bodies.

Another eye witness in north Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that he saw security agents in plain-clothes fire live ammunition at protesters and beating some of them violently.

A Reuters reporter saw police fire tear-gas grenades into a crowd while hundreds of officers and plain-clothes security agents armed with guns or batons rushed to the city center. Others were sitting on the roof of government buildings. Security agents drove away some 20 protesters in pick-up trucks.

US CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE

The United States Embassy in Khartoum issued a statement today saying that is aware of the protests in Sudan with violence and damage to properties that ensued.

"We call on the authorities to respect the civil liberties of those protesting and, in particular, their right to assemble peacefully and express their views. We urge all parties to refrain from the use of violence," the embassy said.

"During this challenging time for Sudan, it is vital that all sides exercise caution and restraint" the statement read.

The Sudanese embassy in Washington said in a press release that the lifting of fuel subsidies was due to the US economic sanctions.

"Due to continuing economic sanctions against the peoples of Sudan, the Government of Sudan lifted subsidies for gasoline. Some citizens violently protested this necessary economic measure by burning government buildings, gasoline stations, shopping malls and private property. Some also attacked the police, who defended themselves while protecting public and private property," the embassy said.

It also denied imposing an internet blackout.

"The Government of Sudan did not block internet access. Among other targets, violent protesters burned facilities of Canar Telecommunications Company, which hosts the core base of internet services for Sudan. These fires resulted in continuing internet black outs across Sudan," it added.

"The Government of Sudan and Canar Telecom have now partially restored internet service and will work until internet access is fully restored".

Renesys Corp., a company that maps the pathways of the Internet, said according to Associated Press that it could not confirm whether the blackout was government-orchestrated. But the outage recalls a similarly dramatic outage in Egypt, Sudan’s neighbour, when authorities shut off Internet access during that country’s 2011 uprising.

"It’s either a government-directed thing or some very catastrophic technological failure that just happens to coincide with violent riots happening in the city," said senior analyst Doug Madory. He said it was almost a "total blackout."

ECONOMY ON THE BRINK

On Monday, the Sudanese cabinet formally endorsed a decision that has been circulated the night before by which prices of gasoline and diesel were increased by almost 100%.

A gallon of gasoline now costs 21 Sudanese pounds ($4.77 based on official exchange rate) compared to 12.5 pounds ($2.84).

Diesel also went from 8 pounds ($1.81) a gallon to 14 pounds ($3.18).

Cooking gas cylinders are now are priced at 25 pounds ($5.68) from 15 pounds ($3.40).

The cabinet also raised the US dollar exchange rate for importing purposes to 5.7 pounds compared to 4.4. The black market rate now stands at 8.2.

Senior Sudanese officials including president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir have defended the measure saying the only alternative would be an economic collapse as the state budget can no longer continue offering the generous subsidies on petroleum products to its people.

Sudan’s oil boom that fuelled an unprecedented economic growth and a relative prosperity over the last decade came to an end with the independence of South Sudan which housed around three quarters of the crude reserves prior to the country’s partition.

Last year the Sudanese government rolled out an austerity package that saw a scaling back of fuel and sugar subsidies as well as cutting the number of ministries. It also effectively devalued the beleaguered currency with the goal of reducing exchange rate parity with the black market.

But the economic picture remained bleak with inflation rates at double digit figures which pushed ordinary Sudanese to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for food and other basic commodities.

The Sudanese pound also continued its free fall against the US dollar reaching 8.2 in the black market this week compared to an official rate of 4.4.

The decline of the local currency and shortage of Forex meant that Sudan will pay more to import food which is vital to plug the deficiency in local food production. It also hurt businessmen and foreign companies that desperately seek to repatriate profits abroad.

This year’s round of subsidy cuts nearly doubled gasoline and diesel prices which is sure to be felt across the board and will likely create a domino effect on prices of other goods and services such as transportation tariffs which were already increased by 25% in Khartoum.

Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood 'activities'

The army portrays its crackdown on the Brotherhood as a fight against terrorism

A court in Egypt has banned "all activities" by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters said the ruling applied to the Islamist movement, its non-governmental organisation and any affiliated groups.

It also ordered the interim government to seize the Brotherhood's funds and form a panel to administer its frozen assets until any appeal had been heard.

The military authorities have launched a crackdown on the group since ousting President Mohammed Morsi on 3 July.

Dozens of senior figures, including its general guide Mohammed Badie, have been detained on suspicion of inciting violence and murder.

Hundreds of people demanding Mr Morsi's reinstatement, most of them Brotherhood members, have also been killed in clashes with security forces, who portray the crackdown as a struggle against "terrorism".

'Totalitarian decision'

The 85-year-old Islamist movement was banned by Egypt's military rulers in 1954, but registered an NGO called the Muslim Brotherhood Association in March in response to a court case bought by opponents who contested its legal status.

The Brotherhood also has a legally registered political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which was set up in 2011 as a "non-theocratic" group after the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Following Mr Morsi's overthrow and the suspension of the Islamist-friendly 2012 constitution, the Cairo administrative court and the social solidarity ministry were tasked with reviewing the Brotherhood's legal status.

Monday's ruling by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters bans the Brotherhood itself, the NGO, as well as "any institution derived from or belonging to the Brotherhood" or "receiving financial support from it". It is not clear if it applies to the charities and social services linked to the Brotherhood, including schools and hospitals.

A leading Brotherhood member, Ibrahim Mounir, described the ruling as a "totalitarian decision" but insisted the group would not disappear.

"It will remain with God's help, not by the orders by the judiciary of al-Sisi,'' he told al-Jazeera Mubashir Misr TV, referring to the head of the armed forces Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

The court did not reveal the grounds for the ruling, but it was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the leftist National Progressive Unionist Party, also known as Tagammu, which accused the Brotherhood of being "terrorist" and "exploiting religion in political slogans".

Earlier this month, a judicial panel issued a non-binding recommendation to an administrative court supporting one legal challenge, which argued that the NGO registration was illegal because the Brotherhood-led government had effectively issued a licence to itself.

Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed al-Borai is also reported to have decided separately to dissolve the Brotherhood's NGO. He told Dream TV on Saturday that he would soon publish a statement outlining his reasons.

Nairobi attack: Kenya's President Kenyatta says siege over

President Uhuru Kenyatta: "We have shamed and defeated our attackers"

The four-day siege involving suspected Islamist militants at Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre is over, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta says.

Five attackers were shot dead by troops and 11 suspects were in custody, he said in a TV address to the nation.

Kenya has "shamed and defeated our attackers" but the "losses are immense", he said, confirming that 61 civilians and six soldiers had died.

Three days of national mourning have been declared, starting on Wednesday.

President Kenyatta said that several bodies - including those of "terrorists" - were thought to be trapped under rubble after three floors of the building collapsed following a blaze on Monday.

Some 175 people were injured in the attack; 62 people remain in hospital and many others are being treated for shock and are undergoing counselling.

"I promise that we shall have a full accountability for the mindless destruction, deaths, pain, loss and suffering we have all undergone as a national family.

"These cowards will meet justice, as will their accomplices and patrons, wherever they are," he said.

At least 18 foreigners are among the dead, including six Britons, as well as citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China.

Continued threat

The militants stormed the Westgate centre on Saturday, throwing grenades and firing on shoppers and staff.

Somali Islamist group al-Shabab said it had carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenyan army operations in Somalia.

The president said he could not confirm reports that a British national and two or three US citizens were involved in the attacks, but he said forensic experts were carrying out tests to ascertain their nationalities.

In an interview with the US TV programme PBS Newshour, Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said the Americans were 18 or 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin.

Her remarks have fuelled media speculation about the possible involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of one of the men who carried out attacks on London's transport system on 7 July 2005.

But a Twitter post from al-Shabab on Tuesday evening dismissed claims that women were involved in the attack. The group said it "categorically" denied involvement of any woman".

The group said: "We have an adequate number of young men who are fully committed and we do not employ our sisters in such military operations."

President Barack Obama called the events in Nairobi a "terrible outrage" and said the US was providing all the co-operation it could to Kenya.

Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said those behind the attacks "must be held accountable."

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi did not pull its troops out of Somalia.

There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia as part of an African Union force supporting Somali government forces.

Al-Shabab is fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia.

Despite being pushed out of key cities in the past two years, it remains in control of smaller towns and large swathes of the countryside.

UN special representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay called on Tuesday for a fresh surge in African troops to Somalia to counter an estimated 5,000 al-Shabab fighters.

Jan Sithole: Swaziland activist elected MP

Jan Sithole has been campaigning for change in Swaziland for many years

Leading pro-democracy activist Jan Sithole has told the BBC he will be able to bring change to Swaziland, after being elected to parliament.

He becomes one of 55 independent MPs after last week's polls in which political parties could not take part.

Mr Sithole, 60, leads the Swaziland Democratic Party (Swadepa).

King Mswati III, 45, is Africa's last absolute monarch, with the powers to rule by decree and dissolve the parliament whenever he wants.

But Mr Sithole denied that he would be powerless to bring about change.

"Action takes place in parliament," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme, stressing he was still a critic of the current system.

The Swadepa leader, who was elected as an independent candidate, said one of the first things he would do would be to bring a bill of rights to parliament.

The constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, association and the press but laws enacting these freedoms have not been passed, he said.

For example, the long-standing ban on political parties has not yet been overturned, although they are now allowed to register.

According to official results, 46 of the 55 lawmakers were new to parliament, the AFP news agency reports.

While King Mswati's family has ruled Swaziland since the 1800s there has been growing criticism of his large family's lavish lifestyle at a time when many in the country live below the poverty line.

He recently announced that he would be taking his 15th wife, an 18-year-old beauty queen whom he spotted at the annual reed dance.

King Mswati has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle

Kenya: We Have Control of All Westgate Floors - Ole Lenku

Cabinet Secretary for Interior Joseph Ole Lenku has said that in the ongoing security operation at the Westgate shopping mall, the Kenyan forces have control of all the floors of the building.

In a joint press briefing with Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and Chief of Staff General Julius Karangi, Ole Lenku said that the number of hostages in the building has reduced.

“The number of hostages in the building is minimal if at all there are any left in the building,” Ole Lenku said. He added that the lists compiled from crisis centres of those missing has only very few persons unaccounted for.

The cabinet secretary also said that the number of those still receiving treatment resulting from the initial attack has reduced to below 50 down from the initial government figure of 175.

Ole Lenku also placed the number of fatalities at 62 a difference of seven from the number given by Kenya Red Cross services which has been conducting emergency services since Saturday.

Karangi also briefing the press added that the identities of the attackers are known and that the group of attackers is composed of multi-nationals.

Karangi said that a dark cloud of billowing smoke that could be seen from the general area of the shopping complex was a fire the terrorists had lit in the supermarket section of the building to try and divert the attention of the Kenyan forces as they attempted to escape.

“The ploy to burn mattresses was a tactic by the terrorists in a bid to try to escape,” Karangi said adding that the terrorists should surrender because, the Kenyan forces would not relent in the operation.

Karangi concluded that security has been heightened in all points of entry into the country. He said that the attackers at the mall were all men contrary to earlier reports that a lady wanted by the American and British governments dubbed the “White Widow”, was leading the operation. The siege of the shopping mall is now in its third day.

Kenya: More Hostages Freed At Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya

PHOTO ESSAY: Push to Free Kenya Mall Hostages

Security forces have freed some hostages in the Nairobi shopping mall siege, Kenya's police chief said shortly after a series of loud blasts. The siege at the Westgate mall in Nairobi is in its third day.

Police announced that they would continue to move in on the attackers at the Nairobi mall. They have given no estimate for how many hostages remain inside.

"Thumbs up to our multiagency team, we have just managed to rescue some hostages," police chief David Kimaiyo wrote in a message on Twitter on Monday, the third day of the standoff. "We're increasingly gaining advantage of the attackers."

In apparent retaliation for Kenyan military actions against Islamists in Somalia, Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants attacked the mall on Saturday, throwing grenades, firing machine guns at shoppers, and ultimately killing 69 people. Upon entering the shopping center, the militants reportedly specifically targeted non-Muslims. They have since been holed up in the building with hostages and are surrounded by Kenyan security forces.

As police announced successes on Monday, news agencies reported multiple large blasts and a barrage of gunfire. Black and grey smoke rose up from the mall.

Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Lenku said at a press conference that two of the gunmen had been killed.

'A speedy conclusion'

Security forces tweeted Sunday that they would launch an operation to end the assault. However, the security forces did not announce how many assailants remained in the building.

"Most of the hostages have been rescued and security forces have taken control of most parts of the building," the Kenya Defence Forces wrote. "All efforts are under way to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion."

Early Monday, the Kenya Red Cross announced that 63 people remained missing, believed to include hostages as well as people killed during the three-day siege. Lenku said that "a few" hostages remain in the mall, but would not give exact figures.

Al-Shabab has threatened to kill the hostages if the military or police use force. However, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta promised in a nationwide address Sunday that the attackers would "not get away with their despicable acts."

"We will punish the masterminds swiftly, and indeed very painfully," he said, revealing that his nephew and nephew's fiancee were among those killed.

Toll could rise

The Westgate mall, which is located in a wealthy area of Nairobi where many UN workers and diplomats live, is frequented by many foreign nationals in the city.

Both Kenyans and foreigners were confirmed dead in the attack, with British, French, Indian, Canadian, Dutch, Ghanaian and Chinese citizens reported among those killed. More than 175 people were injured in the siege, and officials said the death toll could rise after security forces have had the opportunity to conduct a complete search of the complex.

It is the deadliest attack in Kenya since 200 people were killed in the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi by al Qaeda's East Africa cell.

On Monday, the International Criminal Court suspended the atrocities trial of Kenya's vice president, William Ruto, for one week while the country deals with the hostage situation.

Ivory Coast dismisses ICC warrant for Simone Gbagbo

Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo faces charges of murder and rape

Ivory Coast has said it plans to try ex-first lady Simone Gbagbo in its own courts, instead of handing the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The wife of former President Laurent Gbagbo is being prosecuted for alleged crimes against humanity following disputed presidential polls in 2010.

On Friday, Ivory Coast ministers voted to dismiss the ICC's arrest warrant.

Some 3,000 people died in violence after Mrs Gbagbo's husband refused to accept defeat in a run-off vote.

He is already awaiting trial at the ICC in The Hague on four charges of crimes against humanity. Mr Gbagbo, 67, who insists he is innocent, is the first former head of state to have appeared at the ICC.

The West African ex-leader was ousted in 2011 with the help of French and UN forces backing President Alassane Ouattara.

He and his wife were arrested in a bunker, five months after the elections, following a military assault on their residence in the main city, Abidjan.

'Fair trial'

Ivory Coast lawmakers confirmed on Friday they had decided to file a "motion to dismiss" the ICC's warrant issued in February 2012.

"The decision of the cabinet aims to have Mrs Gbagbo brought to trial by Ivorian courts, whose good reputation has been restored and which can hold a fair trial that will guarantee the rights of the defence," the government said in a statement.

Officials added they had informed the ICC of their decision.

Mrs Gbagbo has been charged with crimes against humanity in Ivory Coast.

Correspondents say the court in The Hague will respond to the request once it has investigated whether Mrs Gbagbo will receive a fair trial in Ivory Coast.

She faces four charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and torture allegedly committed in Ivory Coast between 16 December 2010 and 12 April 2011.

Friday's announcement came shortly after the African Union announced it would hold a special summit next month to discuss a mass withdrawal from the ICC in protest at the trial of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto.

Earlier this month, Kenya's parliament voted to leave the ICC just days before the start of Mr Ruto's trial.

However, the ICC said the decision would not affect the trial of Mr Ruto, or Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose case is due to begin in November.

The AU has previously accused the ICC of "hunting" African leaders and ignoring atrocities elsewhere.

The ICC was set up in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

All the eight cases it is currently investigating are in Africa.