{"id":31018,"date":"2019-01-29T07:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T07:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31018"},"modified":"2019-01-29T07:23:17","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T07:23:17","slug":"al-bashir-vows-to-bring-peace-as-demos-called-in-sudans-war-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31018","title":{"rendered":"Al-Bashir vows to bring peace as demos called in Sudan’s war zones"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nKHARTOUM:\u00a0President Omar Al-Bashir vowed on Monday to bring peace in the state of South Kordofan where Sudanese forces are fighting rebels, as protesters planned to hold anti-government rallies in the country\u2019s conflict zones.<\/p>\n

\nDeadly protests triggered by a government decision to raise the price of bread have rocked the east African country for weeks.<\/p>\n

\nThe demonstrations have spiraled into nationwide rallies against the government of Al-Bashir, who swept to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.<\/p>\n

\nOfficials say 30 people have died in the violence since the protests first erupted on Dec. 19 in the farming town of Atbara, before spreading to Khartoum and other regions. Rights groups say more than 40 people have been killed.<\/p>\n

\nOn Monday, Al-Bashir vowed to work to bring peace in South Kordofan, a region ravaged by a deadly conflict between government forces and rebels since 2011.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur top priority is to bring peace to this area,\u201d Al-Bashir, dressed in military uniform, told a crowd of cheering supporters at a televised rally in Kadguli, the capital of South Kordofan.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are ready to go to any length to bring peace to this area. We will undertake all efforts that will bring peace to this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn 2011, fighting erupted in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, both bordering South Sudan, eight years after a brutal conflict broke out in the country\u2019s western region of Darfur.<\/p>\n

\nTens of thousands of people have been killed in the three conflicts and millions displaced over the years after ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Khartoum, accusing it of economic and political marginalization.<\/p>\n

\nAl-Bashir is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the war in Darfur. He denies the charges.<\/p>\n

\nThe Sudanese Professionals Association leading the protest campaign has called for rallies in the three conflict zones of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan on Monday.<\/p>\n

\nRallies have also been called in other states and in camps for internally displaced people \u201cto show our people\u2019s rejection of the dictator,\u201d the association said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\nFor years, anger has been mounting across Sudan over growing economic hardships and deteriorating living conditions.<\/p>\n

\nMeanwhile, Moscow on Monday said it had sent \u201cinstructors\u201d to Sudan, where demonstrators have been protesting against Al-Bashir for weeks, following reports of sightings of Russian-speaking soldiers in Khartoum.<\/p>\n

\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not specify who the \u201cinstructors\u201d were, but said they were in Sudan \u201cabsolutely legitimately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere are really instructors there, they have been working for some time, a considerable time,\u201d Peskov told journalists. \u201cThis is in the framework of Russia-Sudan bilateral relations, absolutely legitimately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOf course our instructors are in Sudan,\u201d Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, Interfax reported.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere are both private and state instructors\u201d who have been asked to \u201chelp with preparing personnel,\u201d Bogdanov said.<\/p>\n

\nRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last week said \u201crepresentatives of private security firms\u201d were working in Sudan but had \u201cnothing to do with Russia\u2019s government structures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nShe said they were training personnel for Sudan\u2019s \u201cinstitutions of force,\u201d which could refer to law enforcement or military.<\/p>\n

\nRussian President Vladimir Putin met Al-Bashir last July in Moscow where the Sudanese leader said Russia was playing an important role in \u201cpreparing Sudanese military personnel\u201d in the framework of bilateral cooperation.<\/p>\n

\nBritish newspaper The Times said that Russian mercenaries in Sudan were part of the so-called Wagner private security group, a mercurial company sending soldiers to a number of conflicts overseas.<\/p>\n

\nRussian reports alleged in late 2018 that dozens of Wagner mercenaries were in the country.<\/p>\n

\nThe secretive group has also been active in the Central African Republic, according to reports. Last year three Russian journalists investigating its activities in the country were murdered.<\/p>\n

\nRussian officials have labeled the crime a violent robbery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KHARTOUM:\u00a0President Omar Al-Bashir vowed on Monday to bring peace in the state of South Kordofan where Sudanese forces are fighting rebels, as protesters planned to hold anti-government rallies in the country\u2019s conflict zones. Deadly protests triggered by a government decision to raise the price of bread have rocked the east African country for weeks. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}