KHARTOUM —
Sudanese security forces fired
tear gas Tuesday as they confronted thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in
the capital Khartoum, an AFP correspondent said.
اضافة اعلان
Protesters chanted “No to military rule” as they
marched towards the presidential palace, denouncing a coup last year led by
army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan that derailed a transition to civilian rule.
Burhan seized power in October 2021, and arrested
civilian leaders appointed following the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar
Al-Bashir, plunging Sudan into a political and economic crisis.
“We will not stop until the military power is
toppled and replaced with a civilian government,” said protester Hadia
Mohammed.
“We will not leave the streets until we achieve the
goals of the revolution: liberty, peace, and justice,” said Samer Omar, another
activist, draped in a Sudanese flag and wearing a yellow helmet for protection.
Eyewitnesses said thousands also demonstrated in the
city of Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, and Gedaref in the east.
Security forces have cracked down on near-weekly
protests since the 2021 coup, resulting in at least 119 deaths, according to
pro-democracy medics.
Since the military power grab, activists have warned
that several Bashir-era loyalists had been appointed to official positions,
including in the judiciary, which is currently trying the former dictator.
Burhan’s pledge of elections next year is seen as
far-fetched, and no civilian leaders have taken up the mantle of the army
chief’s promised civilian government.
Meanwhile, experts said a surge in ethnic violence
in recent months has highlighted a security breakdown in
Sudan, with the UN
reporting over 370 people killed in clashes and at least 210,000 forced from
their homes this year.
In Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, a third of
the country’s 45 million inhabitants suffer from hunger, a 50 percent increase
compared with 2021, according to the World Food Program.
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