News reports indicate that a last-minute ditch effort by the NCP to check the box on the reform of the National Security Act (which gives Sudan’s security services the veneer of legal cover as they arbitrarily detain Sudanese citizens, incommunicado – more often than not torturing the detainees in their custody) took place yesterday. I have an Arabic version of the draft (email me if you want a copy) and will post some select highlights in English once I get a translation. But in essence, the only real change seems to be a reduction in the length of time the NCP-controlled National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) can hold people for.
This “reform” is a far cry from the call of human rights organizations and Sudanese civil society groups that the power of detention and interrogation be removed from NISS and be placed under the control of the police. The SPLM bloc in Parliament voted against the law and other opposition groups simply walked out. Nevertheless, the NCP used its majority to pass the legislation (VP Salva Kiir says he will refuse to sign the new law).
Let’s hope the Obama Administration will not be duped into accepting the passage of this law as a benchmark of progress, for it is no such thing.
Nice to read your blog from outside the oil curtain! Merry Christmas Bec!