Sudanese Professionals Association calls for new protests in Sunday
Sudanese Professionals Association called for addressing the current crisis in the country through dialogue and consensus to come up with a unified vision and accelerate the formation of the technocratic government, amid calls by the resistance committees to continue demonstrating against the military rule.
The Council affirmed – in a statement – moving forward with the extension of liberties and freedom of demonstration and peaceful expression, and commitment to what is internationally accepted, while preserving the rule of law and the prestige of the state, and clarifying the limits of powers and frameworks between citizens and the authorities of the police and security services.
According to the statement, Salma Abdel-Jabbar, a member of the Sovereignty Council, confirmed that the meeting discussed the current situation in the country, foremost of which are the security breaches and the events that occurred during the demonstrations last Thursday, December 30th.
The Sovereign Council called for the necessity of revealing the perpetrators of violations and killings on all sides, stressing the need to extend freedoms and peaceful expression while preserving the rule of law.
Al-Burhan had called on the Sudanese to show wisdom, and pledged to build institutions of transitional governance, and to organize free and fair elections on time, stressing that the only way to govern is a popular mandate through elections.
Protests
Meanwhile, a number of resistance committees in Khartoum announced a demonstration tomorrow, Sunday, on the eve of holding two meetings of the Sovereignty and Defense Councils to discuss the political crisis in Sudan.
These committees – one of the organizers of the demonstrations – added that the aim of Sunday’s demonstrations is to express rejection of the decisions of the President of the Sovereignty Council and the Commander of the Army, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, which he issued on October 25.
She said that these protests are also an expression of rejection of the political agreement between Al-Burhan and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and to demand the removal of the military from the political scene.
In the same context, the Sudanese Professionals Association called on all professionals and workers in all cities and villages of the country to come out and participate in the demonstrations tomorrow, Sunday.
Yesterday, Friday, several neighborhoods in the capital, Khartoum, and Omdurman witnessed demonstrations rejecting Al-Burhan’s decisions, which toured the homes of the protest victims.
For its part, the Sudanese police stated – in a statement – that 4 people were killed in Omdurman, and 297 demonstrators and 49 members of the police force were injured in demonstrations against the military rule, in which tens of thousands participated.
It is noteworthy that the Sudanese Doctors Committee revealed – in a statement – that 5 people were killed during the violence that marred the demonstrations against the military rule last Thursday.
Denial of house arrest
Meanwhile, the office of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said, in a tweet, on Saturday, that Hamdok enjoys full freedom of movement, meeting and communication.
The Prime Minister’s Office clarified that media reports that talk about Hamdok being placed under house arrest for the second time are incorrect.
Regarding what is reported about Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s intention to submit his resignation, a source from the “Forces of Freedom and Change – Charter Group” said that a delegation from the Juba Agreement parties in Sudan met with Hamdok to discourage him from the decision to resign.
The source explained to Al-Jazeera that the Prime Minister gave the delegation a deadline until tomorrow, Sunday, for the political forces in Sudan to reach an agreement that would bring the country out of its current political crisis, as he put it.
The source indicated that the components of the “Forces of Freedom and Change – the National Charter Group” will meet with the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and other political forces, in order to reach an agreement that supports the Prime Minister to continue in his position.
For his part, a sincere member of the Central Council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, Adam Ismail, told Al Jazeera that the council had received an invitation from Hamdok to meet with him, without specifying any agenda.
Ismail confirmed that the Central Council will meet on Monday to consider whether or not the invitation is accepted.
He added that the Council did not receive any vision or communications from any party, to search for a political consensus that would persuade the Prime Minister to reverse his resignation.
international invitation
For his part, the head of the United Nations Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, Volker Peretz, said that the mistrust between the parties must be urgently addressed, in order to find common ground for an agreed-upon path to restore the democratic transition, following what he described as the coup last October.
Peretz stressed that the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and attacks on journalists are practices that do not contribute to creating an environment conducive to restoring the peaceful democratic path in Sudan.
The UN official called on the Sudanese authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, and to allow committed demonstrators to express themselves freely.
