SUDAN / ARRESTS (02:15)

7 December 2009

SUDAN / ARRESTS (02:15)

Secretary General Pagan Amum of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), his deputy for northern Sudan Yasir Arman and Abbas Gumma a state minister at the interior ministry were arrested by security forces on Monday along with over 100 people as they tried to participate in a protest in front of the National Assembly in Khartoum. UNMIS

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Full Script

STORY: SUDAN / POLITICAL ARRESTS
TRT: 2.15
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 7 DECEMBER 2009 KHARTOUM, JUBA, SUDAN

SHOTLIST:

7 DECEMBER 2009 KHARTOUM, SUDAN

1. Wide shot, protestors outside UMMA Party Headquarters
2. Various shots, people protesting
3. VOXPOP (Arabic) man:
“We are demonstrating because of the injustice by the National Congress Party, because they refused to sign laws on security, the Abyei area and the referendum.”
4. Wide shot, protesters with riot police in background5. VOXPOP (Arabic) man:
“The demonstration is because of falseness, injustices and freedom. Because the National Congress Party has been cheating the people and telling them that there is justices but there is not. Now it is out in the open and that’s where we are here. We are students from Khartoum University we came for a peaceful demonstrates with our books and pens.”
5. Wide shot, riot police stopping protesters on road
6. Close up, riot police and protester with banners

DATELINE: DECEMBER 7 2009 JUBA, SUDAN

7. Wide shot, President Salva Kiir residence-Juba
8. Med shot, Vice-President of Southern Sudan Dr Riek Machar talking with SPLM officials
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, chairman of SPLM, President, Southern Sudan: 
“These arrests are not only provocative but unjustified because the interim national constitution of the Sudan and the CPA allows for peaceful and democratic procession to express political opinion”
10. Med shot, SPLM officials
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, chairman of SPLM, President, Southern Sudan: 
“We call upon the leadership of the National Congress Party leadership to unconditionally release all the detainees, including the SPLM secretary general, his deputy, other comrades and any other Sudanese who were arrested this morning.”
12. Med shot, Nhial Deng Nhial Southern Sudan’s Minister of defense 
13. Wide shot, SPLM officials leaving

STORYLINE:

Secretary General Pagan Amum of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), his deputy for northern Sudan Yasir Arman and Abbas Gumma a state minister at the interior ministry were arrested by security forces on Monday (7 Dec) along with over 100 people as they tried to participate in a protest in front of the National Assembly in Khartoum.

The ruling National Congress Party outlawed the rally announcing on Sunday that it was banned and requested people to stay home.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Khartoum’s Omdurman suburb waving banners and flag, and chanting their support, under the careful watch of riot police and other security forces that dispersed the crowds with tear gas.

VOXPOP (Arabic) Man,
“We are demonstrating because of the injustice by the National Congress Party, because they refused to sign laws on security, the Abyei area and the referendum.”

VOXPOP (Arabic) Man
“The demonstration is because of falseness, injustices and freedom. Because the National Congress Party has been cheating the people and telling them that there is justices but there is not. Now it is out in the open and that’s where we are here. We are students from Khartoum University we came for a peaceful demonstrates with our books and pens.”

The SPLM leadership convened an emergency meeting in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba after the arrests and condemned what it called the unjust arrests.

Addressing journalists in his official residence, President Salva Kiir of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) denounced the detentions as being “not only provocative but unjustified because the interim national constitution of the Sudan and the CPA allow for peaceful and democratic procession to express political opinion.”

The SPLM and opposition parties had organized the demonstration to support pending demands for a number of democratic reforms and the passage of laws enabling legislation for referenda scheduled to take place in southern Sudan and the disputed region of Abyei in January 2011.

Salva Kiir, who also serves as chairman of the SPLM, called upon the Khartoum-based Government of National Unity to immediately release the detainees and warned that the continued arbitrary detention of people will only worsen matters and will not promote peace and stability in Sudan.

SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, President of Southern Sudan and chairman of SPLM: 
 “We call upon the leadership of the National Congress Party (NCP) to unconditionally release all the detainees, including the SPLM secretary general, his deputy, other comrades and any other Sudanese who were arrested this morning.”

All three of the southern political leaders and their supporters were later freed after spending hours at a police station. Yasir Arman was reported to have been injured during the arrest, but no casualties were reported.

Protesters in the southern cities of Rumbek and Wau set alight the headquarters of the National Congress Party in reaction to the arrests.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, expressed his concern over the detention and alleged beating of some prominent Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) leaders, opposition supporters and civil society activists during demonstrations earlier today, as well as the reported setting on fire of National Congress Party (NCP) offices.

He emphasized the central importance of political rights and freedoms, especially in the lead-up to elections and referendum and urged all concerned authorities to take effective measures to ensure that law and order is maintained and acts of political violence are prevented.

END

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