Alyurae-AFP- Sudan’s military seized power from a transitional government on Monday and soldiers killed at least three people and wounded 80 as street protests broke out against what the information ministry said amounted to a military coup.
‘civil disobedience’
Federal workers on strike; information ministry, Sudanese Professionals Association, others announce ‘civil disobedience’
The ministry of culture and information also announced on Monday that “workers of federal and state ministries and civil service institutions” are going “into a strike” as well as starting a campaign of “total civil disobedience” as a “refusal of the military coup until the power is handed over to civilians”, it wrote on Facebook.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, a main activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, meanwhile called on supporters to mobilise after what it called the arrest of cabinet members. “We urge the masses to go out on the streets and occupy them, close all roads with barricades, stage a general labour strike, and not to cooperate with the putschists and use civil disobedience to confront them,” the group said on Facebook.
Sudan’s bankers’ association and doctors’ union on Monday also declared campaigns of “civil disobedience”.
African Union calls on release of Sudanese political leaders
African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said Sudan’s political leaders should be released and human rights respected.
“The Chairperson calls for the immediate resumption of consultations between civilians and military … The Chairperson reaffirms that dialogue and consensus is the only relevant path to save the country and its democratic transition,” Mahamat said in a statement.
Three people had died
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said three people had died of wounds after being shot by armed forces during protests against the military’s takeover on Monday. The doctors union wrote on its Facebook page that at least 80 people were injured, like its last toll.
‘Calm situation in downtown Khartoum’ as night falls
According to FRANCE 24’s Khartoum correspondent Bastien Renouil, “the situation is now pretty quiet in downtown Khartoum, near the presidential palace”, despite the latest protests.
UN chief condemns Sudan ‘coup’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Sudanese military’s takeover and urged the immediate release of civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok. “I condemn the ongoing military coup in Sudan. Prime Minister Hamdok and all other officials must be released immediately,” Guterres wrote on Twitter.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘attempted coup’
Macron tweeted in support of Sudan’s transitional government and called for the immediate release of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
“France condemns the attempted coup in Sudan in the strongest terms. I express our support for the Sudanese transitional government and call for the immediate release and safety of the prime minister and civilian leaders,” said Macron on Twitter.
US halts US$700 million of ‘economic support funds’
The US State Department said on Monday evening it was suspending US$700 million in aid that was designed to support Sudan’s democratic transition, after the Sudanese military coup.
“In light of these developments, the United States is pausing assistance from the $700 million in emergency assistance appropriations of economic support funds for Sudan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, saying none of the $700 million had been transferred and so the entire sum was paused.
Sudan’s military seized power Monday, dissolving the country’s transitional government hours after troops arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other senior officials. As thousands of people flooded into the streets to protest the coup, security forces opened fire on some of the crowds, killing at least three protesters and wounding at least 80 people, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Committee.
The takeover comes more than two years after protesters forced the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and just weeks before the military was supposed to hand the leadership of the council that runs the country over to civilians.
