Norway envoy condemns intolerable violence in Sudan

KHARTOUM: Ater the deadliest day of protests since Sudan’s coup last month, the envoy of Norway, a key diplomatic player and major donor in the strife-torn country, bemoaned the “intolerable” crackdown.

“I strongly condemn the violence used against unarmed protesters in Khartoum,” ambassador Therese Loken Gheziel told reporters ater at least 15 protesters were killed in the capital on Wednesday.

“Hindering access to hospitals and disrupting safety and treatment in hospitals is intolerable and illegal,” she said, adding that phone and internet shutdowns are also “not conducive to meaningful dialogue”.

Norway is a member of the so-called Troika, with Britain and the United States, that played a key role in brokering a 2005 peace deal between the Sudanese government and rebels which paved the way for the creation of South Sudan.

It has been involved in crisis talks since the October 25 takeover led by Sudan’s top general Abdel Fatah al-burhan, who detained the civilian leadership, upending a two-year transition to civilian rule.

Wednesday’s fatalities brought the death toll from anti-coup protests to 39, according to medics.

Doctors said most deaths were caused by bullets, while police have denied using live ammunition and insisted they have employed “minimum force” to disperse the protests.

Gheziel said Norway has “warned against disproportional use of force” in meetings with the Sudanese military leadership.

“It’s unacceptable the demonstrators exercising their right to express their views are put in danger,” she said. “The security forces’ mandate is to protect the people.”

Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader since the April 2019 ouster of president Omar Al-bashir, insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but a step “to rectify the transition” to civilian rule.

The Norwegian government however “labelled this a military coup”, Gheziel said. “There has been a unilateral action taken by one of the partners to the transition and this is the military partner.”

The takeover came ater splits had deepened over months between civilians and the military under the now-deposed government.

“We knew there were issues but (believed) that it could be discussed and dealt with by the partners themselves,” said Gheziel. “We were caught by surprise because we had such high hopes.”

Since the coup, Gheziel and other ambassadors from the Troika and the European Union have shutled between military leaders and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is under effective house arrest.