Sudan, Protests continue after deadliest day since military coup

 english_Alyurae  November 18, 2021

Street clashes again shook Sudan’s capital on Thursday, a day after security forces shot dead 15 protesters in the bloodiest day since the military’s October 25 takeover.

Wednesday’s killings were condemned by UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet who said statement that “it is utterly shameful that live ammunition was again used yesterday against protesters.”

Since Thursday morning, police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of anti-coup protesters who had stayed on the streets of north Khartoum overnight, witnesses said, braving an intensifying crackdown that has drawn international condemnation.

Police tore down makeshift barricades the demonstrators had erected the previous day.

Later in the day, dozens of protesters returned to rebuild them and police again fired tear gas in a bid to clear the streets, witnesses said.

“Protesters responded by hurling stones at the police,” said one of them.

On October 25, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Sudan’s de facto leader since the April 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir — detained the civilian leadership and declared a state of emergency.

The move upended Sudan’s fragile transition to full civilian rule, drawing international condemnation and a flurry of punitive measures and aid cuts.

“We condemn violence towards peaceful protesters and call for the respect and protection of human rights in Sudan,” the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said on Twitter.

Appeal to international community

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association Clement Voule said he had “received alarming reports of increased use of lethal force by the military against peaceful protesters”.

He called on the international community to “put pressure on Sudan to immediately stop the repression against civilians and respect their rights”.

Burhan insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but a step to “rectify the course of the transition” to civilian rule.

Thousands took to the streets on Wednesday in Khartoum and other cities but were met by the deadliest crackdown since the coup.

At least 15 people were killed, most of them in north Khartoum, doctors said, raising the toll since the coup to 39 dead.

Police said they had recorded only one death among protesters in north Khartoum. Another 30 had suffered breathing difficulties from tear gas inhalation.

They said they had fired no live rounds and used only “minimum force”, even as 89 officers were wounded, some of them critically.

The latest demonstrations were organised despite a near-total shutdown of internet services and the disruption of telephone lines across Sudan.

By Thursday morning, phone lines had been restored but internet services remained largely cut.

Bridges connecting Khartoum with its neighbouring cities reopened and traffic returned to many of the capital’s streets.

Last week, Burhan formed a new Sovereign Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief and military figures and ex-rebel leaders keeping their posts.

He replaced members from the Forces for Freedom and Change, Sudan’s main civilian bloc, with little-known figures.

Call for ‘peaceful protests’

The FFC is an umbrella alliance that spearheaded the protests which led to the ouster of Bashir in 2019, and its mainstream faction has supported the anti-coup protests of recent weeks.

Sudan’s largest political faction, the Umma Party, condemned the use of force by the security forces and called for peaceful protests to continue “until the coup is brought down” and those who have committed crimes against the people have been held accountable.

Since the coup, Burhan has removed clauses referring to the FFC from the 2019 power-sharing deal between the military and the civilians from the bloc.

This week, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee met with the generals and the ousted civilian government in a bid to broker a way out of the crisis.

Phee has called for the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest.

Burhan has vowed to hold the planned elections in 2023, reiterating to Phee on Tuesday that his actions aimed to “correct the trajectory of the revolution”.

(AFP)

 

Another ‘Mass Killing’ in Khartoum, as Burhan and Hamidti Janjaweed and security forces open fire on peaceful protesters

 english_Alyurae  November 17, 2021

At least 10 Sudanese protesters were shot dead and dozens more wounded, medics said, when thousands rallied Wednesday against last month’s coup, chanting “no to military power” amid clouds of tear gas.

The fatalities – all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts – raised to 34 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors’ union said. Hundreds more have been wounded.

Several rallies broke out across the capital, even though telephone lines were cut and internet services have been disrupted since the power grab, AFP journalists reported.

Security forces fired tear gas, injuring several more protesters, witnesses said. The medics union also reported “dozens of bullet wounds”, while security forces deny firing live rounds.

“The people choose civilian rule,” demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan’s ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Demonstrations also erupted in Port Sudan, an AFP journalist said, against the coup which halted a democratic transition that followed the 2019 toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Efforts to stem the protests have seen hundreds arrested, including activists, passers-by and journalists. Qatari network Al Jazeera’s bureau chief was arrested Sunday and released Tuesday.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors has said security forces have also arrested injured people inside Khartoum hospitals.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions instrumental in the 2019 protests, denounced “immense crimes against humanity” and accused the security forces of “homicide”.

One protester in Khartoum said the “repression has been fierce”.

“There has been a lot of violence, continuous tear gas and sound grenades,” 42-year-old Soha told AFP, adding that she saw one person with gunshot wounds and that there were many arrests.

Restore ‘legitimacy’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Kenya on Wednesday urged Africans to watch out for rising threats to democracy.

He told Sudan’s military the country stood to regain badly-needed international aid if it restores the “legitimacy” of civilian government.

Washington has suspended some $700 million in assistance to Sudan since the coup.

“If the military puts this train back on its tracks and does what’s necessary, I think the support that has been very strong from the international community can resume,” said Blinken.

Prior to 2019, Sudan had been under some form of military dictatorship for much of its modern history.

Burhan has declared a state of emergency, ousted the government and detained the civilian leadership, derailing a transition to full civilian rule and drawing international condemnation.

Burhan insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but rather a push to “rectify the course of the transition”.

‘Trajectory of revolution’

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee has been shuttling between the generals and the ousted civilian government in a bid to broker a way out of the crisis.

Phee has called for the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest.

The few remaining free members of his cabinet continue to describe themselves as the “legitimate” government and refuse to negotiate with the military leaders.

While some of the civilian leaders have been freed since the power grab, new ones have been arrested.

Burhan last week announced a new Sovereign Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief and all nine military members keeping their posts.

Its four civilian members were replaced.

Burhan has also removed a clause in the transitional constitutional declaration that mentions the Forces for Freedom and Change, the key group behind the protests that toppled Bashir.

He has continued to promise elections will go ahead as planned in 2023, reiterating to Phee on Tuesday that his actions aimed to “correct the trajectory of the revolution”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)