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Sudan military admits ordering violent dispersal of protesters

June 14, 2019 at 3:37 pm

Sudanese demonstrators gather to protest demanding a civilian transition government in front of military headquarters outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan on 3 May 2019 [Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency]

The Transitional Military Council in Sudan has for the first time admitted it ordered the dispersal of a sit-in in capital Khartoum which left over 100 people dead last week.

The TMC “decided to disperse the sit-in”, said spokesman Shams Al-Din Kabashi yesterday.

He added  that the TMC will not conduct an international investigation into the event which came after months of peaceful protests and the ousting of long-time dictator Omar Al-Bashir.

The TMC, Kabashi continued, has also refused a proposal by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed to transfer negotiations with the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change to Addis Ababa.

In the early hours of 3 June, the Sudanese security forces stormed a sit-in in central Khartoum, forcibly removing it, according to opposition forces. The Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors reported that the death toll had reached 108.

READ: The use of the militias against protesters means that Sudan has missed a historic opportunity

Since then the military leadership has been accused of using militias to intimidate protesters. Women’s rights campaigner and activist Nahid Jabrallah told the German publication Deutsche Welle that the Rapid Support Forces, part of Sudan’s security services, raped numerous Sudanese women and men as they violently dispersed a pro-democracy sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum last week.

A media blackout has now been reported in the country with protesters unable to use mobile phones to go online, limiting the information which is able to flow out of Sudan.

Massacre in Sudan - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Massacre in Sudan – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]