Activists called for new demonstrations today, Monday, in Sudan, to demand civilian rule and condemn the killing of demonstrators, while the authorities pledged to secure the expected protests.
In a statement published on Sunday evening, the resistance committees in Sudan said that the demonstrations they called “the January 24 million” will go to the presidential palace in Khartoum.
The resistance committees identified 7 gathering places for demonstrators in central and southern Khartoum, and called for the use of barricades to block streets, especially those surrounding the gathering places of demonstrators heading to the palace.
The statement was issued in conjunction with nightly protests in which dozens participated in a number of Khartoum North and Omdurman neighborhoods to demand civilian rule.
The protesters chanted slogans calling for retribution for those killed in previous demonstrations, and for the establishment of a civil authority in the country.
On Sunday, separate protests were organized, some of them in the cities of Madani and Al-Manaqil in central Sudan.
On Friday, the Sudanese Professionals Association called for widespread participation in Monday’s demonstrations.
Since the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan overthrew the government of Abdallah Hamdok on October 25, anti-military demonstrations have been frequent, and each time the security forces confronted the protesters, killing about 70 of them, according to activists opposed to the authority.
Securing the demonstrations
Hours before the expected demonstrations, the Khartoum State Security Committee announced that all bridges on the Nile in Khartoum will remain open to traffic today, stressing at the same time the continuation of Internet services, according to the Sudanese News Agency.
This is the first time that the Sudanese authorities have announced that the bridges in Khartoum will not be closed, and that Internet services will continue, before expected demonstrations.
The committee said – in a statement on Sunday evening – that it was directed to secure the strategic and sovereign sites in central Khartoum.
She added that directives were issued to the regular forces to exercise restraint and not to respond to provocations issued by some, noting that any violations of the law will be addressed.
In a related context, the Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Omar Bashir, said that the competent authorities in Khartoum monitored the participation of a number of cars of diplomatic missions and international organizations in the recent protests in the country, indicating that this is unacceptable and rejected by international laws in this field.
Since last October 25, Sudan has witnessed protests in response to exceptional measures taken by the army chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, most notably the imposition of a state of emergency and the dissolution of the Sovereignty Councils and the Transitional Ministers, which political forces consider a “military coup” in exchange for the army’s denial of this.
cease-fire
On the other hand, the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, issued a decision on Sunday to renew the ceasefire in all parts of the country and on all fronts.
According to the Sovereignty Council’s media office, the decision comes “to create an atmosphere of stability and security in the country, and anticipate a new era of peace, tranquility and security.”
In October of 2019, Al-Burhan issued a decision to cease fire throughout Sudan, and the decision included the inflamed areas, especially in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur, which were experiencing security disturbances.
A number of parties to Sudan are still suffering from security disturbances, witnessing military confrontations between the Sudanese army and armed factions, especially in the Jebel Marra area in Darfur (west), where members of the Sudan Liberation Army movement led by Abdel Wahid Nour and rejecting the peace agreement are deployed, and in the South Kordofan region, which controls The SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, took over parts of its territory.
On October 3 of last year, Khartoum signed an agreement to bring peace with armed movements within the Revolutionary Front coalition. The agreement did not include the Sudan Liberation Army, which is fighting in Darfur, and the People’s Movement (North Sector) led by Abdel Aziz El-Hilu.
In this context, Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, a leader in the Forces for Freedom and Change, the Central Council, said that the Juba Peace Agreement has become threatened with demise, in light of the continuation of what she described as a state of coup in the country.
This came after a meeting that brought together a delegation from the Coalition of Forces for Freedom and Change, the Central Council, with Castillo Garang, advisor to the President of South Sudan.
