A Sudanese protestor was killed and several got injured when the security forces fired live ammunition to disperse anti-coup protesters during the latest rallies against last year’s military coup on Thursday, reported The Reuters.
The pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said the protester died after taking “shots to the chest and abdomen” during rallies in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital, Khartoum.
The latest death takes the total death toll to 102 from a crackdown on anti-coup protests, which have taken place regularly since the October 25 coup led by Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The coup brought a civilian-led transition in the country to a halt which was established after the 2019 ouster of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, has plunged into deepening unrest since the coup. Near-weekly protests, rising prices, life-threatening food shortages, and ethnic clashes continue to deteriorate the situation.
Hundreds of Sudanese took to the streets on Thursday in several parts of the Khartoum area to renew demands for civilian rule.
The United Nations, the African Union, and the regional bloc IGAD have been pushing to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis.
Last week, military officials, representatives from several political parties, and senior members from ex-rebel groups attended the start of negotiation talks. The second round of UN-brokered talks to resolve Sudan’s political crisis has been postponed indefinitely as key civilian groups including the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), which was ousted from power in the coup, and the influential Umma party refused to join.
The FFC refused to participate in a dialogue organized by the tripartite mechanism after the facilitators decided to involve pro-military groups that were allies of the ousted regime. The Sudanese civilian group is demanding an end to the repression and the release of prisoners before any dialogue with the military authorities.
