Khartoum, Jan 18, (dpa/GNA) – At least seven people were killed when Sudanese military forces fired into a crowd of protesters, a pro-democracy advocacy group said, raising their earlier toll of three fatalities.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said dozens of peaceful anti-military demonstrators were also seriously injured by the troops in the capital Khartoum on Monday.
There have been sustained protests in Sudan since the military took power on October 25.
After pressure from home and abroad, the ousted head of government, Abdullah Hamdok, was initially reinstated in November and, according to an agreement with military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, was allowed to form a cabinet
with civilian representatives.
Hamdok, whom demonstrators accused of treason for working with the military, resigned at the start of the year after weeks of bloody protests, saying he had become too divisive of a figure and that Sudan needed to find a new path forward without him.
The protesters are angry at the military’s continued participation in the government, which is accused of serious human rights violations and corruption.
Sudan was ruled with an iron fist for almost 30 years by the Islamist Omar al-Bashir. The strongman was forced out of office in April 2019 by months of mass protests and a military coup.
The military and the civilian opposition then agreed on a shared transitional government to pave the way for democratic elections, but the relationship soon soured, leading to the coup in October.
Extensive economic reforms were planned, which would have impacted the military. The military was also opposed to Hamdok’s efforts to deal with human rights violations.
GNA