Thousands of demonstrators demand a return to civil power despite the telecommunications cut

They braved tear gas canisters, telecommunications cuts and the complete lockdown of the capital. Thousands of Sudanese protested Thursday, demanding a return to civilian power in their country.

With each new call from the demonstrators proclaiming that “the revolution continues” against the head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, who reinforced his power with a putsch on October 25, the authorities mobilize new techniques.

The Internet shutdown has already been used for weeks after the coup, in a country under the rule of the army almost without interruption since its independence 65 years ago.

On Saturday, during the last demonstration calling for civilian power and the return of “soldiers to the barracks”, the authorities also cut the telephone and the bridges connecting the capital to its suburbs with imposing containers.

Cut calls

But Thursday, for the first time, neither local phone calls nor those from abroad could succeed. A blow for the activists who try to mobilize the world to their cause, via social networks and the diaspora.

In addition, the security forces – police, military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – had installed cameras on the main axes of Khartoum.

48 protesters killed in two months

This did not prevent thousands of demonstrators chanting again Thursday “No to military power” and “The soldiers to the barracks! »In Khartoum but also in other cities of Sudan, in particular in Kessala and Port-Sudan in the east or in Madani, in the south of the capital.

A few hundred meters from the presidential palace in Khartoum where the Sovereign Council, the highest authority of the transition headed by General Burhane, sits, the security forces fired tear gas canisters.

As of Wednesday, the American embassy had demanded “an extreme restraint in the use of force”, whereas in two months of anti-putsch mobilization, 48 demonstrators were killed and hundreds wounded by gunshot.

“Do not resort to arbitrary detentions”

Between tear gas canisters, live ammunition in the air and beatings with sticks to disperse the crowd, 235 people were injured on Saturday in the national mobilization.

This assessment was provided by a union of pro-democracy doctors, which lists the victims since the “revolution” began in 2018 which forced the generals to dismiss one of their own, the dictator Omar al-Bashir, in 2019 .

The American embassy also calls on the authorities “not to resort to arbitrary detentions”, while activists report new nightly raids at their homes, as often on the eve of each demonstration.

On December 19, the third anniversary of the “revolution”, the security forces were accused by the UN of having raped female demonstrators in an attempt to break down a movement that continues to regularly mobilize tens of thousands of Sudanese.

Protesters want fully civilian power

Because the street which manifests wants an entirely civilian power as had been promised at the fall of Bashir in 2019. Military and civilians had agreed on a timetable according to which the generals were to step aside shortly.

General Burhane’s coup d’etat – a “correction of the course of the revolution” according to him – has reshuffled the cards. Under the terms of an agreement that the army chief signed on November 21 with civilian Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the latter was reinstated after being placed under house arrest.

General Burhane’s term as head of the transitional authorities has been extended until the elections promised in July 2023.

But Sudan still does not have a government, a sine qua non for the resumption of international aid, vital for this country, one of the poorest in the world.

As for Abdallah Hamdok, denounced by the streets as a “traitor” who “favors the return of the old regime”, he poses the threat of a possible resignation, if we are to believe the regular leaks of the local press. who assures us that he would rarely appear at his desk.