Sudan Opposition Suspends Nationwide Civil Disobedience

After three days of civil disobedience, the Alliance of Freedom and Change has suspended the nationwide civil disobedience campaign. Work is to resume on Wednesday, 12 June 2019.

قوى إعلان الحرية والتغيير

بيان

جماهير شعبنا الأبي؛
نقف لكم اليوم إجلالاً واحتراماً وأنتم تفتتحون فصلاً جديداً من فصول ثورتكم المجيدة التي تسير في طريق لا رجعة عنه، طريق إكمال مهامها#Sudan_Internet_Blackout #العصيان_المدني_الشامل #SudanCivilDisobedience

— تجمع المهنيين السودانيين (@AssociationSd) June 11, 2019

After a bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters on the mass sit-in Khartoum on 3 June 2019, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) have called on an open-ended nationwide civil disobedience campaign beginning on Sunday, 9 June 2019 to pressure the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to transfer power to a civilian government.

According to Ethiopian meditator Mahmoud Drir, the Alliance of Freedom and Change and the TMC leaders in Sudan have agreed to resume talks to restore a formation of a transitional sovereign council and possibly a civilian administration. In addition, according to Drir, the TMC had also agreed to release political prisoners as a goodwill gesture. After a visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on 7 June 2019, Drir has been appointed to be a mediator between protest leaders and military leaders.

The Assistant Secretary for US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, Tibor P Nagy, is expected to travel to Sudan on Wednesday, 12 June 2019 to pressure the TMC and in particular the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to halt violence against civilians and resume talks.

The call for the open-ended nationwide civil disobedience campaign came on 4 June, a day after RSF and other paramilitaries raided the monthslong mass sit-in in Al Qeyada at the headquarters of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which has left at least 100 people dead and over 300 injured. At least 40 bodies were pulled of the Nile River where paramilitary forces disposed of dead bodies. In addition, residents reported rapes and robberies at the hands of paramilitary forces. Others have been arrested, brutally beaten and even urinated on. The ruling council has cut off almost all internet and phone services since the brutal raid, which took place on 3 June 2019 (the 29th day of the holy month of Ramadan).

Since the ousting of former Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir on 11 April 2019 and the TMC took power, led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, protesters have been calling for an immediate transition to full civilian rule in Sudan.

Sudan Commences Nationwide Civil Disobedience