The crackdown on the current uprising against the authoritarian rule of president Omar al-Bashir in Sudan has been brutal. Since the initial days in December 2018, at least 40 people have been killed, and thousands have been imprisoned.
President Bashir came to power through a coup in 1989, and has since ruled the country with an iron fist.
This conversation will shed a light on the particular role of medical doctors in the uprisings and why the national security forces retaliate against hospitals. The panel will also explain the background of the protests and discuss future prospects for this complex country.
Not another Arab spring, but a Sudanese storm.
We are glad to invite all interested to this highly current lunch conversation. We will serve international lunch and refreshments, and hope that you will join us.
About the panel
Liv Tønnessen is Research Director at CMI. She is a political scientist researching women, politics and Islam in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Tønnessen has specialized in Sudanese politics for more than a decade. She has conducted extensive fieldworks in the country and she has lectured at Ahfad University for Women. She is heading the ARUS project collaborating with Ahfad, University of Khartoum and seven regional Universities in Sudan.
Sara Abdelgalil is a Paediatrician and head of the Sudan Doctors Union UK
Harir Sharif is a former senior researcher at UiB. In 1997 he joined the Sudanese opposition in the field.
Lovise Aalen is Research Director at CMI and a political scientist focusing on the politics in the Horn of Africa. She has a special interest in governance in multiethnic states coming out of civil war, women's political participation and youth activism in authoritarian states in Africa.