New delays in signing the deal to restore the transition from military to civilian sparked new protests.
Pro-democracy activists in Sudan have demonstrated against the army and paramilitaries, while the civilian opposition has launched new protests to mark an important anniversary in the decades-long struggle against military rule.
April 6 is a symbolic date for the civil opposition in Sudan. It marks the anniversary of the 1985 and 2019 uprisings that eventually led to the ousting of two leaders who seized power through coups.
Protesters could be heard chanting “no militia can rule a country” in central Khartoum on Thursday.
Huge crowds blocked major roads and marched in several other cities, facing heavy tear gas fired by security forces.
Many were seen on the streets breaking their Ramadan fast.
The protesters also chanted “Soldiers back to the barracks” and “The people want civilian government”, as well as chants calling for the disbanding of the government-affiliated militia known as the Janjaweed.
Accused of committing war crimes in Darfur in 2003, the Janjaweed were led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the second-in-command behind Sudan’s military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Marches were also reported in Wad Madani – south of Khartoum – and in Darfur itself, where protesters carried banners asking “Where is the peace?”
Sudan continues to be ruled by Burhan, the military leader who seized power in an October 2021 coup, aborting the transition to civilian rule agreed after the 2019 overthrow of Islamist general Omar al-Bashir, himself the seized power in a coup in 1989.
Another delay in signing a deal to reinstate the transition, which had been rescheduled for Thursday, prompted civil opposition to launch nationwide protests.
The agreement, which provides for the formation of a civilian government and is strongly supported by the international community, aims to end the political vacuum that followed the 2021 coup.
But the signing was postponed for a second time late Wednesday as the army and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued negotiations over what commitments they would make on military restructuring.
Founded in 2013, the RSF grew out of the Janjaweed that Bashir unleashed a decade earlier against non-Arab ethnic groups in the western region of Darfur. The militia has since been charged with war crimes.
The deal has faced opposition from pro-democracy “resistance committees” who reject negotiations with the military and have sparked anti-military protests since the coup, which derailed an earlier political transition.
The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), a coalition of civilian parties backing the deal, blamed the delay on members of Bashir’s outlawed National Congress Party, who have appeared in public at banquets during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in recent weeks. as well as other events.
“We know that elements of the deposed regime are actively trying to corrupt the political process and sow discord between military institutions,” said prominent civilian politician and FFC leader Khalid Omer Yousif.
The signing ceremony had been postponed “due to a resumption of talks between soldiers,” the FFC said.
According to analysts, the sticking point was the integration into the regular army of the powerful paramilitary RSF, led by Burhan’s deputy Dagalo.
The two have disagreed over the timetable for RSF integration, and analysts have pointed to a deepening rift between them.