Sudanese security forces on Wednesday increased the arrests of activists and demonstrators in an attempt to end opposition to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane's coup.
At the end of the day, they still faced demonstrators determined to maintain the barricades of their
"general strike".
Read also In Sudan, the street opposes the coup
Clashes took place in particular in the very bustling district of Bourri, in the east of Khartoum where hundreds of demonstrators threw stones, or in the suburb of Khartoum-North where the security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets. , noted AFP correspondents. In the evening, the Ministry of Information, loyal to the ousted government, said in a statement that the security forces were tightening their control over the capital:
“Neighborhoods and streets were blocked by armored vehicles and men carrying guns ”
and
“ women dragged ”
to the ground. He also urged the international community to investigate violations against peaceful protesters.
The Prime Minister "under close surveillance"
Abroad, the African Union and the World Bank have increased the pressure on the army: the first suspended Sudan from its institutions and the second stopped its aid, vital for this poor country plunged into economic doldrums. and plagued by conflict. And at the UN, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, had met General Burhane and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Wednesday who
"is not free to move around" .
Volker Perthes
"reaffirmed"
to General Burhane that the UN demands
"a return to the transition process"
and
"of course the immediate release of all those who have been arbitrarily arrested".
The army authorized the return on Tuesday to his home in Khartoum of Abdallah Hamdok, arrested after the putsch on Monday with most of the civilians who made up the transitional power. But he remains
"under close surveillance"
according to his office.
"Hamdok could not communicate or meet"
his political supporters, "added the Ministry of Information. The muzzling of the opposition has intensified as one of the leaders of Sudan's largest party, the Umma, was arrested, along with activists and protesters in Khartoum. Four protesters were killed and more than 80 wounded Monday by gunfire, according to doctors.
In Khartoum, pick-ups rotate with members of the security forces, all armed but in civilian clothes.
"They look exactly like Bashir's security forces
,
"
said Hanaa Hassan, a demonstrator, referring to General Omar al-Bashir, who after a coup in 1989 ruled for 30 years without sharing.
To prevent the demonstrators from regrouping, the security forces
"removed all the barricades"
in the city center, Hadi Bachir told AFP.
"And they arrest anyone who is around them."
Clashes took place in Khartoum during demonstrations protesting against the coup.
- / AFP
"Dark hours"
Activists called on social media for a
"demonstration of a million people" on
Saturday. In an attempt to explain his coup, General Burhane on Tuesday used the risk of
"civil war" as a
pretext
. But the Western ambassadors repeated that, for them,
"Abdallah Hamdok is still the Prime Minister and his government the constitutional power".
Abdallah Hamdok, civilian face of the transition in Sudan, spoke on Tuesday with the head of US diplomacy Antony Blinken and Wednesday with the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
"We do not want Sudan to return to the dark hours of its history",
the latter tweeted. Khartoum had just regained its place in the concert of nations after the sidelining of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The United States, which had only removed Sudan from its list of countries supporting
"terrorism"
at the
end of 2020,
has suspended part of its aid to the country and the European Union is threatening to follow suit. Moscow, on the other hand, alone considers that the coup d'etat is
"the logical result of a failed policy"
, while the UN Security Council has not been able to agree on a joint declaration on the putsch. . Protesters say they won't leave the streets until civilian power returns to a country that has long lived under the rule of the military. At the end of 2018 and 2019, they had camped for months until they forced the army to dismiss President Bashir. More than 250 people died in the repression of the revolt.
Two years later,
"the protest movement has learned from its mistakes and is now more sophisticated,"
says the International Crisis Group, as activists have
"a network of local committees across the country that can organize themselves effectively, even without internet ”.
The proof?
Demonstrations are also taking place in Port Sudan (east), Wad Madani (south) and Atbara (north).
However, it is in Khartoum that the situation is most tense.
The airport officially reopened on Wednesday but no company has announced the resumption of flights to or from the capital where the internet is still cut.