Sudanese army calls to stay away from its sites ahead of protests by pro and anti-revolution forces
October 20, 2019 (KHARTOUM ) – The Sudanese army called on political forces planning to demonstrate on Monday to stay away from the headquarters of the armed forces in Khartoum and the various positions of its forces in the country.
The warning comes after calls by Islamist groups to demonstrate on the 55th anniversary of the 21 October Revolution to demand the army seize power and remove Forces for Freedom and Change from power.
The antirevolutionary calls triggered other calls by the Sudanese Professionals Association, the spearhead of protests that brought down the al-Bashir regime to demonstrate and hold public rallies on Monday to defend the revolution and demanding the dissolution of the National Congress Party.
On the same vein, the Sudanese Communist Party called for a protest to demand the transitional authority to realize the goals of the revolution.
In a statement issued on Sunday evening, Sudanese army spokesman Brigadier General Amer Mohamed al-Hassan renewed the support of the Sudan Armed Forces for the December Revolution and recalled that peace will not be achieved without political stability in the country.
Al-Hassan also stressed that the armed forces will remain a “faithful guardian of the country”, but will not interfere in political practices.
Accordingly, he stressed that the demonstrators “must stay away from military sites, headquarters in Khartoum state and other states in order to preserve the neutrality the armed forces and its national character,” he added.
He also announced the closure of several roads leading to the army headquarters in Khartoum.
Sudanese Islamists groups sought recently to reorganize themselves and launched calls on social media for a national protest to overthrow the FFC-led cabinet and to form a new government.
The anti-FFC’s campaigners led by a prominent member of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Ammar Alsjad, called for a protest to the army headquarters on 21 to request the army to remove Hamdok’s government.
However, the PCP dissociated themselves from this initiative saying the party is not involved in these calls.
In another sign of rising tensions between the FFC supporters and the Islamists, student groups clashed at the University of Al-Azhari in Khartoum North.
For its part, the National Umma Party of Sadiq al-Mahdi voiced its opposition of the protests organized by its FFC political allies to “avoid chaos”.
Instead, the NUP urged the replacement of the protest by organizing festivities commemorating the anniversary of the October Revolution, saying the antirevolutionary groups “seeks to use this occasion to create confusion and chaos” and undermining the transitional government.
(ST)