Sudan’s doctors: 11 wounded in raid on anti-coup sit-in

Earlier in the day, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan said in a televised address that the military would withdraw from negotiations to resolve the ongoing political crisis and vowed to dissolve the military-led Sovereign Council after a new interim government was formed.

The council has ruled the country since the military seized power in a coup last year. Burhan’s statement was unclear and gave no timeframe for his own resignation.

It was also not immediately clear what Burhan meant when he said the military would withdraw from internationally brokered talks between the ruling generals and the country’s pro-democracy movement, which has denounced the October coup and called for an immediate handover of power to a civilian government would have.

On Tuesday, Sudan’s leading pro-democracy group, the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, dismissed Burhan’s pledge as “a clear maneuver and tactical retreat that superficially accepts the idea of ​​a military return to barracks but is practical to it.” denies all meanings.”

“One solution lies first in the military relinquishing power and allowing the revolutionary forces to form a fully civilian interim government,” the group said in a statement.

Sudanese pro-democracy activists have been holding sit-ins in different parts of Khartoum demanding that the generals return to barracks and hand over power. The sit-ins began a day after authorities cracked down on anti-coup marches that killed nine people and injured 629 on Thursday alone, according to the medical group.

The Sudanese military authorities have cracked down on nearly weekly street protests since the coup, which has so far killed 113 people, including 18 children.

Sudan has been in turmoil since its military takeover on October 25 upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by former strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government were overthrown by the military in a popular uprising in April 2019.

Since the coup, the UN political mission in Sudan, the African Union and the eight-nation group of East Africa Regional Intergovernmental Development Authorities have been trying to find a way out of the political impasse. But the talks have so far produced no results. Pro-democracy groups have repeatedly said they will not negotiate with the military, urging them to immediately hand over the reins to a civilian government.