Daily Times

Protests against Sudan’s military coup that has sparked international condemnation entered a fourth day Thursday, as demonstrators rebuilt barricades demolished by security forces during overnight unrest.

But after a harsh security crackdown and heavy troop deployment, far fewer protesters risked arrest on the streets than in previous days.

Top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Sudan’s de facto leader since the 2019 ouster of veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir — on Monday dissolved the fragile government that had been meant to shepherd the country to full civilian rule.

The World Bank and the United States have frozen aid and denounced the army’s power grab, while the African Union has suspended Sudan’s membership over what it termed the “unconstitutional” takeover.

Seven protesters have been confirmed killed since Monday by morgues in Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman, said a health official who added that more corpses had since been received, some with wounds caused by “sharp tools”.

One protester said the “security forces have been trying since yesterday morning to remove all our barricades, firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

“But we go and rebuild them as soon as they leave,” added Hatem Ahmed, from northern Khartoum. “We will only remove the barricades when the civilian government is back.”

Another protester said that “we do not want military power, we want a free democratic life in this country”.

Shops have remained closed following calls for a civil disobedience campaign and Sudan’s pro-democracy movements ratcheted up calls for “million-strong protests” on Saturday.

The coup was the latest to have hit the poverty-stricken Northeast African nation which has experienced only rare democratic interludes since independence in 1956.

Prime Minister AbdallaHamdok, who was detained by the military on Monday, remains under guard at his home, where he was moved after an international outcry. Other ministers remain under full military arrest.

A joint statement by the United States, European Union, Britain, Norway and other nations emphasised their continued recognition of the “prime minister and his cabinet as the constitutional leaders of the transitional government”.

Burhan, a senior general during Bashir’s three-decade-long hardline rule, has sacked six Sudanese ambassadors — including to the US, EU, China and France — who have been critical of his actions.

Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi — whose father was the prime minister ousted by Bashir’s 1989 coup — is one of the few civilian leaders not in detention and has become a leading voice of criticism.

On Thursday, she praised the 30 diplomats who have opposed the takeover, saying that “every free ambassador who opposes the coup is a victory for the revolution”.

The World Bank has put its aid to Sudan on hold, a major blow to a country already in the grip of a dire economic crisis.

Sudan only recently unlocked funds from the lender and its sister institution the International Monetary Fund, after decades under sanctions during Bashir’s rule.

Washington has also paused $700 million in funding, and the EU has threatened to follow suit.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, a union umbrella instrumental in months-long protests that helped oust Bashir in April 2019, has warned violence has mounted in a “vengeful” crackdown by security forces.

The information ministry — still loyal to the deposed government — has warned that security forces are tightening their control of the capital.

“Neighbourhoods and streets have been blockaded by armoured vehicles and men carrying rifles,” it said in a statement Wednesday, alleging also that “women were dragged” to the ground.