Sudan’s opposition dispatches delegation to assess crackdown on protesters
July 29, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) Monday said that its negotiating delegation with the military council travelled the capital of Noth Kordofan to inspect the situation on the ground after the killing of five people there.
The sudden trip takes place after the brutal crackdown on a student protest in El-Obeid that resulted in the death of five people including four students.
Also, it aimed to show the opposition’s solidarity with the victims amid calls within the coalition to suspend the negotiations sine die et to resume nationwide protests to oust the military council.
The delegation is composed of Omer al-Digair, Ali al-Rayah Sanhouri, Madani Abbas and Ibrahim al-Amin.
It is not clear if the talks on the constitutional declaration between the military council and the opposition will resume Tuesday as scheduled by the technical committees continued their meetings on Monday evening.
Mohamed Dia al-Din, an FFC leading member told Sudan Tribune that the negotiating team will assess the situation in El-Obeid after the bloody crackdown on the youth protesters.
He further said the negotiations with the Transitional Military Council on the constitutional declaration can be postponed indefinitely.
However, Sudan Tribune learnt that the FFC groups rejected a proposal by the National Consensus Forces, a block of left groups.
The killing of five protesters in El-Obeid created a rift within the opposition groups as the Sudanese Communist Party called to suspend the negotiations and escalate popular pressure on the TMC while others like the National Umma Party pointed an accusing finger to the partisans of the former regime.
The NUP in its statement said that the military junta bears full responsibility for the successive crimes committed from 11 April until today and blamed it for delaying the arrest of the perpetrators and their trial.
The statement further called to expedite the completion of negotiations on the transfer of power, without delay, and to hand it over to a civilian government that can put an end to such crimes.
The ruling military council did not issue a statement on the use of excessive force against the peaceful protesters, but it used to deny ordering such attacks and point to infiltrators or unidentified elements.
Observers blamed the ruling junta for not taking needed measures to prevent the Islamist elements that integrated the RSF militias from using these forces to attack the protesters.
Youth in Khartoum state and other regions took to the street to condemn the continued killing of peaceful protesters by the security forces.
The attack was condemned by all the opposition groups including the Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) which is not part of the opposition FFC.
The crimes committed by the Council put those who “recognized the ruling junta and accepted its legitimacy in an “embarrassing moral position as they watch powerlessly the blood baths against the defenceless people”.
The group which refused to negotiate with the central government called to continue the resistance until the overthrow of “al-Bashir’s generals and their accomplices.”
(ST)