Sudanese took to the streets in Khartoum and other cities on Tuesday in anti-coup protests as the country plunged further into turmoil after the resignation of the prime minister earlier this week.
Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in several locations in the capital, including the area around the presidential palace, which has seen clashes in previous rounds of protests since the Oct. 25 coup. Protesters were seen in videos hurling stones and spent tear gas canisters at security forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was ousted in the coup, but was reinstated a month later after a deal with the military meant to calm tensions and anti-coup protests. Hamdok stepped down Sunday amid political deadlock, saying he had failed to reach a compromise between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy movement.
Since the coup, Sudan has been politically paralyzed. The military takeover occurred more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.
Under international pressure, Hamdok was reinstated to lead a technocratic cabinet in November. The pro-democracy movement behind the uprising against al-Bashir was sidelined by the deal. Since then, Hamdok has been unable to form a Cabinet due to relentless protests not only against the coup but also against his deal with the military.
Thousands took part in Tuesday marches in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, denouncing the coup. Images posted online show young protesters singing, beating drums and waving Sudanese flags. There were similar demonstrations in other cities, including the eastern city of Port Sudan.
As a result of the protests, authorities closed major roads and streets in Khartoum and Omdurman, according to activists, tactics that have been employed in the past two months to prevent demonstrators from reaching government buildings.
Nearly 60 protesters have been killed and hundreds of others injured in a heavy security crackdown since the coup, according to a Sudanese medical group. The protests are being called by the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees, which were the backbone of the uprising against Al Qaeda.
Hamdok s resignation has thrown the country into further uncertainty and deprived the generals of the fig leaf they used to keep their military rule, said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa a spokesman for the association.
The protest movement insists on a fully civilian government to lead the transition, a demand rejected by the generals who claim power will only be handed over to an elected government. Elections are planned in July 2023, in line with a Constitutional document governing the transition period.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a dialogue between all Sudanese parties to reach an inclusive, peaceful and lasting solution, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Sudan's largest Umma party called for the return of the 2019 Constitutional document governing the transition period, which calls for the military to relinquish the leadership of the ruling sovereign council.
The party said in a statement that this is the only way for the salvation of the nation, the integrity of the transition period and the accomplishment of its tasks within the agreed-upon timeframe.
According to a military official and a protest leader, there are still deliberations on how to find an independent figure to lead a technocratic Cabinet through elections. They were talking about the negotiations on condition of anonymity. The former Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi was among the names being floated.
Elbadawi, who resigned in 2020, was not immediately available for comment.
Jibril Ibrahim, a rebel leader who joined Hamdok's government last year after a peace deal with the transitional administration, urged for a political compromise to solve the crisis.
"Let us work together for the sake of Sudan," Ibrahim tweeted.
The association rejects talks with the coup leaders, warning of deadly street confrontations between protesters and security forces, said Al-Mustafa, the spokesman. He called on the international community to pressure the Sudanese military to allow the establishing of a fully civilian government.
A Cabinet with specific tasks would be formed as the executive branch of the transitional government, according to Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereign Council. He said that the military would protect the democratic transition until Sudan would be able to hold free and fair elections.