KHARTOUM —
Sudan’s civilian bloc on Monday rejected
UN-facilitated talks with the army to
resolve a crisis sparked by last year’s military coup, saying the meetings did
not tackle the problem.
اضافة اعلان
The UN, along
with the
African Union (AU) and the regional IGAD bloc, have been pushing for
Sudanese-led talks to solve the impasse since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
led a military power grab in October, ousting the civilian Forces for Freedom and
Change (FFC).
The FFC said it
received an invitation from the UN-AU-IGAD trio for a technical meeting with
the military on Wednesday, but “conveyed its apologies” and said they would not
attend.
The October coup
derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule that had been established
following the 2019 ouster of president
Omar Al-Bashir.
The meeting “does
not address the nature of the crisis” and any political process should work on
“ending the coup and establishing a democratic civilian authority”, the FFC
said in a statement.
“This cannot be
done by inundating the political process with parties representing the coup
camp or linked to the former regime,” it added.
Anti-coup
protests broke out in several parts of Khartoum on Monday, with crowds
demanding civilian rule.
They were met by
a heavy deployment of security forces, firing a barrage of tear gas canisters,
witnesses said.
Since the coup,
Sudan has been rocked by near-weekly protests and a violent crackdown that has
killed nearly 100 people, according to pro-democracy medics.
Last week, Burhan
week lifted a state of emergency in force since the coup to set the stage for
“meaningful dialogue that achieves stability for the transitional period.”
Military
officials have agreed to launch “direct talks” between Sudanese factions. Authorities have in recent weeks also
released multiple civilian leaders and pro-democracy activists arrested since
the coup.
However, the FFC
on Monday said that other activists still remain in prison and the iron-fisted
suppression of protests continues.
On Saturday, the
UN human rights expert Adama Dieng, on his second visit to Sudan since the
coup, denounced the killing of protesters and “the excessive use of force” by
security forces.
On Sunday, US
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Molly Phee arrived in Sudan to
“support the Sudanese-led process to resolve the crisis.”
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