UN Security Council to discuss Sudan amid demonstrations against military rule

>>NEW YORK: The UN Security Council will meet on Wednesday in an informal session to address the latest developments in Sudan as demonstrations against military rule in the country continue, diplomatic sources said.

The session will be behind closed doors, the sources said on Friday, adding the meeting was requested by six of the council’s 15 members: the United States, Britain, France, Norway, Ireland and Albania.

A common position of the Security Council “is not expected, as China and Russia would oppose it”, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Beijing and Moscow in the past have stressed that the situation in Sudan, which has been on the edge of chaos since an Oct 25 military takeover, was an internal matter for the country and did not threaten international security.

The meeting will allow the UN special representative for Sudan, Volker Perthes, to brief council members on conditions there since former prime minister Abdallah Hamdok resigned last Sunday amid protests against the junta.

Mr Hamdok had been the face of the transition to civilian rule launched after the ouster of Gen Omar al-Bashir, but concerns have swelled about a slide back to dictatorship.

The US and EU warned Sudan’s military against naming its own premier after Mr Hamdok quit.

On Thursday three demonstrators were shot dead in Khartoum and its suburbs, according to witnesses, as people gathered in the country to protest against military rule.

The crackdown on protests has left 60 people dead, said the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.