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WORLD NEWS Monday 31 January 2022

Sudanese take to the streets in latest anti-coup protests

By Samy Magdy gations of sexual violence,
Associated Press including rape and gang
(AP) — Thousands of pro- rape, in a Dec. 19 protest
testers took to the streets of in Khartoum, according to
Sudan’s capital and other the U.N.
cities across the country The upheaval in Sudan
Sunday for the latest in a worsened earlier this month
months-long string of dem- following the resignation
onstrations denouncing an of Prime Minister Abdalla
October military coup that Hamdok, who was the civil-
plunged the country into ian face of the transitional
turmoil. At least one person government over the past
was killed when security two years.
forces violently dispersed The prime minister, who
protesters, a medical group was ousted in the October
said. coup only to be reinstated
Protesters, mostly young a month later under heavy
men and women, marched international pressure,
in the streets of Khartoum stepped down on Jan. 2
and other cities, demand- after his efforts to reach a
ing an end to the military’s compromise failed.
takeover. They called for Sunday’s protests came as
a fully civilian government People chant slogans during a anti-coup protests that have rocked the country since a military the U.N. mission continued
to lead the country’s now- coup three months ago.in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali) its consultations to find a
stalled transition to democ- way out of the ongoing cri-
racy. showed people beating Nazim Sirag. durman. They deployed sis. On Saturday, powerful
The coup has upended Su- drums and chanting anti- The Sudan Doctors Com- thousands of troops and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan
dan’s transition to demo- coup slogans in the streets mittee, a medical group police and sealed off cen- Dagalo, deputy head of
cratic rule after three de- of Khartoum and its twin tracking casualties among tral Khartoum, urging pro- the ruling Sovereign Coun-
cades of repression and in- city Omdurman. Protest- protesters, said a 27-year- testers to assemble only in cil, and commander of
ternational isolation under ers were also seen carrying old protester died in a Khar- public squares in the capi- the feared Rapid Support
autocratic President Omar Sudanese flags and other toum hospital after he sus- tal’s neighborhoods. Forces, said they have ac-
al-Bashir. The African na- flags with photos of protest- tained unspecified injuries The United Nations mis- cepted the U.N. efforts to
tion has been on a fragile ers reportedly slain by secu- to his chest during the pro- sion in Sudan on Saturday resolve the crisis, but that
path to democracy since a rity forces printed on them. tests. It did not elaborate. warned that such restric- U.N. envoy Volker Perthes
popular uprising forced the They marched towards There were protests else- tions could increase ten- “should be a facilitator not
military to remove al-Bashir the presidential palace, where in the country in- sions, urging authorities to a mediator.”
and his Islamist government an area in the capital that cluding the eastern city of let the protests “pass with- Dagalo did not elaborate
in April 2019. has seen deadly clashes Port Sudan, western Darfur out violence.” but his comments showed
The protests are called by between protesters and region and Madani, the Since the coup, at least 79 the challenges the U.N. mis-
the Sudanese Professionals security forces in previous capital city of Jazira prov- people have been killed sion faces to find a com-
Association and the Resis- rounds of demonstrations. ince, about 135 kilome- and hundreds of others mon ground between rival
tance Committees, which Security forces fired tear ters (85 miles) southeast of wounded in a widely con- factions in Sudan. The pro-
were the backbone of the gas and rubber bullets to Khartoum. Madani saw a demned crackdown on democracy movement
uprising against al-Bashir disperse protesters in at massive anti-coup protest protests, the doctors group has insisted on the removal
and relentless anti-coup least one location in the last week. said. of the generals from power
protests in the past three capital. At least three peo- Ahead of the protests, au- There were also mass ar- and the establishment a
months. ple suffered injuries from thorities stepped up secu- rests of activists leading the fully civilian government to
Footage circulated online rubber bullets, said activist rity in Khartoum and Om- anti-coup protests and alle- lead the transition.q