Clashes between demonstrators and security forces left another dead Thursday in Khartoum, the fourth day of a military coup refused by the streets and by the international community, who want the return of civilians to power in Sudan.
On Monday, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, now alone in command of this poor and conflict-ridden East African country, dissolved the government supposed to ensure the transition to democracy and arrested ministers and senior civilian officials .
On Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously called for “the reestablishment of a transitional government led by civilians” in the country, which emerged two years ago from 30 years of dictatorship. US President Joe Biden has echoed this demand and promised to “stand alongside the Sudanese people”.
“Our message to the military authorities of Sudan is clear: the Sudanese people must be allowed to demonstrate peacefully,” he added.
At least eight protesters have been killed and 170 injured since Monday, doctors said. Early Thursday evening, in addition to a protester killed, six others were wounded, several by gunshot, in Khartoum-North, a city separated from the Sudanese capital by the Nile, doctors told AFP.
“There could be other deaths, but it is difficult to establish contacts with Khartoum-North to obtain confirmation,” warns the Committee of Physicians, a pro-democracy union.
The security forces fired, used rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at demonstrators also in the very turbulent district of Bourri, in the east of the capital, noted AFP journalists.
As soon as the coup was announced, supporters of a transfer of power to civilians set about setting up barricades across the avenues of Khartoum. Today, they are defending their makeshift roadblocks to paralyze the country with a campaign of “civil disobedience” decreed by almost all of the opposition movements.
In fact, only a few bakeries are open, crowded with families. The iron curtains of shops, banks and restaurants remain down.
Reluctant ambassadors
General Burhane overthrew Abdallah Hamdok, the head of the transitional government set up in 2019, on Monday. The latter is at home in Khartoum, but is “not free to move,” according to the UN. The general sacked six protest ambassadors, including those in China, the European Union, France and the United States.
The UN envoy VolkerPerthes reiterated Wednesday, in front of MM. Hamdok and Burhane the need for a “return to the transition process” and “immediate release of all those arbitrarily arrested”.
Because the muzzling of the opposition continues: the security forces have arrested, sometimes even at home, activists and demonstrators. In addition, on Thursday evening, state television announced the dismissal of its director, Loqman Ahmed, a long-time defender of civil power.
To explain his coup, General Burhane on Tuesday invoked the risk of “civil war” after a demonstration against the army. He did not convince the African Union, which suspended Sudan, or the United States and the World Bank, which stopped their aid.