El Burhan orders an investigation into Sudan ‘January 17 massacre’

Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, Commander-in-chief of the Sudan Armed Forces and head of the Sovereignty Council, decided on Tuesday to form a fact-finding committee that will investigate the violence used against protesters during the March of Millions on January 17. Rebel movements have condemned the violence. People reported attacks on mourners. A number of detained protesters were beaten up.

The committee’s membership should consist of members of the Public Prosecution and the regular forces. The committee is to start its work within 72 hours.

The Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction under the leadership of Minni Minawi, who was appointed Governor of Darfur last year, the Justice and Equality Movement chaired by Jibril Ibrahim, who is currently Minister of Finance, and the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council, led by El Hadi Idris, currently member of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, condemned the excessive violence used against demonstrations on Monday, and called for “urgent and transparent investigations”.

The Khartoum state police press office said in a statement yesterday that the police forces dealt with Monday's demonstrations in Sharwani near central Khartoum and Burri in eastern Khartoum, El Maouna street in Khartoum North, and El Arbaeen Street in Omdurman with “the least amount of legally allowed force, using tear gas and water cannons”.

The office reported the death of seven civilians in Khartoum on January 17. “50 police employees and 22 citizens sustained injuries of varying severity.”

‘Bloody violence’

Demonstrators in Khartoum pointed to “bloody violence” during the March of Millions on Monday, and said that an injured person was shot dead while he was being transferred to a hospital.

People in a funeral procession on their way to a cemetery were shot at with live ammunition. “While we ran away, the body of our beloved cousin fell on the ground,” a mourner reported from Khartoum North. Others pointed to attacks on funeral receptions in the capital.  

Activist Nahed Jabrallah said on social media that during her detention at the Military Intelligence office on Monday, she spotted a vehicle with a police logo entering the building. The car carried ten men brutally beating two young detainees who were stripped naked.

The civil resistance committees of Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira,  reported that a number of people, including minors, who were detained in the city during the protests on Monday, were severely beaten by policemen before they were released on bail.

In Khartoum, about 30 detainees were released on bail on Tuesday, while reportedly dozens of others remain in detention.

In protest to the excessive use of violence by government forces against the demonstrators on Monday, the resistance committees active in the neighbourhoods and villages of Sudan have called for a two-day comprehensive civil disobedience campaign. Dozens of professionsals associations have declared a  general strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.