"Tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and other heavy-handed suppression will not resolve the frustrations and grievances of the people, Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
Rights groups say scores of people have been jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
since the protests against inflation began on June 16 in the capital, Khartoum.
The protests spread after President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
announced austerity measures including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel.
Demonstrators in groups of 100 or 200 burned tires, threw stones and blocked roads while calling for regime change.
In response, coppers fired tear gas at protesters in the eastern town of Kassala, witnesses said.
"After 23 years of endurance, the Sudanese people have decided to say enough is enough," said activist movement Sudan Change Now.
In her plea for calm, Pillay also called on Sudan "to immediately and unconditionally release those who have been incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
for merely exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
| I suspect those rights are not enumerated in the Sudanese constitution, assuming they have such a thing. Though if they did, it must be assumed that burning tires, throwing stones, and blocking roads are not considered protected expression. |
| Their constitution does make a distinction between a mandate and a tax, however... |
She also urged protestors to ensure, on their part, that no violence or damage to property takes place during the demonstrations.
Sudan has lost billions of dollars in oil receipts since South Sudan gained independence last July, taking with it about 75 percent of Sudanese crude production.
Pillay's statement comes after Sudan rounded on the United States for criticizing its handling of the protest movement.
"The USA is not qualified to advice on such an issue because it continues bombing civilians in different parts of the world and it cracked down on demonstrators on Wall Street," foreign ministry front man al-Obeid Meruh said on Wednesday.
He was responding to comments by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who said that "arresting and mistreating protesters" will not solve Sudan's political and economic crises.
"There have been reports of protesters being beaten, imprisoned and severely mistreated while in government custody. We call for the immediate release of those incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
for peaceful protest," she said.