Khartoum, Sudan
Reuters
Three demonstrators were killed on Monday when Sudanese security forces fired live rounds and teargas during protests against military rule that attracted tens of thousands of people across the country, medics said.
Such protests, along with barricades throughout the capital and a general strike last week, have continued since the military took power on 25th October, ending a partnership with civilian political parties since the removal of Omar al-Bashir as Sudan’s ruler in 2019.
SUDANESE WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST OSMAN DETAINED IN RAID, HER SISTER SAYS
Armed men detained prominent Sudanese women’s rights campaigner Amira Osman in a nighttime raid on her home in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, her sister said on Sunday.
Osman’s detention comes after what activists say has been a campaign of arrests of civil society and pro-democracy figures since a military takeover in October.
Family of prominent Sudanese women’s rights campaigner Amira Osman is seen after arresting her at home in Khartoum, Sudan, on 23rd January. PICTURE: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah.
The United Nations mission in Sudan said on Twitter it was outraged by Osman’s arrest, citing a “pattern of violence against women’s rights activists” that risked reducing their participation in politics.
Sudanese security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some high profile political figures have been released since the 25th October coup, but activists say others have remained in detention and arrests have continued.
About 15 armed, masked men wearing civilian clothes abducted Osman after storming her house in Al Riyadh neighbourhood late on Saturday night, her sister Amani Osman told Reuters.
“We don’t know where she is or the security agency that took her. We are worried about the nature of her arrest and her critical health condition,” she said, adding that Osman had been partially paralysed in an accident some years ago.
Osman campaigned for women’s rights in Sudan under the Islamist rule of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted during an uprising in 2019.
She was arrested in 2013 under public order laws for refusing to wear a headscarf, and was convicted and fined in 2002 for wearing trousers.
Women played a prominent role in the protests that led to Bashir’s overthrow. A transitional government later repealed the public order law used to regulate women’s dress and behaviour, though some other restrictive laws remained.
– KHALID ABDELAZIZ/Reuters
Some 76 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in crackdowns on the protests, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is aligned with the protest movement, mainly by gunshots and teargas canisters.
“Our people are protesting peacefully and using all forms of nonviolent resistance towards a free, democratic and just country, only to be confronted by the military with the worst crimes,” the doctors’ group said.
Two protesters were killed in a protest in Khartoum, one shot in the chest and the other in the head, the group said. Other protesters were injured in the capital Khartoum and the city of Omdurman, they said.
Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sudan’s military leaders have said the right to peaceful protest is protected. The Sovereign Council, Sudan’s highest authority, run by the military, received a briefing on the work of a committee investigating protester deaths, it said in a statement.
The violence has deepened the deadlock between pro-democracy groups and the military leadership.
A Reuters witness saw security forces using teargas and stun grenades as protesters stood 1.2 kilometres from the presidential palace.
In the cities of Bahri and Omdurman, Reuters witnesses saw a heavy security presence and teargas fired on a main road.
The protests were called by neighbourhood resistance committees, which advocate a stance of “no legitimacy, no negotiation, no partnership” towards the military.
One committee reported the arrest of at least four members. Another said its headquarters were raided.
Large protests were held in the city of Madani, where witnesses said protesters marched towards the house of a protester killed on Friday before heading to the state government building.
The third protester was killed there, with gunshots to the head and shoulder, the doctors’ committee said.
Social media users shared images of other protests in the cities of El Fasher, Shendi, and Elobeid.
Last week, the United States condemned the use of force against protesters, saying it would consider additional measures to hold perpetrators of violence accountable.
Military leader Abdelfattah al-Burhan has appointed deputy ministers to a caretaker government which passed this year’s budget.
On Monday, Abdelghani Alnaeem, former deputy foreign minister under Bashir, confirmed he and more than 100 other diplomats and administrators fired as part of an anti-corruption task force had been reinstated by a judge. “This is a positive step,” he said.
The Sovereign Council on Monday formed a committee to look into appeals of decisions by the taskforce, which was a key point of tension between the military and civilian politicians.
– Additional reporting by MOAZ ABD-ALAZIZ.
