Sudan: New protests to demand ‘Civil Rule’

Thousands of Sudanese took to the streets on Thursday to “demand civil rule and justice”, in response to a call by the resistance committees leading the current movement; The United States has made it impossible for international aid to return “without achieving a genuine civil mandate.”

Sudanese security forces were heavily deployed, closing major streets in central Khartoum, bringing complete paralysis in many areas of the capital.

The Sudan is experiencing complex security and economic conditions and political congestion; “Because of the protests that have been going on for more than 10 months, they rejected the actions taken by the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on 25 October 2012, in which 119 protesters have been killed so far.”

The political forces participating in the protests believe that the solution to the crisis lies in “ending all the consequences of the October 25 measures, continuing to dismantle the empowerment of the Brotherhood regime, unifying the army, according to agreed professional bases, and achieving justice for those killed in the current protests, in addition to the hundreds who were killed in the dispersal of the protest sit-in in front of the army general command in Khartoum on June 3, 2019”.

The new protests come after large segments of the Sudanese public rejected the Sudanese People’s Initiative and the National Consensus Initiative, saying they “have completely ignored the fundamental issues and demands of the street, and established the basis for reproducing the Brotherhood regime and its confrontations”.

The Sudan People’s Initiative stipulated that the army shall be granted all sovereign powers in the country, through a higher defense council.

It also approved “the return of billions of dollars in funds, assets, and lands looted by members of the National Congress (the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood) during their rule” before the National Committee recovered them following the December revolution that toppled their regime.

For their part, the troika countries (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) and the EU countries reiterated that they “will not support any government led by a prime minister appointed without the consent of the civilians.”

The United States, through its ambassador, John Godfrey, who arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday, also reaffirmed its full commitment to support the civil transition in Sudan.

Godfrey, who is the first ambassador to Sudan after a 25-year reduction in diplomatic representation between the two countries, stressed that the resumption of the infusion of billions of dollars of international aid suspended after the October 25 measures will not be possible until after a full civil transition.