Sudan: Protesters rally day after deadly crackdown

People once again took to the streets in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, on Friday, a day after a brutal police crackdown on protesters left at least nine dead.

Funeral marches for the deceased quickly turned into public expressions of anger against the military that has ruled the country since a coup in October 2021.

Thursday's protests were the largest seen in months, and the police crackdown was also the most violent.

Some 113 people — including 18 children — have been killed in the weekly protests since last year's coup.

Sudan's disrupted path to democracy

The Sudanese protesters are demanding a return to the country's transition to democracy that began in 2019 after a popular uprising ousted strongman President Omar al-Bashir.

The military takeover by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has disrupted the fragile process.

A group of major stakeholders, including the UN's mission to Sudan and the African Union, has been trying to broker a return to the transition but so far without success.

On Friday, protest groups released a joint statement expressing "disappointment over the continued use of excessive force by security forces and lack of accountability for such actions, despite repeated commitments by authorities."

UN human rights chief condemns crackdown

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet on Friday condemned the killing of protesters on Thursday, saying, "I am alarmed by the killing of at least nine protesters by security forces in Sudan yesterday — including a 15-year-old child — even after the police had announced they would not use lethal force to disperse the demonstrators."

She said security forces reportedly used "live bullets" and that "most of those killed were shot in the chest, head and back."

Bachelet reminded the Sudanese authorities that "force should be used only when strictly necessary" and not "to dissuade or intimidate protesters from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly."

"I call on authorities to conduct an independent, transparent, thorough, and impartial investigation into the response by the security forces," the UN human rights chief said.

Anniversary of key protest

Thursday's protests marked the mass rallies in 2019 that ultimately brought the military to the negotiating table to form an agreement with pro-democracy groups on implementing elections.

The 2021 coup scuppered these plans and led to the pro-democracy groups calling for the immediate removal of the generals from power.

Although Western governments have thrown their support behind the protesters, they have also drawn their ire by engaging with the military leadership, a tactic the pro-democracy movement now rejects.

"We are heartbroken at the tragic loss of life in yesterday's protests,'' the US Embassy in Sudan said in a statement Friday. "We urge all parties to resume negotiations and call on peaceful voices to rise above those who advocate for or commit violence.''

ab/sms (AP, AFP)