KHARTOUM: Sudan’s protest movement called on Tuesday for fresh rallies and rejected the military rulers’ election plan after more than 35 people were killed in what demonstrators called a “bloody massacre” by security forces.
Protest leaders called on their supporters to take part in “total civil disobedience” to topple the ruling military council following the deadly dispersal on Monday of a weeks-long sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum.
The Transitional Military Council ousted veteran president Omar al Bashir in April after months of protests against his rule and had agreed a three-year transition period to a civilian administration.
But army ruler General Abdel Fattah al Burhan announced in a televised statement the plan had been ditched and an election would take place under “regional and international supervision”.
“The military council decides on the following: cancelling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change, and to call for general elections within a period not exceeding nine months,” Burhan said.
The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which spearheaded protests against Bashir, rejected the call.
“It’s not the putschist council, nor its militias, nor its leaders who decide the fate of the people, nor how it will transition to a civilian government,” it said. The SPA said on Monday’s action against the sit-in amounted to a “bloody massacre”.
The Transitional Military Council said it “regrets” the events, calling it a “clean-up operation” that went wrong.
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