Trump administration holds talks on whether to normalize relations with Sudan, a CNN investigation has found evidence that the north African country is failing to comply with a key US requirement to improve “human rights protections and practices.”
An undercover CNN team in Khartoum witnessed the brutal crackdown on protests which began over a rise in the cost of living but have escalated into a push for President Omar al-Bashir’s removal.
At demonstrations in a residential area of the capital in mid-March, CNN filmed the indiscriminate violence that has become synonymous with Sudan’s security forces.
Soon after one rally started, national security agents descended on the crowds, sending people scattering into alleyways and neighborhood homes.
We sought refuge in a nearby safe house, where a local family provides shelter to protesters – and people like us – who are trying to avoid detection. Getting caught could have meant death.
People spoke in hushed tones as they dashed quickly through the gates and inside, one whispering “God protect us” as they locked the door.
Peering out from behind the curtains, we could see officers dressed in riot gear, batons in hand, hunting for anyone who might have been at the protest. Suddenly, they were trailed by the dull and ominous thud of a tear gas cannon being fired. We were trapped.
Hours passed as we waited, stuck inside while the troops stalked the streets. Eventually they dragged the neighbor’s son out of the house next door, hitting him as a woman screamed.
The young man was swiftly spirited away by security forces, like so many others who have been involved in Sudan’s uprising. Their accounts of what happens behind closed doors are far worse.
An undercover CNN team in Khartoum witnessed the brutal crackdown on protests which began over a rise in the cost of living but have escalated into a push for President Omar al-Bashir’s removal.
At demonstrations in a residential area of the capital in mid-March, CNN filmed the indiscriminate violence that has become synonymous with Sudan’s security forces.
Soon after one rally started, national security agents descended on the crowds, sending people scattering into alleyways and neighborhood homes.
People spoke in hushed tones as they dashed quickly through the gates and inside, one whispering “God protect us” as they locked the door.
Peering out from behind the curtains, we could see officers dressed in riot gear, batons in hand, hunting for anyone who might have been at the protest. Suddenly, they were trailed by the dull and ominous thud of a tear gas cannon being fired. We were trapped.
Hours passed as we waited, stuck inside while the troops stalked the streets. Eventually they dragged the neighbor’s son out of the house next door, hitting him as a woman screamed.
The young man was swiftly spirited away by security forces, like so many others who have been involved in Sudan’s uprising. Their accounts of what happens behind closed doors are far worse.
