Adam
Graham
Eco
357
Sudan: Post-coup Purge
Underway
A new military government has been established in
Sudan. According to this article, some of their
first orders of business have been to capture and convict previous, what they
think were corrupt, politicians.
One example of this is the conviction of Mr. Idris al Banna, a member of
Sudan’s council
of state. He was refused a lawyer
and denied access to the incriminating evidence against him. He was sentenced for twenty years on the
charges of economic sabotage, ten years for squandering public funds, and ten
years for fraud.
This was the first arrest of the new campaign against these overthrown
politicians. Since Idris, there
have been many more arrests of other politicians or people associated with
politicians such as the wife of a prime minister, her husband, and
Sudan’s Roman
Catholic Bishop. The military
government says that all of these people have been involved in corrupted
politics. Since this coup, sources
say nearly 60 high court and local court judges have resigned or been
dismissed. Some have been replaced
with three man military tribunals, such as in Idris’s case.
Since this crackdown, sources say that many shop owners have shut down in
the city of Khartoum in rebellion of
selling their goods at the government set prices. Conditions are the worst they have been
says some, with nationwide shortages of bread, sugar, and fuel. With a foreign exchange shortage, the
government is desperate for international help. As of now
Sudan’s leader,
Omar Hassan el Bashir, has only the full support of Col. Gaddafy of
Libya.