KHARTOUM —
Hundreds of
Sudanese protesters demanding an end to military rule took to the
streets of the capital Khartoum and its suburbs for a fourth straight day
Sunday, witnesses said.
اضافة اعلان
A violent crackdown
by security forces during mass rallies on Thursday killed nine people,
according to medics, the deadliest day for several months in the long running
protests against a military takeover last October led by army chief
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Recent protests
have seen crowds burn tires and barricade roads with bricks, with security
forces using live bullets, firing barrages of tear gas canisters and using
powerful water cannons, according to medics and the United Nations.
Demonstrators
demand a restoration of the transition to civilian rule that was launched after
the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, which the coup derailed.
“We will continue
this sit-in until the coup is overturned, and we have a fully civilian
government,” demonstrator Muayyad Mohamed told AFP in central Khartoum.
The death toll from
protest-related violence has reached 114 since last year’s coup, with the
latest fatality recorded Saturday when a demonstrator died from wounds
sustained at a June 16 rally, according to pro-democracy medics.
‘We will not compromise’
“We will not compromise until the goals of our revolution are realized,”
said Soha, 25, another protester, who only gave her first name.
“We are here in the
street demanding freedom, peace, justice, a civil state, and the return of the
military to the barracks.”
The coup plunged
Sudan further into political and economic turmoil that has sent consumer prices
spiraling and resulted in life-threatening food shortages.
On Sunday,
witnesses reported a heavy deployment of security forces on the streets of
Khartoum, including both army vehicles as well as those of the
Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a feared paramilitary unit commanded by Burhan’s deputy, Mohamed
Hamdan Daglo.
The RSF
incorporated members of the Janjaweed militia, which was accused by rights
groups of atrocities during the conflict that erupted in 2003 in the western
region of Darfur.
More recently, the
RSF has been accused of taking part in crackdowns on protesters marching
against the army.
The international
community has condemned the recent bloodshed, with the UN rights chief urging
an independent probe into Thursday’s violence.
‘Dialogue’
The UN,
African Union and regional bloc IGAD have tried to facilitate
dialogue between the generals and civilians, which the main civilian factions
have boycotted.
On Friday, the
three bodies jointly condemned the violence and “the use of excessive force by
security forces and lack of accountability for such actions, despite repeated
commitments by authorities”.
In the restive
Darfur region, which has seen a recent surge in violence, General Daglo — known
as Hemeti — on Sunday called “on all political forces, especially the youth, to
come to the dialogue table”.
“Dialogue is the
only way to guarantee stability in our country,” he said at a ceremony where
2,000 ex-rebels completed their training to join Sudanese security forces.
The integration of
former rebel fighters into the Sudanese army and police was part of a 2020
peace deal with rebel groups involved in decades of civil conflict, including
in
Darfur.
The first of its
kind, the cohort “will confront the chaos in Darfur”, Daglo said.
Hundreds have been
killed in recent months in Darfur, in a renewed spike of violence triggered by
disputes mainly over land, livestock and access to water and grazing.
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