Sudan’s coup: A call for a “March of Millions” to challenge the military coup | Sudan

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Sudan’s six-day-old military council will face its most serious challenge on Saturday with pro-democracy groups, civilian politicians and trade unions calling for mass demonstrations against Monday’s coup.

As Major General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese general leading the coup, announced that he would appoint a technocratic prime minister to rule alongside the generals, the scale of the opposition’s “march of millions” would be seen as a key indicator of the army’s control. .

Al-Burhan insisted that the army’s seizure of power “was not a coup” but was only aimed at “correcting the course of the Sudanese transition.”

However, many said they continued to recognize the government of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as the legitimate government, and the United States, the World Bank and others cut critical foreign aid to the economically battered country, as the military struggled to stamp out the protests.

Hours before Saturday’s demonstrations, the Saudi-owned Al-Hadath channel said that communication services were cut off in Sudan.

The United States urged coup leaders to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters, saying the military’s reaction on Saturday would be a critical test. On Saturday, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, endorsed the “nonviolent struggle for democracy,” saying: “Sudanese security forces must respect human rights. Any violence against peaceful protesters is unacceptable.”

“Tomorrow will be a real indication of what military intentions are,” said a senior State Department official. “We call on the security forces to refrain from any and all forms of violence against protesters and to fully respect the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully.”

On Friday, soldiers from the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, many of which they fear, roamed the streets of Khartoum, as well as the twin cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman.

Heavily armed security forces demolished protest barriers from tires and stones that blocked roads, and conducted random searches of people and vehicles. With authorities restricting internet and phone signals, protesters were distributing leaflets calling for a “Millions’ March” on Saturday under the slogan “Get out!”

Witnesses said that security forces shot protesters Thursday night in Bahri, across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum, using live and rubber bullets. A committee of doctors said one person was killed and two were in critical condition.

Supporters of the Umma Party, the largest Sudanese political party in Omdurman. Photo: Ibrahim Hamid/AFP/Getty

“Confronting peaceful protesters with gunfire is something that should not be tolerated,” said Haitham Mohamed, a protester in Khartoum. “It will not make us back down; it only strengthens our resolve.”

Recent pro-democracy demonstrations, including those leading up to the coup, have outnumbered the pro-military rallies the generals are accused of supporting as part of their preparations to seize power.

In an interview with Russia’s state-owned news agency Sputnik and published on Friday, Al-Burhan said the new prime minister would form a government that would share Sudan’s leadership with the armed forces. “We have a national duty to lead the people and help them in the transitional period until the elections,” Al-Burhan said in the interview.

However, Al-Burhan, on Thursday evening, left the door open to the possibility of the return of Hamdok – who is under house arrest – as prime minister, saying that the army is negotiating with him to form the new government.

In a speech to the groups that helped oust dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, he said that consultations were underway to choose a prime minister. Until tonight, we’ve been texting him people and telling them [Hamdok] … complete the path with us. “Up until this meeting with you, we were sending him people to negotiate with and we still had hope,” Al-Burhan said on Al-Jazeera.

“We told him we cleaned the stage for you.. He is free to form the government, we will not interfere with the formation of the government, anyone will bring it, we will not interfere at all.”

Hamdok, an economist and former senior official at the United Nations, was initially held at Al-Burhan’s residence when government soldiers were arrested on Monday. He was allowed to go home under guard on Tuesday.

Al-Burhan said that the generals had not yet submitted a list of candidates for prime minister. The decision to appoint such a prime minister follows previous calls by the generals for a nonpartisan technocratic government.

The military takeover came after weeks of escalating tensions between military and civilian leaders over the path and pace of Sudan’s transition to democracy.

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