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A30 world news
Diasabra 11 Juni 2022

Sudan anti-coup group sits with generals for the first time

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s military-civilian talks that
leading pro-democracy kicked off earlier this week
group has met with the under the auspices of the
country’s generals for the U.N. political mission in Su-
first time since last year’s dan, the African Union, and
military coup, the U.S. the eight-nation east African
Embassy said Friday, in regional Intergovernmental
what could signal a break- Authority in Development
through in attempts to group. It had criticized the
bring the East African na- participation of pro-military
tion back on track toward groups and Islamists who had
a democratic transition. been allied with the former
regime of longtime dictator
The meeting held late Thurs- Omar al-Bashir.
day in the capital, Khartoum, In April 2019, a popular up-
brought the Forces for the rising pushed the military
Declaration of Freedom and to remove al-Bashir after
Change — an alliance of nearly three decades of re-
political parties and protest pression and international
groups — together with rep- isolation. Eventually, the
resentatives of the country’s military and pro-democracy
ruling military council. groups signed a power-shar-
The talks focused on resolv- ing agreement that instated
ing the current political im- a joint military-civilian gov-
passe and were mediated by ernment that was supposed
the Saudi Embassy and the all detainees. The meeting, held in the “They affirmed that they had to rule until general elections
U.S. delegation in Sudan, the The pro-democratic alliance Khartoum residence of the the sincere will to end the be held. However, the Oct.
embassy said in a statement. said that it had received an Saudi ambassador was at- coup,” added Othman. 25 military takeover dealt a
“We thank the participants invitation from U.S. Assis- tended by four of the alli- The group said that it had blow to the country’s demo-
for their frank & constructive tant Secretary of State Mary ance’s leaders and three top agreed to lay out a roadmap cratic transition and plunged
participation and for their Catherine Phee and Saudi military generals, including in consultation with other the nation into turmoil.
willingness to end the politi- Ambassador Ali bin Hassan deputy head of Sudan’s rul- civilian groups that would “We did not go to these talks
cal crisis & to build a peace- Jaafar to meet directly with ing Sovereign Council, Gen. include clear steps on how to instate a new partnership
ful, just and democratic Su- the generals, according to and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, to reverse the political coup. with the military. We went
dan,” it said. FDFC statement. as well as Lt. Gen. Shams el- This blueprint will be hand- to put an end to any partner-
Since the military took over “We are keen to have two of Din Kabashin and Lt. Gen. ed over to the international ship,” said Yasir Arman from
in October, the same pro-de- the most influential coun- Ibrahim Gaber. community, alliance lead- the pro-democracy alliance
mocracy group has refused to tries in the region and the “The other party acknowl- ers said at a news conference who participated in the talks.
sit with the generals at the ne- world remain supportive of edged that there is a political held on Friday. “We believe this is an oppor-
gotiating table, insisting they the Sudanese people and the crisis and said they are willing There has been no immediate tunity to end the coup and
should first transfer power to pro-democracy forces,” said to solve it,” said pro-democ- comment from the military. ensure a safe exit for both the
a civilian government, return a statement by the alliance, racy leader Taha Othman, The Forces for the Declara- military and the people to-
to the barracks, end violence referring to Saudi Arabia and who attended the talks in ref- tion of Freedom and Change wards democracy, justice and
against protesters and release the U.S. erence to the military. had previously boycotted a new society,” he added.

Watchdog says Afghan Taliban detaining, torturing civilians

ISLAMABAD (AP) — May as anti-Taliban forces captured fighters and other and several top officials from province. Former detainees
Taliban security forces there attacked Taliban units detainees, which are war the ousted Western-backed reported in early June that
in northern Afghanistan and checkpoints, HRW said crimes,” both in Panjshir and government have vowed to Taliban security forces de-
have unlawfully detained in a statement. The Taliban elsewhere in Afghanistan, it resist the Taliban. tained about 80 residents in
and tortured residents have responded by deploy- said. “Taliban forces in Panjshir the province’s Khenj district
accused of association ing thousands of fighters on The force fighting in the province have quickly resort- and beat them to compel
with an opposition armed search operations targeting mountainous Panjshir Valley ed to beating civilians in their them to provide informa-
group, the New York- communities they allege are north of Kabul — a remote response to fighting against tion about the opposition
based Human Rights supporting the opposition region that has defied con- the opposition National Re- forces, HRW said, citing an
Watch said Friday. forces, the group added. querors before — rose out of sistance Front,” said Patri- unnamed human rights ad-
“Taliban forces have commit- the last remnants of Afghani- cia Gossman, associate Asia vocate who has interviewed
Fighting has escalated in ted summary executions and stan’s shattered security forc- director at Human Rights several former detainees and
Panjshir province since mid- enforced disappearances of es. It has vowed to resist the Watch. a person with direct infor-
Taliban after they overrun the “The Taliban’s longstanding mation about Taliban deten-
country and seized power in failure to punish those re- tions.
Afghanistan in mid-August. sponsible for serious abuses After several days, the Taliban
Nestled in the towering in their ranks puts more ci- released 70 of the captives but
Hindu Kush range, the Pan- vilians at risk,” Gossman was continue to hold 10 whose
jshir Valley has a single nar- quoted in the statement. relatives they accuse of being
row entrance. Local fighters Taliban officials have not members of the opposition
held off the Soviets there in commented on the HRW force, according to the HRW
the 1980s, and the Taliban a statement. Their troops in statement.
decade later under the lead- Panjshir are under the com- “Taliban forces in Panjshir
ership of Ahmad Shah Mas- mand of the Taliban-appoint- have imposed collective pun-
soud, a guerrilla fighter who ed defense minister, Mullah ishment and disregarded pro-
attained near-mythic status Mohammad Yaqoob. HRW tections to which detainees
before he was killed in a sui- said that Yaqoob stated in are entitled,” Gossman said.
cide bombing. May that Afghanistan’s new “This is just the latest exam-
His 33-year-old foreign-edu- rulers will not allow anyone ple of Taliban abuses during
cated son, Ahmad Massoud, to “disrupt security” in the fighting in the region.”