Thousands of people shout slogans and hold national flags during anti-coup protests last week
Sudan’s protest movement has rejected internationally backed initiatives to return to a power-sharing arrangement with the military after last month’s coup, announcing two days of nationwide strikes starting on Sunday.
The movement called for the establishment of a civilian government to lead a transition to democracy.
The call came as a leader of the country’s main political party accused the military leadership of negotiating in bad faith.
The Sudanese military seized power on October 25th, dissolving the transitional administration and arresting dozens of government officials and politicians.
The coup has been met with international outcry and massive protests in the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
The takeover has upended the country’s fragile planned transition to democratic rule, more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government.
Since the coup, the international community has accelerated mediation efforts to find a way out of the crisis, which threatens to further destabilise the already restive Horn of Africa region.
The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, which led the uprising against al-Bashir, said late on Friday that mediation initiatives which “seek a new settlement” between the military and civilian leaders would “reproduce and worsen” the country’s crisis.
The association vowed to continue protesting until a full civilian government is established to lead the transition.
Under the slogan, “no negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing”, the association called for strikes and civil disobedience on Sunday and Monday.
On Thursday, the top United States diplomat spoke separately by phone with the military leader, Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Abdalla Hamdok, the deposed prime minister who was put under house arrest during the coup.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken urged for an immediate return to a civilian-led government and for the release of those detained in connection with the coup.
Comments