Hundreds rally in Sudan to support military-backed initiative
Khartoum, Sudan (AFP):
Hundreds of Sudanese rallied on Sunday in support of a political initiative backed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who led last year’s military coup, AFP correspondents said.
The initiative, known as “The Call of Sudan’s People”, was launched last month by renowned Sufi religious leader Al-Tayeb Al-Jed.
Late last month, Burhan — who led the October coup that derailed Sudan’s transition to civilian rule — welcomed the initiative.
In a televised speech Sunday, Burhan urged all Sudanese factions to join efforts seeking to bring Sudanese people together to “continue the transition and pave the way for elections”.
He also said the army is siding with the people’s aspirations for “democratic rule under an elected civilian government”.
The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), Sudan’s main civilian bloc which was ousted from power in the coup, did not join the initiative.
Also absent were members from the resistance committees, informal groups that emerged during the 2019 protests against Bashir and which have led the calls for recent anti-coup rallies.
Sudan has been reeling from political unrest, a spiralling economic crisis and a spike in ethnic clashes in its far-flung regions.
The military power grab upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades.