Academic freedom: Sudan worst affected amid year-long war

Sudan is the African country that has been most affected by frequent oppressive and brutal attacks on academic freedom, effectively making higher education in more than 100 universities uncertain, as many of those institutions have been caught in the crossfire during the ongoing prolonged civil war.

That is the assessment of Scholars at Risk (SAR), a global network that campaigns for academics’ and students’ right to think and express ideas without fear, in its annual report Free to Think 2024 that covers the period of 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.

According to the report, the internal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has devastated universities, leaving scholars and students disoriented.

“Sudanese students and academics have faced challenges, including forcible displacement,” the report stated.

Report documents 391 attacks

Other African countries where there is oppression of academic freedom are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco.

During the period under review, SAR monitoring researchers documented 391 attacks on higher education communities in 51 countries and territories worldwide. According to Robert Quinn, the SAR executive director, those violent attacks affected higher education systems in different ways.

However, it is worrying that the attack on academic freedom is being extended beyond authoritarian states to liberal societies, where some actors want to constrain academic freedom. Subsequently, many countries are witnessing the erosion of the liberal norms and institutions that bolster academic freedom.

In this context, academic freedom in Sudan has experienced an unprecedented attack since the civil war broke out in April 2023. Many universities there, according to the report, have been severely damaged or destroyed, mainly through intentional targeting or looting, and some have been turned into military bases.

According to the report, one year into the war, research and teaching had almost completely halted, and more than 100 Sudanese universities had been severely damaged. Much of the destruction occurred during the first four months of fighting, with 104 higher education institutions reported to have been burned or vandalised between April and August 2023.

Quoting a study published in 2023 by Sudanese academics in Conflict and Health, the report noted that many tertiary medical institutions were attacked between 15 April and 15 July 2023.

According to Esra Abdallah Mahgoub, the study’s lead author and a lecturer of community medicine at Alneelain University, looting occurred in 73.5% of the attacked faculties, while 67.6% were converted into military bases. However, despite these challenges, 60.3% of the schools in the conflict zone restored the educational process through online learning and collaboration with other institutions.

In January this year (2024), armed members of the RSF looted the University of Gezira’s academic and administrative facilities and the university’s bank and farm. The homes of professors and other staff affiliated with the university were also looted.

Nigeria

Despite being placed in the top 20% of countries with academic freedom by the Academic Freedom Index, Nigeria had a spike in abductions of university students by criminals demanding ransom.

Whereas, warring military groups in Sudan vandalised and occupied university facilities, in Nigeria, Boko Haram and other small armed groups caused insecurity in the universities sector, especially in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Katsina, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. According to SAR, those groups, who are referred to as ‘bandits’, abducted university students and instructors, demanding ransom for their release.

For instance, on 22 September 2023, a total of 35 Federal University, Gusau, students were kidnapped in Zamfara State. However, the police confirmed that, after spending an extended period in captivity, the abducted students had been released or rescued in good health.

Similarly, on 8 October 2023, gunmen kidnapped Haruna Ayuba Kuje, a professor of geography and a former deputy vice-chancellor at Nasarawa State University, from his residence. Kuje was released two days later, but it is unclear if a ransom was paid.

In another incident, two weeks later on 22 October 2023, Comfort Adokwe, a deputy director of gender studies at the same university, was abducted by gunmen from her residence. The gunmen demanded ransom, and the family reportedly paid NGN5 million (approximately US$3,088). Adokwe was released three days later, and the police reported that she was held in the same location as Kuje.

October last year was a difficult period for academics and students at Nasarawa as, on 10 October, an unidentified armed group abducted four students of the university from a private student hostel. The gunmen demanded a ransom of NGN20 million. However, three days after their abduction, the Nigerian military rescued the students.

Another incident of attacks and kidnappings targeting university students in Nigeria also occurred on 4 October 2023 in Katsina, when a militia group abducted five female students of the Federal University, Dutsinma, from a hostel. According to SAR, some of those students stayed in captivity for two months, although full details about ransom payments by families remained sketchy.

Imprisonment of scholars

While the abduction of students and scholars undermined academic freedom in Nigeria, the imprisonment and prosecution of scholars because of their academic work occurred in several countries in Africa during the period under review.

On 21 May 2024, Etienne Fakaba Sissoko, a professor of economics at the University of Bamako in Mali, was sentenced to two years in prison for criticising the ruling military junta in his new book, Propaganda, Agitation and Harassment: Government communication during the transition in Mali. The book highlighted the government’s use of propaganda and false information to influence public opinion.

Sissoko was convicted of harming the state’s reputation, defamation, disseminating fake news, and disturbing the public peace. The offences carried a two-year sentence, with one year deferred, and the court also fined him three million CFA francs (about US$5,000).

In November 2023, Libya’s Internal Security Agency arrested Professor Abdel Fattah Al-Sayeh, the head of the General Syndicate of University Teaching Staff Members (GSUTSM), and Dr Abdulkader Al-Lamoushi, a staff member at the University of Tripoli and the head of the National Association for Talented and Gifted People, because of their academic union activities.

The two academics were arrested during a teaching staff strike led by the GSUTSM, demanding sabbaticals and the resumption of a study-abroad plan. Although the two academics were released later, the arrests were designed to intimidate and pressure academics to reach an agreement with the government.

Police action against students

The police use of force against students protesting over the rising cost of tuition and education policies, among other academic concerns, was widespread in Africa, and was reported in various countries.

On 8 January 2024, police in Mauritania forcibly dispersed students who were demanding increased access to housing, transportation allowances, and the transparent allocation of scholarships.

Further, on 16 November 2023, in Côte d’Ivoire, police used tear gas to disperse students at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny who were protesting about higher education legislation.

On 5 April 2024 in Ethiopia, police beat and arrested about 20 peaceful student protesters from Mekelle University, which is located in the conflict-affected region of Tigray. The students protested a delay in their graduation after the university revoked a decision to allow them to take additional courses beyond the usual limit to compensate for the disruptions caused by the conflict.

A similar incident in which students were beaten and dispersed by police occurred at the Université Pédagogique Nationale in Kinshasa on 18 July 2023, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when students demonstrated against paying fees in United States dollars.

At the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar, demonstrating students were beaten and tear-gassed by police on 24 August 2023, for protesting for the resumption of classes and demanding an increase in scholarship aid.

Students punished for protesting

Unjust disciplinary actions against protesting university students in Africa were also recorded. On 14 May 2024, two universities in Morocco, Abdelmalek Saadi University and Mohammed I University in Oujda, jointly suspended 15 medical students for two years for participating in a peaceful class boycott.

The boycott was prompted by the reduction in the length of medical studies from seven to six years, a change that the students believe will reduce the quality of their education.

Given universities’ role in democratic societies, Clare Robinson, the SAR advocacy director, stressed the need to protect academic freedom, especially in regions with fragile higher education systems.

For Africa, the rise of academic oppression will probably contribute more to the flight of scholars and talented students, leading to brain drain.

But, much worse, threats of expulsions, suspensions, abductions and other forms of professional silencing at home by both state and non-state actors will likely lead to brain drag in the universities, where creativity and productivity will be lost for fear of retaliation.