Sudan: General strikes continue in spite of TMC threats

Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’, the deputy chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, has threatened to dismiss all government employees who participate in the general strike announced by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).

On Tuesday evening, he said in front of a crowd of his troops, that they have prepared the engineers and other staff to replace the strikers, and said that anyone who strikes should go home without returning.

However, a large number of employees have ridiculed Hemeti’s statements. The staff and workers at government and private institutions have launched dozens of vigils raising banners challenging Hemeti to come and dismiss them, in reference to his comments.

The opposition Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC) of El Gedaref state has condemned Hemeti’s remarks in which he threatened to dismiss the employees planning to strike, asserting that “there is no armed force can prevent the strike”.

El Gedaref

On Wednesday, the AFC in El Gedaref condemned in a statement the delays of the TMC on the sovereign council, not moving on punishment of the killers of the protestors, and not holding the remnants of the former regime. El Gedaref is also experiencing a severe water shortage.

The statement confirmed the completion of the arrangements to escalate the peaceful struggle and the general strike to demand civilian authority.

On Wednesday, a regular force arrested journalist Wael El Hasan after a protest at national television buildings in Omdurman, while the RSF and Military Intelligence subjected five other journalists to the investigation for hours against the background of the vigil and prevented the journalist Huzeifa Adil from presenting his programme.

RSF roadblocks

Witnesses said the RSF closed all roads leading to the national television studios on Wednesday in anticipation of the vigil to be organised by the media to demand civil authority and prepare for a political strike and civil disobedience.

The troops also carried out an inspection at one of the TV entrances

On Wednesday, workers and employees of several government and private institutions in Khartoum and the states carried out dozens of protest vigils in response and preparation to the call by the SPA for a general strike and civil disobedience.

The protests included a number of ministries such as health, finance, industry and livestock, and government institutions such as the Investment Commission and the Telecommunications Corporation, as well as a number of commercial banks including Bank of Khartoum, Nile Bank and the French Bank and companies such as Sudatel and a number of engineering companies

During the vigils, staff and workers carried banners calling for the handover of power to civilians

Meanwhile, the SPA has announced the suspension of the train passage through the sit-in after Mohamed Ahmed Amin fell to his death from a good train on Tuesday.

The SPA said in a statement that the Sudan Railways Corporation have the moral responsibility of the incident for not complying with the agreement which stipulates the end of the transit period on Monday.

The SPA allowed the trains to pass for three days ending on Monday.

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