Resistance explodes in Sudan

 Leaders of the Sudanese resistance are calling for a one-day nationwide “civil disobedience” campaign on July 14. The action is expected to push the ruling generals towards a settlement and the creation of a civilian government, which has been the demand from the beginning.

The nationwide action will be preceded by mass protests on July 13, the Alliance for Freedom and Change said in a statement.

The civil disobedience campaign, the second such general strike in less than a month, comes as protest leaders and ruling generals traded blame for the latest violence during the mass “million man” march on Sunday that left 10 dead and scores wounded.

The Alliance for Freedom and Change’s announcement of the civil disobedience campaign was posted on the Facebook page of the affiliated Sudanese Professionals Association group.

“On Sunday, July 14, a civil disobedience and total political strike in Khartoum and across all provinces will be held,” the movement said.

The new action was prompted in part by the worsening violence attributed to the generals. Ten protestors were shot in Omdurman and their bodies were unable to be retrieved until Monday.  

The doctors’ committee, part of the resistance, said the victims had been “tortured” before being killed. The police confirmed finding the three bodies.

Crowds of people gathered around the bodies, chanting “Just Fall, Just Fall” — a slogan of the protest movement — an AFP correspondent reported, adding that riot police later dispersed the crowd with tear gas.

“The military council is completely responsible for these lives lost,” prominent protest leader Mohamed Naji al-Assam said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Peaceful Sudanese protesters are exposed to excessive violence, live bullets and beatings,” he said.

But, he added, “the Sudanese have proven that they will not back down”.

By Lisa Vives

Africa Global News Publication