Four people killed on first day of civil disobedience in Sudan

Four people were killed in Khartoum and Omdurman during the first day of the civil disobedience and general strike on Sunday.  They were shot, stabbed and beaten to death, most probably by members of the Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudan Doctors Central Committee said that three people died in the Military Hospital in Omdurman after being beaten and stabbed. It reported earlier on Sunday that a man was shot dead and his body was transferred to the morgue of the Khartoum National Hospital.

Civil disobedience

The civil disobedience and general strike paralyses life in Khartoum. Banks and markets are closed and streets appear almost empty. Air traffic at Khartoum International Airport stopped as well. The main goal of the civil disobedience and the general strike is to overthrow the military regime and transfer power to a civil transitional authority.

Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were deployed in the streets of Khartoum. The army and police were not seen. Barricades on major roads and subways of Khartoum state obstruct the public transport.

Arrested

Probably hundreds of professionals like bankers, doctors, air traffic control staff, pilots, electrical engineers and economists have been arrested by the regime in an attempt to break the general strike. Their whereabouts are unknown. The Sudanese Professionals Association said that a large number of its activists have disappeared.

Radio Dabanga reported on Wednesday that Yasir Arman, deputy head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) was held by the military junta. Two other leading SPLM-N members, Ismail Jalab and his spokesman Mubarak Ardol, were severely beaten and detained on Saturday. Mohamed Esmat, a leader in the Alliance for Freedom and Change, was arrested on Friday, after speaking with the Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who is trying to mediate between the opposition and the ruling Transitional Military Council.