After military coup: deaths and nationwide protest in Sudan

Thousands of Sudanese protest against the military coup. There were dead and injured in clashes. Even if the generals promise democracy, Sudan is facing a long period of instability.

By Björn Blaschke, ARD-Studio Cairo

At least three people are said to have died because soldiers shot protesters. In addition, more than 80 were injured, reports media from Sudan’s capital Khartoum.

Images on the Internet, which have not yet been verified, appear to show demonstrators running in Khartoum, while gunshots can be heard in the background. The Sudanese doctors’ union wrote on Facebook that the fatal shots had occurred outside the military compound in Khartoum. Central bank employees have gone on strike. Doctors across the country are reportedly refusing to work in military hospitals except in an emergency.

Strikes and resistance across the country

What is certain is that people in Sudan are protesting against the military coup. And that members of the armed forces take action against them. Yesterday the Sudanese military arrested civilian political leaders. Since then, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other civilian members of his government have been held in an undisclosed location.

Typical putschist phrases

Sudan’s top general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, declared a state of emergency. On state television, he declared the transitional government and the Sovereign Transitional Council to be dissolved. Burhan also announced the formation of a new government with “competent people”. With the measures he wanted to “correct the course of the revolution”, said Burhan in his address. Words typical of coup plotters: “It was our duty in the armed forces to take the steps to maintain the course of the glorious December Revolution until it reached its final goal, a fully civil state achieved through free and fair elections.”

Achievements for civil government

These elections are to take place in 2023. And Burhan assured that he would stick to this plan. He cited political power struggles as the reason for the coup. Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir two years ago, civilian leaders and their military colleagues have been at odds. Time and again the military have tried more or less openly to usurp power.

Civilian leaders certainly have successes in this regard. For example, Sadik al-Mehdi said after the coup on al-Jazeera: “After the complete destruction that the country experienced during the three decades of the Bashir dictatorship, which destroyed the country and everything in it, the country came out of the bad Lay out and move forward. Slowly, but there was progress. ” International relations had been restored and the international community supported the civil and democratic transformation of Sudan. “Even economic performance had improved,” said al-Mehdi.

We hear from Sudan that the protests are now continuing. The revolution that began in 2019 is not over yet.