Mass anti-coup protests continue in Sudan; 3 killed

Three more people were killed in Sudan, a medical group said, as thousands of people once again took to the streets of the capital and other cities Monday in relentless protests that have rocked the country since a military coup three months ago.

The fatalities brought the death toll among protesters to at least 76 since the military takeover on Oct. 25. The fresh crackdown will likely complicate U.N. efforts to find a way out of the country's crisis.

Protesters, mostly young people, marched in the streets of Khartoum and its sister city of Omdurman Monday, according to the pro-democracy movement. There were also protests elsewhere in the country, including the provinces of Kassala, Red Sea, Jazira and the already restive Darfur region, the movement said.

People chant slogans during a demonstration against the killing of dozens by Sudanese security forces since a military coup three months ago, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

Activists said security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters in several locations in the capital, including around the fortified presidential palace. Protest marches were violently dispersed elsewhere in Omdurman, they said.

Footage circulated online showed security forces attempting to disperse protests with tear gas. Protesters were seen taking cover and hurling stones at the troops.

“I’m out in the protest today like I did in all protests before and I will continue to do until we have the civilian government,” said Khartoum protester Mona Kassem who took part in Monday’s marches.

People march in a demonstration against the killing of dozens by Sudanese security forces since a military coup three months ago, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

The Sudan Doctors Committee said security forces killed two protesters in Khartoum— one shot in the chest and a second in the head.

A third protester was killed, shot in the head and shoulder, in Madani, the capital city of Jazira province, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum, the medical groups said.

Activist Nazim Sirag said at least six protesters suffered gunshot injuries in Khartoum and Omdurman.

People chant slogans during a demonstration against the killing of dozens by Sudanese security forces since a military coup three months ago, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

There was no immediate comment from the military-led government.

The coup has upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Since the coup, at least 76 people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded in the protests, the medical group said. There were also allegations of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, in a Dec. 19 protest in Khartoum, according to the United Nations.

People chant slogans during a demonstration against the killing of dozens by Sudanese security forces since a military coup three months ago, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

Sudan has been politically paralyzed since the coup. The turmoil has worsened since the resignation this month of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who complained of failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the pro-democracy movement.

Hamdok had been reinstated in November in a deal with the military that angered the pro-democracy movement.

The U.N. mission has in the past two weeks been consulting with rival Sudanese factions in efforts to bridge the gap between the generals and the pro-democracy movement.

The protests call for a fully civilian government to lead the democratic transition. The generals have rejected that demand, saying they will only hand over power to an elected administration. Elections are scheduled in July 2023.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday.

The U.N. report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded.

Máximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are at Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts — the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year.

Over 80% of those facing imminent famine — 577,000 people — were in Gaza, he said. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali each host many thousands also facing catastrophic hunger.

According to the report’s future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month, and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July.

It said conflict will also continue to drive food insecurity in Haiti, where gangs control large portions of the capital.

Additionally, while the El Nino phenomenon peaked in early 2024, “its full impact on food security – including flooding and poor rain in parts of east Africa and drought in southern Africa, especially Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are like to manifest throughout the year.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “a roll call of human failings,” and that “in a world of plenty, children are starving to death.”

“The conflicts erupting over the past 12 months compound a dire global situation,” he wrote in the report's foreword.

Guterres highlighted the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave holds the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger. There is also the year-old conflict in Sudan, which has created the world's largest internal displacement crisis “with atrocious impacts on hunger and nutrition,” he added.

According to the report, over 36 million people in 39 countries and territories are facing an acute hunger emergency, a step below the famine level in Phase 4, with more than a third in Sudan and Afghanistan. It's an increase of a million people from 2022, the report said.

Arif Husain, the U.N. World Food Program’s chief economist, said every year since 2016 the numbers of people acutely food insecure have gone up, and they are now more than double the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the report looks at 59 countries, he said the target is to get data from 73 countries where there are people who are acutely food insecure.

Secretary-General Guterres called for an urgent response to the report’s findings that addresses the underlying causes of acute hunger and malnutrition while transforming the systems that supply food. Funding is also not keeping pace with the needs, he stressed.

“We must have the funding, and we also must have the access,” WFP’s Husain said, stressing that both “go hand-in-hand” and are essential to tackle acute food insecurity.

The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network and is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including U.N. agencies, regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, technical organizations and others.

FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. According to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday, April 24, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza the territory with the largest number of people facing famine. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)