KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan’s pro-democracy leaders continued on Thursday to press a campaign of civil disobedience after a deadly military crackdown this week, but a show of force by government security officers across the capital, Khartoum, appeared to thwart new demonstrations.

At least 108 demonstrators have been killed and hundreds of others wounded since security forces stormed a protest camp in Khartoum on Monday. Pro-democracy groups have vowed to continue peaceful protests that gathered momentum after the ouster in April of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir until the ruling military council is removed and those responsible for the deaths this week are brought to justice.

Citing the crackdown, the African Union suspended Sudan from all union activities “with immediate effect.” The economic and development group said the suspension would last until Sudan’s military handed over power to a transitional civilian authority. The United Nations and Western governments have also condemned the violence.

The Health Ministry, which is controlled by the military, disputed the death toll, saying on Thursday that 61 people had died in the crackdown this week. Violent clashes have also erupted in other parts of Sudan, and protest leaders said there were attacks, including killings and rape, in 13 cities and towns perpetrated by security forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of union groups that has been behind months of rallies that forced the military to oust Mr. al-Bashir, urged people to block main roads and bridges to “paralyze public life” by blocking main roads and bridges in response to the crackdown.

“Our success depends on our full adherence to peaceful protests, no matter how hard the criminal militias seek to drag us into violence,” the association said on Thursday in a statement posted on Facebook.

On Thursday, hundreds of armored vehicles belonging to the Rapid Support Forces, which grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by the al-Bashir government to suppress the Darfur insurgency in the 2000s, were seen across the capital. Barricades erected this week by protesters near the site of the dispersed protest camp were removed and roads were opened. Most stores were closed, and few people were seen on Khartoum streets.

The head of the Transitional Military Council, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, an offer that pro-democracy groups promptly rejected, saying they could not participate in talks while the crackdown continued.

Instead, the groups’ leaders said they would continue demonstrations and strikes in an effort to put pressure on the military to hand over power to a civilian authority.

Amal al-Zein, a leader of Sudan’s Communist Party, said she believed that only a division within the military could end the standoff, for example, if young officers overthrew their superiors on the military council.

“All members of the military council belong to the old regime, and that is why we are betting now on lower-rank officers,” Ms. al-Zein said. “We are hoping patriotic policemen and military officers will act to protect the Sudanese people.”

Before Monday’s violence, the military and protest leaders had been negotiating the makeup of a transitional council that would run the country until elections could be held. Pro-democracy groups had demanded that civilians dominate the council, which the generals resisted.

The military suspended talks this week and announced it was canceling previous agreements and would hold elections within seven to nine months. But on Wednesday, General al-Burhan abruptly offered to restart negotiations.

Though many Western nations have protested the violence, other countries have been more measured, especially Arab nations that have sided with Sudan’s military leaders. A top Russian diplomat said on Thursday that Moscow, which has largely stayed on the sidelines in Sudan, opposed “any foreign intervention” and believed a compromise was needed.

Mikhail Bogdanov, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Middle East section, told local news agencies that Russian diplomats were in touch with all political players in Sudan, including the opposition.

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, had already strongly condemned the violence in Sudan, and urged the military council “to protect the civilians from further harm.”

The group went further on Thursday by suspending Sudan from its activities. The union’s Peace and Security Council said on Twitter that the suspension would remain in effect until “the effective establishment” of a civilian-led transitional authority, “as the only way to allow the Sudan to exit from the current crisis.”

The suspension could deprive the Transitional Military Council of international legitimacy, said Amani Africa, a research group based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the union is based.

Sudan cannot participate in any African Union meetings and financial or other support will cease, Amani Africa said, although Sudan’s peacekeeping obligations are expected to continue.

Other bodies such as the United Nations and the European Union are expected to take their cues from the African Union’s action.

The 55-member union has suspended countries in the past over what it considered unconstitutional changes of government, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. In certain cases, a suspension can last for years. No other country is currently suspended.

Source: Read Full Article