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Ahram Online
Thousands of Protests rejecting the Sudanese military rule and the deal to reinstate Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok continued their rallies in the capital Khartoum and the cities of Omdurman, Kassala, Sennar and Port Sudan on Monday.
There were no immediate reports of violence against demostrators, unlike past rounds of protests since the takeover. “Security forces have cracked down on the protests killing at least 44 people and wounding hundreds,” said the Sudan Doctors Committee, which tracks deaths at rallies.
Monday’s protests were called by the ‘Sudanese Professionals Association’ and the so-called Resistance Committees, which spearheaded the uprising against al-Bashir and then the military coup.
The Sudanese military seized power on 25 October, dissolved the transitional government and arrested dozens of officials and politicians. The takeover upended a fragile planned transition to a democratic rule.
Hamdok was reinstated last month amid international pressure, in a deal that called for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight. The agreement stipulated the release of detained government officials and politicians, and the formation of an independent technocratic Cabinet led by Hamdok.
However, the deal was rejected by the pro-democracy movement, which insists on handing over power to a civilian government to lead the transition process. The protests came under the slogan, “No negotiations, No compromise, No power-sharing with the military”.
Among the protesters’ demands are ‘the restructure of the military under civilian oversight, purging officers loyal to al-Bashir and disbanding armed groups including the Rapid Support Forces’.
The ‘Rapid Support Forces’ are a formation, notorious for atrocities during the Darfur war and a 2019 massacre of protesters in Khartoum. They are led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who is the deputy head of the ruling sovereign council.
Dagalo is seen as the co-architect of the takeover with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling council.
