ANSD : Khartoum protesters demand civilian rule

SUN 19 - 5 - 2024

Date: Apr 19, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Khartoum protesters demand civilian rule

_{Agence France Presse}
KHARTOUM: Huge crowds of protesters Thursday thronged the Sudanese capital Khartoum a week after the army’s ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, determined to complete their revolution seeking civilian rule. Roads leading to a sit-in outside the army headquarters were filled with demonstrators as people converged on the site chanting “power to civilians, power to civilians” and “freedom, peace, justice.”

On April 11, the army brought Bashir’s three-decade rule to an end as tens of thousands of protesters camped by the military complex in central Khartoum to demand its backing. Numbers at the site dwindled in the days following the veteran’s toppling, but protesters returned in force to keep up pressure for a civilian government to replace the military council now in charge.

“We are sending a message that we are not leaving this area until we achieve our goal,” said protester Ahmad, who had been at the rally since early Thursday morning.

“The idea is to keep the fire burning,” he added.

Thursday’s rally was not convened by protest organizers who have campaigned for four months against Bashir, but was a result of widespread calls by activists and individual demonstrators on social media networks.

The huge square outside army headquarters reverberated with demonstrators singing, dancing and demanding the dissolution of the military council.

Thousands thronged the area, including teachers who carried pictures of their colleague Ahmad al-Kheir, who died in custody in January after being arrested in connection with protests. He was one of more than 60 people killed before Bashir finally left office.

“We want the killers of our teacher friend to face justice,” the teachers chanted.

Hundreds more people marched in from the northern suburb of Bahari, carrying banners reading: “Bring Bashir to justice.”

“Bashir’s regime was a terrorist regime, a dictatorship. We are happy that we overthrew him,” protester Mohammad Ali said.

“All these decades, we have had wars inside the country. Our relations with the world also suffered under Bashir. All that has to change, that’s what this revolution is for.”

Bashir’s Defense Minister Gen. Awad Ibn Auf initially took power as council chairman, but stepped down within 24 hours following intense pressure from protesters.

The council is now headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, a career soldier largely unknown outside of the army.

Protest leaders say they asked for a joint military-civilian council, but what they got was a military council with many regime faces. They have now hardened their demands.

“We want the military council to be dissolved and replaced by a civilian council having representatives of the army,” said Mohammad Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association that spearheaded the movement. This civilian council should then make way for a four-year transitional government, protest organizers say.

“It is increasingly clear that the revolution is still unfinished,” International Crisis Group analyst Alan Boswell said.

“The security cabal which still has power in Sudan is clearly resisting demands that would force it to cede its own power.”

The protesters did win the resignation of Saleh Ghosh, head of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service.

He oversaw the crackdown on protesters that left dozens dead, hundreds wounded and thousands jailed.

But as pressure grows from world powers and the Sudanese street, all eyes are on the military council’s next move.

The military council has offered concessions, including sacking the prosecutor general.

But both Western and African governments have pushed for greater change. The United States, United Kingdom and Norway urged the military council to hold an “inclusive dialogue” to usher in civilian rule.

The 55-member African Union Monday threatened to suspend Sudan if the military failed to cede power to civilians within 15 days.

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