Sudan’s military authorities have arrested a former senior government official a second time, his party said, and at least one demonstrator was killed as thousands once again took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup.
The Unionist Alliance party said Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former member of the ruling Sovereign Council, was detained Sunday in the capital of Khartoum. It said security forces stopped his vehicle as he was heading from his home to the party’s headquarters.
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Sudan’s military authorities have arrested a former senior government official a second time, his party said, and at least one demonstrator was killed as thousands once again took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup.
Also on Sunday, security forces arrested two former members of the agency, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agency is known as The Committee to Dismantle the Regime of June 30, 1989, in reference the Islamist-backed military coup that brought al-Bashir to power.
He was the latest of a series of former government officials and activists to be detained in recent weeks as military rulers stepped up crackdown on anti-coup groups.
The takeover upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule that began after three decades of international isolation under al-Bashir, who was removed from power in 2019 after a popular uprising.
Security forces violently broke up protests in multiple places in Khartoum and Omdurman, using live ammunition and tear gas, activist Nazim Sirag said. At least one protester was shot dead in Khartoum, he said. The Sudanese Doctors Committee said the man was shot on his neck and chest.
Suliman was also deputy head of a government-run agency tasked with dismantling the legacy of former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.
People protest against last year's military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Sudan’s military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former senior government official, for a second time, his party said, as thousands of people took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup. (AP Photo)
Also on Sunday, security forces arrested two former members of the agency, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agency is known as The Committee to Dismantle the Regime of June 30, 1989, in reference the Islamist-backed military coup that brought al-Bashir to power.
The official said the three were taken to the Souba prison in Khartoum. He said they were facing charges related to the work of the agency, which the military disbanded following the Oct. 25 takeover.
Suliman had been detained in the coup and was released a month later as part of a deal between the military and then-Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
People protest against last year's military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Sudan’s military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former senior government official, for a second time, his party said, as thousands of people took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup. (AP Photo)
He was the latest of a series of former government officials and activists to be detained in recent weeks as military rulers stepped up crackdown on anti-coup groups.
Last week, authorities also rearrested Khalid Omar, a minister in the ousted transitional government. Also arrested was Wagdi Saleh, another committee member. Omar is a leader with the opposition Sudanese Congress Party. The party said prosecutors ordered Omar and Saleh to remain in custody for 15 more days. It did not provide further details.
The detentions have intensified in recent weeks as Sudan plunged into further turmoil with near-daily street protests since the coup.
People protest against last year's military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Sudan’s military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former senior government official, for a second time, his party said, as thousands of people took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup. (AP Photo)
The takeover upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule that began after three decades of international isolation under al-Bashir, who was removed from power in 2019 after a popular uprising.
Protesters once again marched in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman on Monday, demanding the establishment of a fully civilian government to lead the transition, according to the pro-democracy movement. There were protests in other cities, too, including Port Sudan and Wad Madani, it said.
The movement shared footage online that showed protesters in Khartoum beating drums and holding the Sudanese flag while marching in the streets of Khartoum. Others held posters with images of arrested activists and former officials, with a slogan reading: “Freedom for the detained.”
People protest against last year's military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Sudan’s military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former senior government official, for a second time, his party said, as thousands of people took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup. (AP Photo)
Security forces violently broke up protests in multiple places in Khartoum and Omdurman, using live ammunition and tear gas, activist Nazim Sirag said. At least one protester was shot dead in Khartoum, he said. The Sudanese Doctors Committee said the man was shot on his neck and chest.
Many others were wounded, including with gun shots during the heavy crackdown on protesters, especially at the Sharwani bus station located south of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sirag added.
Security authorities in the capital had called on protesters to assemble in public squares to avoid more clashes with forces. A deadly crackdown on protesters has killed around 80 people and wounded 2,200 others since the coup, according to a Sudanese medical group.
People protest against last year's military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Sudan’s military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former senior government official, for a second time, his party said, as thousands of people took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup. (AP Photo)
Sudan has been politically paralyzed since the coup. The turmoil has worsened since the resignation last month of Hamdok, who complained of failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the pro-democracy movement.
African Union Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, meanwhile, met Sunday with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council, in Khartoum as part of international efforts to find a way out of the crisis, the council said.
Mahamat also met with the Sudanese Professionals Association, which reiterated its demand of the removal of military from power, the association said.
The generals, however, said they will hand over power only to an elected administration. They say elections will take place in July 2023, as planned in a constitutional document governing the transitional period.
World donors pledged more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid for Sudan after a yearlong war that has pushed its population to the brink of famine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Macron spoke at the end of an international conference in Paris aimed at drumming up support for Sudan’s 51 million people. The aid will go to food, water, medicines and other urgent needs, he said, without providing a specific timeline.
Top diplomatic envoys, U.N. officials and aid agencies urged Sudan’s warring parties to stop attacks on civilians and allow access for humanitarian aid, and called for immediate international mediation efforts toward peace. Members of Sudan’s civil society took part in the Paris meeting, but neither the Sudanese army nor its rival paramilitary were represented.
Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.
“Much of the world has been focused on the crisis that was generated in the Middle East. As concerning as those developments are, other dramatic life-and-death emergencies are being pushed into the shadows,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters after the Security Council met on Sudan on Monday.
“The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan,” he said.
The United Nations’ humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, health care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan — nearly half its population. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5%, according to the U.N’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA.
After Monday's conference, Macron said, ‘’We are today at 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) for Sudan.'' Of that, some 900 million euros comes from EU countries, he said.
Monday's conference among 58 countries also called on regional powers to stop funding Sudan’s war. Without naming them, Macron said, ’’The amount we raised today remains probably less than all the money raised by several powers'' to wage a proxy conflict in Sudan.
More than 14,000 people have been killed and at least 33,000 have been wounded in the yearlong war. Nearly 9 million people have been forced to flee their homes either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries, according to the U.N. Hunger, sexual violence against women and girls and continued displacement are rampant and much of the country's infrastructure — homes, hospitals and schools — has been reduced to rubble.
“We cannot let this nightmare slide from view,” Guterres said in a video message to the Paris conference.
“It’s time to support the Sudanese people. It’s time to silence the guns," he added.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said the aim of the conference was to mobilize humanitarian funding to help Sudanese people, who have been victims of both a “terrible war” and “international indifference.”
The European Union's crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said the 27-member bloc wants to ensure that Sudan is not forgotten as wars in Gaza and Ukraine dominate the international news.
“People of Sudan, caught up in this emergency, are almost completely invisible,” Lenarcic said. Sudan has turned into one of the worst humanitarian disasters ever on the African continent, he said, and added: “It is our duty not to look away.”
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric warned that humanitarian action is increasingly politicized in Sudan and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to get vital aid to people.
“Securing a military advantage cannot be pursued regardless of the human cost,” Spoljaric said.
The United States and Saudi Arabia initially led efforts to find a negotiated way out of the conflict. But since October the fighting has been overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is threatening to expand into a broader regional conflict.
Relief workers, meanwhile, warn that Sudan is hurtling towards potential mass death in the coming months. Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions.
The conflict has also been marked by widespread reports of atrocities including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the capital and the western region of Darfur.
At least 37% of the population at crisis level or above suffer from hunger, according to OCHA. Save the Children warned that about 230,000 children, pregnant women and newborn mothers could die of malnutrition in the coming months.
“Famine is a reality in Sudan,” said Abdallah al-Dardari, a regional director of the U.N. Development Program.
The military, headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate fire at each other. In 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were uneasy allies who led a military coup. They toppled an internationally recognized civilian government that was supposed to steer Sudan’s democratic transition.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Surk from Nice, France. AP journalist Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, speaks during a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, chairs an international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
FILE - Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, third from right bottom, listens as Karim Khan, third from right top, Prosecutor of International Criminal Court, addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Sudan, Thursday, July 13, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
FILE - Sudan's Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan speaks in Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 5, 2022. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)
FILE - Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo, File)
Sudanese Children suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Many people here fled the fighting in Sudan's vast western region of Darfur, where attacks by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians have revived memories of genocide. The United Nations says close to 9 million people have fled their homes. (AP Photo/Patricia Simon)
FILE - People prepare food in a Khrtoum neighborhood on June 16, 2023. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo, File)
File - A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)
