What You Need to Know About the Protests in Sudan

Back in April, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was ousted after months of protests and a military coup. What has followed has been a violent attack on civilian protesters by military officials as the country transitions to new power. Here, all you need to know about what’s happening in Sudan, including the recent killings, internet blackout, and protests.

What happened to the former president?


So how did things turn violent?



Other civilian reports have put the death count at over 100 and have said a number of bodies were dumped into the Nile river. According to the Timescivilians reported that soldiers had raped women and looted stores, while other burned tents and beat protesters. Protest leaders say the violence stretched beyond the capital and into a number of towns across the country.

The group that instigated much of the violence is called the Rapid Support Forces, led by a man named Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, otherwise known as Hemeti. Hemeti came to prominence as a commander of a militia group called the janjaweed (from which the RSF was formed) that was accused of atrocities in Darfur in the 2000s, according to the Times. Both Hemeti and the leader of the military coup (more about him, below) have a close relationship with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which have funnelled billions of dollars to the military forces that have assumed power in Sudan.

What do protesters want?

The pro-democracy movement, led by the Sudanese Professionals Association, wants civilian rule and a long period of transition before new elections begin in order to prepare voter rolls and give the country’s political system time to settle and mature. At first, the pro-democracy organisers and military council had agreed to a three-year plan to transition to democracy, but negotiations fell apart, and instead, the military has said they will hold elections within nine months.

This past Sunday, following the violence, NPR reports that a civil disobedience campaign “brought the country’s capital to a standstill.” The strike is being led by the SPA, who has said it’s the “only measure left for the Sudanese people to hold the country from collapsing into total chaos and insecurity under the rule of the military coup council.”

While the SPA say that the military leaders in government claim to be preparing for “general and fair elections,” they believe “any government that comes as a result of such arrangements would have no shred of legitimacy.”

The leader of the military coup, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has said that “all involved in the events that lead to the disruption of the protests site will be held accountable and brought to justice,” however CNN reports that, as of Thursday, there was still heavy military presence in Sudan’s capital, as well as other cities.

This article first appeared on ELLE.