Thousands of Sudanese came out on the streets of Khartoum and other cities on Thursday to protest against a deal that saw the prime minister reinstated after his ouster in a military coup last month, reported Reuters.
The Sudanese military chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan seized power and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on October 25.
Various political parties and Sudan’s powerful protest movement have opposed Hamdok’s decision to sign the deal with the military on Sunday, with some calling it a betrayal.
“The revolution is the people’s revolution. The army back to the barracks!” some protesters were heard chanting.
They are demanding justice for Sudanese killed in previous protests.
“Burhan you won’t rule. Down with military rule,” the protesters chanted referring to Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
According to witnesses, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Omdurman as well as in the central state of North Kordofan and in North Darfur.
The protesters had called for Martyrs’ Day demonstrations on Thursday, in honor of the 42 protesters killed in the post-coup crackdown, according to an updated toll from Sudanese medics.
On Wednesday, Volker Perthes, the United Nations special envoy to Sudan who helped mediate between the military and civilian factions after the coup, said the protest rallies were “another test of credibility” of the agreement.
He appealed to the Sudanese authorities to allow demonstrations to go ahead without bloodshed or any arbitrary arrests.
Hamdok, who has been serving as the country’s prime minister since the ouster of Omar al Bashir in 2019, said he had signed the deal with the Sudanese military leader in order to stop the ongoing bloodshed and to not squander the gains achieved in the last two years.
He said the deal lays down a clear date for Sudan’s first free elections in three decades slated for July 2023.
