Received Registration Unit 02/05/2018 

am February 2018
Dear Leaders of Congress,

You will be aware from media'reports that there has been a growing Wave of protests

- across Sudan over the past month, re?ecting the escalating economic and political crisis.
Pro-democraCy opposition parties in Khartoum announced on 17 January that they
would continue peaceful ?cfivic resistance until the Bashir regime is remOved. I

President Bashiriwho has been in power for 29 years and is wanted by the International
Criminal court (ICC) on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,
wants to amend the Constitution so that he can stand for another 5 year-term and rUn in
the 2020 elections in order to protect himself from the ICC. For Sudanese people, this
would mean another seven years of dictatorship, poverty and despair.

Sudanese Opposition forces, activists and ordinary citifz?e'nsa're ?ghting for their rights
and are struggling to achieve. a just, peaceful and democratic Sudan. There is currently a
growing wave of protests acroSs the country as aresult of?the doubling or tripling of the
price of bread and other basic commodities which has placed an intolerable burden on
the poor and growing anger at the regime '5 corruption, mismanagement and restrictions
on basic freedoms. 

Despite the permanent easing of US sanctions in October 2017, the Sudanese economy
has continued to deteriorate leading to the rapid and accelerating depreciation of the
Sudanese currency, which has fallen to a historic low. The root causes of the economic
crisis are bad governance, economic mismanagement, grand c-?ori?dption and heavy
expenditure on the military and security sector at the expense of education, health and
basic services for the people; The Bashir regime has no way of responding to the
economic Crisis other than Continuing to print money because it neglected the,

. agricultural and industrial sectors during the years of oil production in the 19905 and
20005, preferring to deposit billions of dollars of oil revenue in private offshore

. accounts rather than investing in productive sectors. 

Although protests against the huge p?riCe hikes have been entirely peaceful, the
Government has responded in its usual repressive style, including the use of'batons and
tear gas against demonstrators, the opposition leader's, human rights activists and
ordinary citizens and further harassment of the press for reporting on the protests,
including the repeated seizure of national newspapers and the arrest of Sudanese and
international journalists. The regime's security forces have also used live ammunition
against demonstrators in Darfur. resulting in the death of a high-school Student in El 
Darfur, 0n '7 January and the death of ?ve internally displaced people in
the Hassahisa IDP camp in Central Darfur on 20 January. Further large-Scale

demonstrations took place in Khartoum and some other Sudanese cities on 31 January.
These protests are expected to centinue as the economic situation deteriorates forther.

Over three hundred people have been detained by the National Intelligence and Security
Service without charge or trial including prominent opposition leaders
including: 

Omar Degair, Chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party 

Mohamed Mukhtar-Al-Khatib, Secretary-General of The Sudanese Communist
- Party 

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ReCeived by Registration Unit 02/05/2018 4:33:55 PM

Sidiq Yousif, a senior member of the Sudanese CommunistParty
Mohamed a1 Douma. Vice Chairman of the National Umma Party
General Fadlullah Burma, Vice Chairman of the National Umma Party
Sara Nugdallah, Secretary-General of the National Umma Party
Ibrahim Al Amin,- a Senior member of the National Umma Party

Mohamed Farouq Salman, Sudanese Alliance Party and Spokesman of the Sudan
Call Forces Inside Sudan

Many other politicians, journalists, activists and students are also being held by 
There are credible reports that many of the detainees have 'been ill-treated and tOrtured.
The latest list of detainees is appended to this letter. -

The ongoing peace talks in Addis Ababa under the auspices of theiAU High-Level
Implementation Panel are helping the regime to distract attention from the mounting
popular demonstrations and the heavy crackdown.

We call on the United States Congress to

0' Condemn the Government of Sudan for the excessive and unjusti?ed use of force
demonstrators, for the mass arrest of a?ctiviSts, Opposition
politicians and ordinary 'citizens, for the ill-treatment and torture of detainees
and for the harassment and intimidation of the media; 

0 Demand the immediate release of all those detained in connection with the
current protests

- Support the right of the Sudanese people to exercise their right to freedom of
eXpression and association including freedom of the media,

Yours sincerely,

Yasir Arman
Deputy Chain'nan
Sudan Peoples? Liberation Movement- North

Enclosure

This material is distributed by Esther Sprague on behalf of the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement North. Additional information 18 available at the Department of
Justice, Washington, DC.

Received by Registration Unit 02/05/2018 4:33:55 PM