(Khartoum) Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets on Saturday to protest against General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane’s coup, protests punctuated by violence that claimed the lives of three demonstrators and injured a hundred.
These new deaths bring to 12 the number of demonstrators killed since the start of the protests on Monday against the decision on the same day by General Burhane, head of the army, to dissolve all the institutions of this poor country plunged into economic slump and plagued by decades of conflict.
The UN and Washington had warned in advance against the use of violence, believing that the demonstrations on Saturday would be a “test” on the intentions of the military.
In the capital Khartoum as in Kessala or Gedaref in the East, the processions, in the middle of burnt tires, chanted “No to the military regime” and “No turning back possible”, in a country released in 2019 from 30 years dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, dismissed by the army under pressure from the street.
Protesters held up portraits of ousted prime minister and placed under house arrest Abdallah Hamdok in Khartoum, calling for “not to give up”, while hundreds of Sudanese blocked an axis in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, the country’s commercial lung . Marches were also held in North Kordofan (west) and White Nile State (south).
In Omdourman, Khartoum’s twin city, three demonstrators shot dead and a hundred wounded by security forces, according to a union of pro-democracy doctors. In addition to the 12 dead, nearly 300 people were injured in the crackdown, according to the same source.
Excessive use of force rejected by the police, who denied in a statement having fired live ammunition at the demonstrators and accused them of having “attacked” the police.
But in the early evening, security forces fired tear gas canisters at crowds in Khartoum, an AFP correspondent said.
“100% civilian”
Since the coup, the Sudanese have entered into “civil disobedience”, perched on barricades in the face of live ammunition, rubber and tear gas from the security forces.
“We want a civilian regime and we will not accept this time sharing with the military, it must be 100% civilian,” Hashem al-Tayeb, a determined protester in Khartoum, told AFP on Saturday, as other Sudanese, to stand up to the putschists.
“Sudan has had enough of military regimes,” said Hajar Youssef, another protester, as the country has been ruled almost continuously for 65 years by the military.
The military-civilian authorities in Sudan, put in place in August 2019, were responsible for leading the transition to fully civilian power, after the overthrow of Mr. Bashir four months earlier, at the cost of more than 250 deaths in the repression of the revolt.
After more than two years of a delicate transition, the understanding between the military and civilians has been shattered in recent weeks, culminating in the putsch and the arrest of most of the civilian leaders.
After the coup, both the United States and the World Bank suspended financial aid to Khartoum, vital for the country suffocated by rampant inflation and endemic poverty. The African Union suspended Khartoum and the UN demanded the return of civilians to power.
“The world is watching”
Before the protests on Saturday, Amnesty International warned the military: “they must not be mistaken: the world is watching them and will not tolerate more blood”.
The putsch cut short hopes for free elections at the end of 2023 and plunged the country into the unknown.
Before the coup, tens of thousands of Sudanese marched shouting “Burhane, step down!” “. A protest which probably precipitated the course of events, General Burhane, now alone at the helm, claiming to have acted to prevent “a civil war”.
But today, experts say, with the experience of 2019, the protesters are better organized.
“The military will not rule us,” activist Tahani Abbas told AFP. And the monster demonstration on Saturday announced on social networks and by graffiti on the walls in Khartoum – where the authorities have cut the internet and the telephone network – is only a “first step”.