NAIROBI — For the third time in less than a month, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of cities across the country on Saturday, demanding that the military allow the return of civilian government.
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Saturday’s protests were met with force, multiple attendees said, and a doctors’ committee said at least five people died, four of gunshots and one of respiratory issues caused by tear gas.
“The air is thick, thick, thick with tear gas,” said Amar Mohamed, 25, a taxi driver who was marching in Khartoum North, a locus of the protests a short drive across the Blue Nile river from downtown Khartoum, the country’s capital. On a phone call, he described a chaotic scene with protesters scattering into alleyways. “They are trying to pick us up and put us into their trucks.”
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On Oct. 25, Sudan’s top military official, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, seized power and suspended the constitution. This past week, he created a new ruling body and named himself its leader. Sudan’s civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, remains under house arrest and has not been able to speak publicly.
Internet services remain largely unavailable since the coup, despite a court order demanding their restoration. The Internet blockage has failed to slow the country’s well-coordinated protest movement. Pamphlets and word of mouth have been used to organize mass action against the military takeover.
Even though Burhan’s coup has found little domestic and international support, he has managed to consolidate power, underscoring the military’s tight control of Sudan’s economy. The military has not shied away from using force. The United Nations human rights office said Friday that 14 people had been killed, more than 300 injured and 57 civilian government officials, activists and journalists had been arbitrarily detained since the coup, as well as hundreds of protesters.
Sudan’s revolutionaries vow to resist military’s power grab
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Top Western officials have referred to the coup as a “hijacking” of Sudan’s 2019 revolution, which led to the ousting of longtime dictator Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Burhan had been sharing power with Hamdok in a transitional military-civilian government, which was meant to last until elections were organized in 2023. A previous agreement had stipulated that more power would be shifted to the civilian side this month, but the coup preempted that move.
“The U.S. and partners call on Sudan’s military leaders to refrain from further unilateral actions that will set back Sudan’s hard-won progress to rejoin the international community,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote on Twitter on Friday.
The United States, some European countries and the World Bank have all suspended aid to Sudan.
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Burhan has promised to continue toward elections, as well as install a new civilian government that he claims will be less hampered by internal divisions. Few if any civilians have proffered themselves for roles in the new government, and reporting by Reuters indicates that many positions are being filled by members of Bashir’s deposed government.
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Bashir was convicted of corruption charges and is currently in jail in Khartoum. The military-civilian government had been arguing about whether to release him to the International Criminal Court, where he is indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although Burhan served under Bashir, he does not have charges outstanding against him, though analysts say he has reason to be hesitant to allow Bashir to be extradited.
Burhan’s coup threatens to derail a shaky transition Sudan was making from international isolation during the Bashir era, when sanctions deprived the country of access to international banking and lending institutions. During those years — and to this day — Sudan’s military retained control of lucrative mining and agriculture firms that account for most of the country’s exports.
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Civilian leaders including Hamdok had been pushing for Bashir’s extradition, as well as a civilian takeover of military-owned companies.
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“We are so tired of this keizan,” said Mohamed, using a word protesters coined to refer to Bashir’s inner circle, including Burhan. “We will do anything to get rid of them.”
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