A year ago to the day, the head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, broke all the commitments made two years earlier in Sudan.
At dawn, he arrested the civilian leaders with whom he had agreed to share power when, in 2019, the army was forced by the streets to depose one of his own, the dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Since then, pro-democracy supporters have braved repression every week. Again on Sunday, a protester was killed by a bullet from the security forces, according to doctors.
In one year, 118 protesters were killed while demanding the return to power of civilians – a sine qua non condition for the resumption of international aid interrupted in retaliation to the putsch.
Because the economic situation of the country, one of the poorest in the world, is catastrophic.
– “The revolution continues” –
Between three-digit inflation and food shortages, a third of the 45 million inhabitants suffer from hunger. This is 50% more than a year ago, underlines the World Food Program (WFP).
The price of the minimum food basket has increased by 137% in one year, forcing almost all households to “spend more than two thirds of their income on food”, adds the UN body.
In addition to the question of purchasing power, the number one concern of the Sudanese, many are worried, three years after the “revolution” of 2019, of the return of the Islamic-military dictatorship.
Because since the putsch, several faithful of Bashir have found their posts, in particular in Justice – which is currently leading the trial of the former dictator.
The country is swimming in uncertainty: no observer imagines possible the holding of the elections promised in the summer of 2023, no political figure seems so far ready to join the civilian government regularly promised by General Burhane and international mediation and locally proposed roadmaps have so far led to no results.
“Sudan does not have the luxury of zero-sum games and political maneuvering,” urged Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, on Saturday. “Political actors must put their differences aside and focus on the interest of the Sudanese.”
On Friday, thousands of them had already taken to the streets to say “no to military power” and commemorate the 58th anniversary of the first “revolution” that overthrew military power. A challenge in a country with a history punctuated by coups and almost continuously under the control of generals.
The calls to demonstrate on Tuesday proclaim it: “The revolution continues”. “The parades of October 25 will be the announcement of the end of the era of putschists, without possibility of return, the announcement of the constitution of a civil and democratic Sudan”, promises the pro-democracy bloc on the multiple manifestos that activists post online.
– Deadly conflicts –
Friday’s parades resulted in 31 injuries, including three hit in the eye by tear gas canisters, according to the doctors’ union which lists the victims of repression since the putsch.
On Monday, Western embassies called on “the authorities to respect freedom of opinion and the right to peaceful assembly”. And above all to “not use force”, in a press release “condemning the death of a protester” on Sunday.
With security forces mobilized for these parades, experts say the security vacuum in the rest of the country has allowed tribal conflict to flourish. These fights with automatic weapons, generally for access to land and water, have caused nearly 600 deaths and more than 210,000 displaced since the beginning of the year, according to the UN.
On Monday, there were several thousand to demonstrate in the Blue Nile, accusing the local authorities of failing in their duty to protect.
According to the UN, in this state bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia, “250 people were killed” last week in a new outbreak of such violence.
