Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 277 Dead in Two Days?

The moment, at 1:35 of the clip, when the crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square learned that Mohamed Morsi had been confirmed as Egyptian President

See also Sudan Analysis and Video: Explaining the Latest Protests
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2015 GMT: Egypt. President-elect Mohamed Morsi has given a televised speech in which he has thanked the "martyrs" of the uprising against the Mubarak regime, saluted the people, and thanked the army, police, and judiciary for their service to Egypt.

Meanwhile, an officer "close to the ruling military council" has put out a message to Morsi, "The onus now is on the new President to unite the nation and create a true coalition of political and revolutionary forces to rebuild the country economically and politically...."The challenge for Egypt now is rebuilding its institutions and ensuring that these institutions are independent and work for the people, not a single party or movement."

The officer also upheld the legitimacy of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, "The military council has done its duty in keeping the election process free and fair, a true example of democracy, to the world."

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Sudan Analysis and Video: Explaining the Latest Protests (Malik and Al Jazeera English)

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While there have been protests before, most notably during the earlier stages of the Arab spring, something about the current wave feels different. This is not to suggest that it will necessarily translate into a popular revolt that will overthrow the government --- the "stability as a virtue" sentiment still holds strong among the Sudanese populace --- but it is putting pressure on a state that is bankrupt and struggling to fulfil its most basic functions.

The government appears to have run out of ideas, and the willpower to come up with new ones.

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Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Trapped in Homs...and Hama...and Douma...and...

Shelling of Hama in Syria, amid calls to prayer, on Wednesday

See also Sudan Feature: The Protests Revive
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Wednesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Mubarak Not Quite "Clinically Dead"; 50+ Very Dead in Syria

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2042 GMT: Sudan. To comply with austerity measures ordered by the national government, Khartoum State Governor Abdel Rahman Khedr has dissolved his Cabinet.

On Monday, President Umar al-Bashir ordered cuts to cope with the loss of about 75% of the country’s oil output when South Sudan seceded last year.

The measures have sparked student protests (see separate feature). About 200 gathered at the University of Khartoum early today to prepare for another anti-government rally, defying police who fired tear gas and warnings shots on Wednesday to disperse protesters.

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Sudan Feature: The Protests Revive (Mubarak/Elhassan)

Protests in Khartoum on Wednesday

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This latest wave of protests, however, feels different. Motivated by economic shocks, protestors, mostly youth and students, are vowing to continue until the regime is toppled, even in the face of brutal resistance by security forces. A mass protest to do just this has been planned for June 30, 2012, the 23^rd anniversary of the National Congress Party’s (NCP) rise to power in the country. Grappling with an annual inflation rate that reached 30.4% in May 2012, the Sudanese can wait no longer for change.

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Sudan 1st-Hand: Protests and Raids at the University of Khartoum

They brought all the students to the open space, then practiced physical abuse and various types of psychological terror. They used electrical sticks and loaded their guns while saying, “We will take you to camps and you will never return to your homes.” They used offensive and racist words, the least offensive that I can repeat, “Are these the looks of students? You are tramps, all what you’re good at is drinking (alcohol). You nigger, are you claming to be a student?”

The ground floor rooms were turned into investigation rooms. Tthey took all of our info including phone numbers. We were then deported by trucks to different police stations of Khartoum state.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Story Gets Out

The moment that Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral crowd in Mezzeh in Damascus today

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Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Two More Anniversaries

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2156 GMT: Scenes of clashes in Sitra in Bahrain today --- in the first, a youth is struck by fire from the police:

Youths pursue the security forces, throwing Molotovs:

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Sudan Feature: 10 Leaders of Protest Movement Arrested (Carmichael)

A Girifna ProtestThe Sudanese National Security Forces have arrested Nagi Musa and nine other leaders of Girifna, the nonviolent people's resistance movement in Eastern Sudan.

On Wednesday, 25 January, Nagi Musa was leading a conference titled, "The Massacre in Port Sudan and the Crisis in East Sudan." Nagi Musa's conference commemorated the seventh anniversary of the massacre.

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Sudan Feature: On 1st Anniversary of Protests, a New Vision for the Country? (Nasr)

Thousands in Sudan protesting last month at the University of Khartoum

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The arrests of activists in Khartoum this week is yet another troubling indication of President al-Bashir's unwillingness to accept open critique. It also shows, however, just how scared the regime is of the growing solidarity movement in the north of the country, between the Manasir's continued struggles and youth activists in the capital (many Manasir themselves) who wish to see change in Sudan and freedom from corrupt rule. Coupled with the continued violence in Darfur --- and al-Bashir is a wanted war criminal for his role in the genocide there --- the one year anniversary of last year's attempted uprising marks an opportune moment to consider a vision for what a new Sudan could be.

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Sudan Special: A New Spark for 2011's Forgotten Revolution?

Police attack a sit-in of 16,000 student protesters on Sunday

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This intimidation and suppression has displayed the vast arsenal the al-Bashir regime was ready to unleash against protesters from the start of attempts to build a social movement for change. However, if this has limited attention to other attempted revolutions in 2011, the 30 January protests have initiated a movement which sees itself as a spark to ignite the whole country in unified opposition. 

Events of the last week may prove to be the catalyst for a wider movement to flourish. Whether the passion fueling the movement leads to its expansion, or whether it encounters a failure to achieve broad popular support, it is vital --- amid orchestrated suppression and the abuse of the last clampdown --- that the world not look away this time.

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Sudan Video Special: The Protest Music of "Fight the Cause"

"IngiLaab (Revolution)" by Mao

As Sudanese youth tried to protest earlier this year, musicians and poets released a 14-track CD, Fight the Cause, to highlight a 21-year battle for reform and a renewal on 30 January 2011, "inspired by the Egyptian and Tunisian youth".

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