Days after deadly military strikes in Sudan that killed dozens of
people, the African Union (AU) has suspended the country’s membership
“with immediate effect.”
The
AU’s Peace and Security Department said in a post on Twitter on
Thursday that Sudan’s participation in all AU activities would be
suspended with immediate effect, “until the effective establishment of a
civilian-led transitional authority as the only way to allow the Sudan
to exit from the current crisis.”
The decision was made unanimously by members at an emergency meeting
of the 55-member state union in Addis Ababa that lasted more than five
hours,
BBC reports.
Security
forces in Sudan, on Monday morning, attacked a protest camp in the
country’s capital, Khartoum. The attack on the pro-democracy protest at
the camp has been described as the worst violence since the overthrow of
the president, Omar al-Bashir in April and been condemned by many,
including the European Union and the Central Committee of Sudanese
Doctors, a group which is close to the protesters.
Footage of the crackdown showed people fleeing through the streets
amidst gunfire and ammunition while medics say that scores of people
have been injured. Opposition groups claim that at least 108 people have
been killed and more than 500 wounded, but authorities say only 46
people have lost their lives in the attack.
Witnesses reported that the security personnel involved in the attack
belonged to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force that
was heavily armed by the former president, al-Bashir.
Sudan has been governed by a Transitional Military Council (TMC)
since President al-Bashir was overthrown in April. The main protest
group has accused the ruling military council of trying to break up the
camp, which has been the main protest site, but the council said the
security forces had only targeted unruly groups in an adjacent area.
The leaders of the protest movement, who want a civilian government
to take over the running of the country, said they were stopping all
contact with the military and called a general strike. Negotiations have
been held for weeks over who should govern a transitional period after
Bashir’s overthrow, but the talks have not yielded positive results.
Monday’s crackdown sparked unrest around Khartoum, as hundreds of
protesters blocked roads with stones while burning tyres in Omdurman,
the twin city neighbouring the Sudanese capital, according to a report
by
The Guardian.
In response, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group
that launched nationwide protests in December, asked Sudanese people to
take part in “total civil disobedience” to topple the military council
and to protest on the streets.
The
AU, on Monday, condemned the violence, calling for investigations. The
body had earlier warned of suspension if Sudan’s military did not hand
over power, but extended the deadline after the earlier one was ignored.
Years of economic struggle, dictatorship, police and military
brutality and the stifling of dissent in Sudan by the Omar al-Bashir
government were cut short in April after four months of protest yielded
results.
Bashir, who is being sought by international prosecutors for alleged
war crimes in the country’s western Darfur region, had earlier refused
to step down and said his opponents should seek power through the ballot
box.
After his removal, the military indicated that it would prosecute Bashir, but would not extradite him.
The military dissolved the government and said it will oversee a
two-year transitional period followed by elections, but this was met
with protests on the streets. The AU subsequently gave Sudan’s military
three months to transfer power to civilian rule.
Demonstrators have since been occupying the square in front of the
military headquarters. In May, organisers and the ruling generals said
they had agreed on the structure of a new administration and a
three-year transition period to civilian rule.
But, according to the
BBC,
they still need to decide on the make-up of what has been called the
sovereign council, which will be the highest decision-making body in the
transition period. They are yet to agree on whether civilians or the
military should have the majority of positions.
This post appeared first on Face2face Africa.com
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