KHARTOUM — Sudanese security forces fired tear gas
Monday at protesters in Khartoum who rallied against a tentative deal aimed at
ending the crisis provoked by last year’s military coup, AFP correspondents
said.اضافة اعلان
Thousands of pro-democracy activists took to the streets in Sudan’s capital to reject the agreement signed by military and civilian leaders
on December 5, which critics have dismissed as vague.
“We will not accept anything other than a civilian
government,” said protestor Samira Hassan.
The protesters chanted, “You will not rule us with this
deal,” according to an AFP correspondent.
Others called on the military to go “back to the barracks”.
Security forces later fired tear gas to disperse the crowd,
the AFP correspondents said.
Monday’s demonstration coincided with the fourth anniversary
of the outbreak of months-long mass protests that ousted long-time autocrat
Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019.
Bashir’s three-decade rule was followed by a short-lived
transition to civilian rule, upended in October 2021 when army chief Abdel
Fattah Al-Burhan led a coup, deepening Sudan’s political and economic turmoil.
Sudan has been rocked by near-weekly protests since Burhan’s
coup.
The deal between military leaders and multiple civilian
factions was the first component of a planned two-phase political process, but
critics say it falls short on specifics and timelines.
While opponents at home eyed it with skepticism, the deal
drew some international acclaim.
“I hope that the political process will realize the demands
and aspirations of the Sudanese men and women who took to the streets four
years ago,” UN special representative Volker Perthes tweeted on Monday.
Sudan’s Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim, a former rebel
leader who did not sign the agreement, called it “exclusionary”.
“Today we observe the fourth anniversary of the glorious
December revolution which did not achieve its goals,” he said Monday on
Twitter.
“The country is in dire need of a national consensus that
does not exclude anyone.”
Sudanese authorities declared Monday a public holiday and
security forces had sealed off bridges leading to the capital.
Roads leading to the army headquarters in Khartoum — the
site of a mass anti-Bashir encampment in 2019 — were also closed, an AFP
correspondent said.
The protesters waved Sudanese flags and carried posters with
the images of people killed during anti-coup demonstrations since October 2021.
At least 122 people have been killed and thousands wounded
in the crackdown, according to pro-democracy medics.
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