First deaths reported as protests rise
KHARTOUM: The first reports of deaths emerged from Sudan yesterday in the wake of the military’s move to unseat the civilian government and declare a national state of emergency, following weeks of intense political strife in the East African nation.
The country’s transitional government was dissolved, army General Abdel Fattah alBurhan announced in a televised address, saying the takeover was necessary due to the recent ‘‘chaos and violence’’ in Sudan.
The military would pursue the country’s return to democracy and hand over to a civilian government after elections in July 2023, he said.
The Information Ministry had said earlier in the day that Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok had been taken to an unknown location. He had apparently refused to issue a statement of support for the coup and instead called for street protests.
Other members of the government are also said to have been detained, according to broadcaster AlHadath and the Sudan Tribune news website.
Meanwhile, the US government said that $US700 million ($NZ976 million) earmarked to support Sudan’s transition to democracy would be halted for the time being.
The White House has called for the military to immediately release all detained political actors, fully restore the civilianled transitional government and refrain from any violence, a sentiment also expressed by France, the European Union and the United Nations, among others.
There were also reports out of the troubled nation of popular resistance to the military’s move, with clashes at times becoming deadly. The country’s doctors’ association posted on Facebook that it had recorded at least two deaths and 80 injuries amid the fighting.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Khartoum to protest against the military takeover, a DPA correspondent at the scene said. Germany’s Foreign Ministry reported blockades were sprouting along roads and bridges in Khartoum, erected by both the military and the protesters.
The protesters broke through security barricades and headed towards the military’s headquarters in the capital. Another witness said calls to resist the military were aired from a mosque in the city’s Riad district. Demonstrators were throwing rocks and tyres on to a nearby road, the witness said.
Regular gunfire was also heard in the capital, and barricades were set on fire. — DPA