Sudanese hostile to the coup of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane maintained the barricades in Khartoum on Sunday, determined to stand up to the army when at least a dozen demonstrators were killed in the week in violence, according to medical sources.
A union of pro-democracy doctors, which had recorded at least three dead during the day on Saturday and a hundred injured, also announced on Sunday the death of two demonstrators, aged 22 and 19. Both had been shot in the head: one died on Monday and the other succumbed to his injuries early on Sunday.
In total, since the entry of the Sudanese in “civil disobedience” Monday, a dozen demonstrators have been killed by the security forces and nearly 300 people have been injured, according to this union.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the decision on Monday of General Burhane – then head of the army and the transitional authorities – to dissolve all the institutions of the country already mired in the economic slump. and plagued by decades of conflict.
Police, who admitted firing tear gas canisters in the capital, deny firing live ammunition against protesters.
Safe deployment
In Khartoum and in several eastern provinces, the Sudanese chanted “No to military rule” and “No turning back possible”, in a country that emerged in 2019 from 30 years of dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, dismissed by the army under pressure from the streets. Protests also rocked the regions of North Kordofan (west) and White Nile (south), AFP correspondents noted.
After a quiet night, residents of the capital erected new barricades on Sunday morning using stones, bricks and tires, while soldiers and paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Forces patrolled the streets. This powerful paramilitary force, led by the number two of General Burhane, is accused of having participated in the repression of the “revolution” of 2019 which left more than 250 dead.
Security forces have established several checkpoints and searched passers-by and cars in Khartoum, where most shops remain closed, a sign that the “general strike” declared Monday by the unions is being followed by broad sections of society.
Telephone communications, cut Saturday, were generally restored Sunday morning, while the Internet remained largely inaccessible.
The international community has almost unanimously condemned the coup, demanding the return of the civilian authorities to power, starting with Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok arrested by the army last Monday before dawn, like most other ministers and officials civilians. Mr. Hamdok was escorted home by the army on Tuesday, but remains “under house arrest,” according to UN envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes, who discussed with the ousted leader on Sunday possible “mediations”.
A Sudanese foreign ministry official also expressed his “disappointment” to the UK ambassador to Sudan after the latter released a video condemning the coup and calling for the release of “all detainees. The British Embassy tweeted on Sunday.
Since August 2019, Khartoum has had military-civilian authorities responsible for leading the transition to fully civilian power, following the overthrow in April of the same year of dictator Bashir. But after more than two years of a delicate transition undermined by divisions between and within the two civil and military clans, the agreement has been shattered in recent weeks, and ended with the putsch.