KHARTOUM — Five 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.
اضافة اعلان
The fatalities in Khartoum raised to 29 the death toll from
unrest since the October 25 military takeover, according to the independent
Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.
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".
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