Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Year on, Amnesty Urges Sudan Deliver on Protesters' Demands

Associated Press

   CAIRO - Amnesty International on Thursday urged Sudan's new
   transitional government to deliver on popular demands for sweeping
   change as the country marked the first anniversary of mass protests
   that led to the ouster of former president and longtime autocrat Omar
   al-Bashir.

   A year ago, the first rally was held in Sudan to protest the soaring
   cost of bread, marking the beginning of a pro-democracy movement that
   convulsed the large African country. That led, in April, to the
   toppling by the country's military of al-Bashir, and ultimately to the
   creation of a joint military-civilian Sovereign Council that has
   committed to rebuilding the country and promises elections in three
   years.

   The anniversary drew teeming crowds to the streets in several cities
   and towns across the country. In the morning, a train packed with
   exuberant demonstrators, clapping and chanting, arrived in the capital,
   Khartoum, from the northern city of Atbara, the birthplace of the
   uprising.

   "The transitional authorities must honor the commitments they made to
   restore the rule of law and protect human rights," Seif Magango,
   Amnesty's deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes
   said in a statement. "The Sudanese people deserve nothing less."

   The global rights group said Sudan's new government has shown positive
   signs of progress during its fragile transition to democracy, citing
   the repeal of a decades-old Islamist moral policing law and dissolution
   of the former ruling party -- moves that have helped the Sovereign
   Council distance itself from al-Bashir's disgraced rule.

   Over the weekend, a court in Sudan convicted al-Bashir of money
   laundering and corruption, sentencing him to two years in a minimum
   security lockup. The image of the former dictator in a defendant's cage
   "sent a strong message, on live TV for all of Sudan to see, that we are
   on the route toward justice," said Sarah Abdel-Jaleel, a spokeswoman
   for the protest organizers.
   

References

   Visible links
   Hidden links:
   1. file://localhost/africa/ex-sudan-strongman-al-bashir-gets-2-years-corruption

.