Protesting Sudanese demand reforms, justice

CAIRO: Sudanese protesters returned to the streets on Tuesday to pressure transitional authorities, demanding justice for those killed in the uprising last year that led to the military’s ouster of longtime autocrat Omar Al Bashir.

The “million-man march” was called by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, and the so-called Resistance Commitees, which were incremental in the protests against Bashir and the generals who took over power for months ater his removal.

Security forces closed off major roads and streets leading to government and military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, ahead of the protests which fall on the anniversary of the coup that brought Bashir to power in 1989, toppling Sudan’s last elected government.

The protests are also the first major demonstrations since rallies last year - three months ater Bashir ouster - when hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Sudan’s capital and elsewhere in the country to pressure then-ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian government, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Monday sought to reassure the protesters, saying that their demands are “legitimate” and “necessary to correct the revolution’s track.”

He said the military-civilian alliance that rules Sudan during this transitional period was “sensitive and critical,” adding that there are many “difficulties” that threaten its stability. Hamdok promised his transitional government would work to carry out the protesters’ demands in the next two weeks.

“In the coming days, a number of decisive decisions... will follow,” he said.