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News > Sudan

Death Toll Climbs to 9 in Sudan After Security Forces Attack

  • Death Toll Climbs to 9 in Sudan After Security Forces Attack
Published 3 June 2019
Opinion

The main protest group accused the ruling military council of trying to break up the camp, calling the action “a massacre”. But the council said the security forces had targeted criminals in an adjacent area.

The death toll in Khartoum has climbed to nine dead after the Sudanese security forces stormed a protest camp inside the country's capital city.

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Sudanese Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters in Khartoum

In footage broadcasted by Al-Jazeera TV, a large number of people could be seen fleeing through the streets of Khartoum after the Sudanese security forces opened fire on the crowd. This chaotic scene has sparked the deadliest day since the long-time Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir was removed from office. 

The main protest group accused the ruling military council of trying to break up the camp, calling the action “a massacre”. But the council said the security forces had targeted criminals in an adjacent area.

The protesters and Sudan’s military rulers had been negotiating over who should govern in a transitional period following the overthrow of Bashir after months of generally peaceful demonstrations, but the talks have become deadlocked.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC) has offered to let protesters form a government but insists on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. The demonstrators want civilians to run the transitional period and lead Sudan’s 40 million people to democracy.

Thousands of young men and women have been taking turns to camp outside the Defence Ministry, the focal point of anti-government protests that started in December.

The opposition’s doctors committee said nine people had been killed in Monday’s violence.

“The protesters holding a sit-in in front of the army general command are facing a massacre in a treacherous attempt to disperse the protest,” the protest group said in a statement.

It urged the Sudanese people to come to their aid.

The military council’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi, said the raid targeted criminals and that the protesters were safe.

“The protest camp has not been dispersed,” Kabbashi said. “The security forces were trying to disperse unruly (elements) in the Colombia area, near the protest site, and some of these elements fled to the protest site and caused this chaos.”

The council was still committed to a political settlement and was ready to resume talks on a civilian transition soon, Kabbashi added.

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