KHARTOUM —
Thousands protested in Sudan against military rule on the anniversary Wednesday
of previous popular uprisings, most recently against autocrat
Omar Al-Bashir three
years ago.
اضافة اعلان
In the capital
Khartoum, where hundreds took to the streets, security forces fired tear gas at
the crowd, said witnesses.
The security
forces also “stormed Al-Jawda hospital and fired tear gas inside, scaring
patients and health workers and causing suffocation among some of them,” said
the independent
Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.
Sudan has
grappled with an October 25 coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan that
has derailed a political transition period and hammered the economy of one of
the world’s poorest countries.
Pro-democracy
activists have warned online of a people power “earthquake of April 6” — a
momentous day in Sudan’s history that was key in bringing down earlier
strongmen.
In 1985, the day
saw a popular uprising that ousted president Jaafar Nimeiri. In 2019 it marked
the start of a mass sit-in outside army headquarters, after months of protests,
against Bashir’s three decades in power.
“It is an
important day... so we expect many to take to the streets despite the heat and
Ramadan,” the
Muslim month of fasting, said one Khartoum protester, Badwi
Bashir.
“We just want to
bring down the coup (leadership) and end the prospect of any future coups.”
Sudan’s latest
putsch has “set fire to all aspects of life, turning our country into an arena
of crises,” said the civilian alliance Forces of Freedom and Change, or FFC.
As protesters
started to gather in the capital, security forces sealed off key bridges and
deployed around the presidential palace and army headquarters.
In Khartoum’s
twin city of
Omdurman, they set up barbed wire blockades on streets leading to
the parliament building.
Hundreds marched
in the eastern state of Gedaref with banners that read “No to military rule”
and “Away with the government of hunger”, said one witness, Ahmed Salah.
A demonstration
was also held in Nyala, South Darfur, according to witness Mahdi Adam.
Five days after
the start of the 2019 sit-in, generals bowed to the pressure on the streets to
remove Bashir.
But the
protesters stayed on to press for civilian rule, only to be dispersed in a
crackdown in June that year by men in military fatigues that claimed 128 lives
according to medics.
Sudan’s civilian
and military leaders later agreed on a transition of power, which promised
greater international engagement for the country as well as foreign aid and
investment.
But last
October’s coup upended those plans, leading to the current wave of protests. At
least 93 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the crackdown since,
medics say.
“We have to
defeat the coup,” FFC spokesman Jaafar Hassan said last week.
“We have tried a
partnership with the military, and it failed, ending in this coup, and we
shouldn’t do this again.”
Burhan said last
Saturday he would only “hand over power to an honest, elected authority,
accepted by the all the Sudanese people”.
The US on
Wednesday warned against “the use of any violence” and demanded Sudanese
authorities “keep their word and hold accountable those responsible for
abuses.”
Since the coup,
Sudan’s already ailing economy has suffered severe blows, as Western donors cut
crucial aid pending the restoration of a transition to civilian rule.
Prices of food,
fuel, and basic commodities have soared and crime has spiked. Violence has
intensified in remote areas, particularly the restive Darfur region, the UN
says.
Burhan last week
threatened to expel UN special representative
Volker Perthes, accusing him of
“interference” in the country’s affairs after Perthes warned of the deepening
crisis in Sudan during a UN Security Council briefing.
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