(Khartoum) Security forces on Tuesday fired tear gas at demonstrators who took to the streets in Sudan to protest against military rule, two days after the prime minister’s resignation, witnesses said.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the Sudanese capital and its suburb Omdurman, as well as in the towns of Port Sudan and Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, despite the massive deployment of security forces.
Despite a murderous repression, the spearhead of the revolt against the deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and against the military since the putsch of October 25, 2021, the Association of Sudanese professionals, had called for new demonstrations Tuesday to claim civil power.
” No. No to the military regime, ”chanted the demonstrators, calling for the dissolution of the Sovereignty Council, led by the army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, author of the coup that derailed the democratic transition .
Protesters marched towards the presidential palace in Khartoum, but the streets leading to the palace and army headquarters were cordoned off by riot police, paramilitary forces and the army who fired tear gas canisters at the crowd, according to witnesses.
Security forces also fired tear gas in Omdurman and Port Sudan.
Burnt tires, barricades
In southern Khartoum, demonstrators sang “civilian rule is the people’s choice”, according to a witness. In the east of the capital, they “burned tires and erected stone barricades in the streets”, according to another.
Others urged the deployed soldiers to return to their barracks.
No indication was given immediately on possible victims. And in the evening the demonstrators dispersed peacefully.
The military have been the only ones in charge since the resignation on Sunday of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, a civilian, raising fears of a return to dictatorship.
The crackdown on protests against the army has left at least 57 dead and hundreds injured since the coup, according to an independent doctors’ union.
According to the UN, at least 13 women were raped during the unrest, and scores of journalists beaten and even arrested while the internet and telephones function only at the will of power.
On November 21, General Burhane reinstated Abdallah Hamdok in a deal promising mid-2023 elections, but the protest movement called the deal a “betrayal” and continued to protest.
In resigning, Hamdok said he had tried to prevent the country “from sliding into disaster”, but that Sudan was now at a “dangerous crossroads threatening its survival”.
Warning from Washington and the EU
Receiving the US charge d’affaires Brian Shukan on Tuesday, Mr. Burhane stressed the need to “continue the dialogue between all parties to reach a national consensus program,” according to a statement from his office.
He also discussed with UN Special Representative Volker Perthes “speeding up the appointment of a new prime minister,” according to the text.
Nonetheless the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Norway have urged the Sudanese military not to unilaterally appoint a new head of government, arguing in a joint statement that they “will not support a prime minister or a government appointed without the involvement of a large panel of civilian actors ”.
Sudan has been navigating a fragile transition to a full-fledged civilian regime since the ouster in April 2019 of dictator Omar al-Bashir by the army under pressure from the streets.
General Burhane has extended his tenure by two years, erasing any idea of a transfer of power to civilians before the end of the transition which he always promises for July 2023 with elections.
A large East African country, Sudan is plunged into a serious economic crisis with failing infrastructure, which has only increased the discontent of a population impoverished by inflation to more than 300%.