Doctors, oil workers join disobedience movement

STATE oil company workers and doctors in Sudan said yesterday they were joining protests against the military coup that has derailed the country’s planned transition to democracy.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets since Monday’s takeover led by armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and several have been killed in clashes with security forces.

A group of neighbourhood committees in the capital Khartoum has announced plans for further protests leading to what it said would be a “march of millions” on Saturday.

In one Khartoum neighbourhood on Wednesday, a Reuters journalist saw soldiers and armed people in civilian clothes removing barricades erected by protesters.

A few hundred metres away, youths came out to build barricades again minutes later. One of them said: “We want civilian rule. We won’t get tired.”

Burhan on Tuesday defended the military’s seizure of power, saying he had ousted the government to avoid civil war.

He has dismissed the joint civilian-military council that had been set up to steer the country to democratic elections following the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising in April 2019.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was returned to his home under tight security on Tuesday after being held at Burhan’s house.

Workers at state oil company Sudapet yesterday came out in support of the ousted government.

“We announce joining the civil disobedience in support of the people’s decision backing the civil democratic transformation and until this demand is achieved,” Sudapet said in a statement carried by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an activist alliance.

Doctors also said they would go on strike.

Speaking on Tuesday at his first news conference since announcing the takeover, Burhan said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians who he said were inciting people against the armed forces.

The military’s action did not amount to a coup, he said.