KHARTOUM: Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied on Sunday to mark three years since the start of mass demonstrations that led to the ouster of strongman Omar al Bashir, as fears mount for the democratic transition.
Authorities shut off bridges linking the capital Khartoum with its twin city Omdurman in anticipation of a large turnout.
Political parties and neighbourhood committees had said they were mobilising people to demonstrate against military chief General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, who launched an October 25 coup followed by a bloody crackdown.
Thousands turned out in both Khartoum and Omdurman on Sunday, shouting slogans against Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Daglo, also known as Hemeti, witnesses said.
The generals had initially detained civilian leader Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, but reinstated him on November 21.
The move alienated many of Hamdok's pro-democracy supporters, who dismissed it as providing a cloak of legitimacy for Burhan's coup.
Hamdok, who has argued he wants to avoid further bloodshed, warned in a late Saturday statement of "the country's slide toward the abyss," urging restraint from the protesters.
"We're facing today a sizeable regression in the path of our revolution that threatens the security of the nation, its unity and its stability," he said.
Protest organisers have however vowed, in a key slogan, "No negotiation, no partnership and no legitimacy".
Previous protests against the military takeover have been forcibly dispersed by the security forces. Nationwide, at least 45 people have been killed and scores more wounded, according to the independent Doctors' Committee.
MILITARY CONTROL
December 19 has a particular resonance in Sudanese history.
Not only was it the day in 2018 when thousands launched mass protests that ended Bashir's three decades in power, it was also the day in 1955 when Sudanese lawmakers declared independence from British colonial rule.
Following Bashir's ouster, a joint military-civilian transitional government took power but the troubled alliance was shattered by Burhan's coup.
"The coup has put obstacles in the way of the democratic transition and has given the military complete control over politics and the economy," Ashraf Abdel Aziz, chief editor of the independent Al-Jarida newspaper, said.
Sudan's military dominates lucrative companies specialising in everything from agriculture to infrastructure projects.
The prime minister said last year that 80 per cent of the state's resources were "outside the finance ministry's control".
"The security apparatus has won out over political institutions. The success of a democratic transition rests on political action being the driving force," Abdel-Aziz said.
Khaled Omer, a minister in the ousted government, said the coup was a "catastrophe" but also "an opportunity to rectify the deficiencies" of the previous political arrangement with the army.
He warned that anything could happen over the next few months with the military still firmly in power.
"If the main political actors don't get their act together and the miliary establishment doesn't distance itself from politics... then all scenarios are on the table," Omer said. - AFP
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