Doctors Denounce Killing of 14 Sudanese in Protests

The Unified Office of Sudanese Doctors (UOSD) denounced that 14 citizens died as a result of gunshot wounds caused by the security forces defending the Oct. 25 coup d'état.

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On Wednesday, the protests in Kartoum North were harshly repressed by the Police, which only admitted the death of one person during the incidents. Besides accusing citizens of using violence against its personnel, the police denied using firearms against the protesters, saying its officers "used minimum force and tear gas and it has never used firearms." The facts, however, were different.

"We call upon the international community and the International Committee of the Red Cross to immediately intervene and rescue the wounded and provide the required equipment, medicines and supplies in response to the brutal ongoing attacks by the military,” the Sudanese doctors said.

“Today, 14 martyrs died so far, 11 in Bahri, 2 in Khartoum, and 1 in Omdurman. There are more than 80 wounded, a large number of them seriously, and are wavering between death and life. There was also an attack on some hospitals in Khartoum.  As a result of this violence, there is severe shortage of medical personnel, especially in Bahri, and a severe shortage of blood, intravenous fluids, anaesthetics and other emergency medicines and trauma kits,” the UOSD added.

The humanitarian situation in this northeastern African country is increasingly chaotic. Attention to health emergencies and reporting human rights violations are difficult due to road blocks, deficiencies in telephone services, and control of Internet communications.

Khartoum witnessed mass demonstrations against measures recently adopted by the Sudanese army commander, including dissolving the government and appointing a new sovereign council. The protesters raised banners demanding the release of political detainees and the restoration of the civilian government led by the removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

On Oct. 25, General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a "state of emergency" and dissolved the sovereign council and the government. The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, and the Sudanese Consultants and Specialists Committee organized the UOSD to keep an independent registry of human rights violations in their country. So far, Sudanese doctors have counted 23 people killed since October 25.