Sudanese security forces on Wednesday increased the arrests of activists and demonstrators in an attempt to end opposition to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane’s coup.
At the end of the day, they still faced demonstrators determined to maintain the barricades of their “general strike”. Clashes took place in particular in the bustling district of Bourri, in the east of Khartoum, where hundreds of demonstrators threw stones, and in the suburbs of Khartoum-North, where the security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets, AFP correspondents noted.
In the evening, the Ministry of Information, loyal to the ousted government, said in a statement that the security forces were tightening their control over the capital: “neighborhoods and streets were blocked by armored vehicles and men carrying guns ”and“ women dragged ”to the ground. He also urged the international community to investigate violations against peaceful protesters.
Pressure
Abroad, the African Union and the World Bank have increased the pressure on the army: the first suspended Sudan from its institutions and the second stopped its aid, vital for this poor country plunged into economic doldrums. and plagued by conflict.
At the UN, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, had met General Burhane and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Wednesday, who “is not free to move around” . Mr. Perthes “reaffirmed” to General Burhane that the UN demands “a return to the transition process” and “of course the immediate release of all those who have been arbitrarily arrested”.
The army authorized the return on Tuesday to his home in Khartoum of Mr. Hamdok, arrested after the putsch on Monday with most of the civilians who made up the transitional power. But he remains “under close surveillance,” according to his office. “Hamdok was unable to reach or meet” his political supporters, the information ministry added.
The muzzling of the opposition has intensified, with the arrest in Khartoum of one of the leaders of Sudan’s largest party, the Umma, as well as activists and demonstrators.
Four protesters were killed and more than 80 injured on Monday by gunfire, doctors said.
In Khartoum, pick-ups rotate with members of the security forces, all armed, but dressed in civilian clothes. “They look exactly like Bashir’s security forces,” said Hanaa Hassan, a demonstrator, referring to General Omar al-Bashir, who after a coup in 1989 ruled for 30 years without sharing.
To prevent the demonstrators from regrouping, the security forces “removed all the barricades” in the city center, Hadi Bachir told AFP. “And they arrest anyone who is around them. “
Activists called on social media for a “one million people protest” on Saturday.
Suspended aids
In an attempt to explain his coup, General Burhane on Tuesday used the risk of “civil war” as a pretext. But the Western ambassadors repeated that, for them, “Mr. Hamdok is still the prime minister, and his government, the constitutional power.”
Mr. Hamdok, the civilian face of the transition in Sudan, spoke on Tuesday with the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, and Wednesday with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. “We do not want Sudan to return to the dark hours of its history”, Mr. Borrell tweeted. Khartoum had just regained its place in the concert of nations, after the sidelining of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The United States, which had only removed Sudan from its list of countries supporting “terrorism” at the end of 2020, suspended part of its aid to the country. The European Union threatens to follow.
We don’t want Sudan to go back to the dark days of its history
Russia, on the other hand, believes alone that the coup d’etat is “the logical result of a failed policy”, while the members of the UN Security Council have not been able to agree on a joint declaration. on the putsch.
Protesters say they won’t leave the streets until civilian power returns to a country that has long lived under the rule of the military.
At the end of 2018 and 2019, they had camped for months until they forced the army to dismiss President Bashir. More than 250 people had died in the repression of the revolt.