Sudanese protesters yesterday hardened their demand that the military men in power quickly step down and make way for civilian rule, refusing to budge from their sit-in outside army headquarters.
This came a day after the African Union stood by its longstanding opposition to all military coups, giving the military council just 15 days to hand over to civilian rule or face suspension from the body.
The 55-member organization handed down the order after the Sudanese Transitional Military Council (TMC) held briefings with Western diplomats and sent an envoy to the African Union’s headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday.
The country’s new military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in another apparent concession to the protesters’ demands, meanwhile fired the the three highest-ranking public prosecutors. In a statement, the Transition Military Council TMC said council chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid.
The military council has pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters would be held to account and that demonstrators detained under a state of emergency imposed by the president during his final weeks in power would be freed.
“Freedom, peace, justice,” read banners carried by hundreds of University of Khartoum professors and academic staff who marched to the protest site, demanding the transitional military council resign.
The pro-democracy demonstrators fear the army is seeking to hijack the street revolution that last Thursday ended the three-decade reign of president Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled by top commanders.
The often festive mood of the protesters has grown more tense amid fears the army will try to clear out the demonstrators with force. Witnesses said several army vehicles had surrounded the area and that troops were seen removing the barricades which demonstrators had put up as a security measure. Several vehicles carrying paramilitary forces deployed on a bridge that connects the protest site with north Khartoum, a witness said.
Meanwhile, the United State has said it will consider removing Sudan from the state sponsor of terrorism list if there are significant changes in its government and after a smooth political transition.
“We will be willing to look at removing Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism if there is significant change in the country and a smooth transition,” a senior State Department official told Reuters yesterday.
The Trump administration has suspended talks on normalizing relations with Sudan after the military deposed veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir last week. Sudan was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 under former U.S. President Bill Clinton.