\n Sudanese security forces shot dead at least 10 anti-coup protesters and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, medics said, in the bloodiest day since the military's October 25 takeover.\n<\/p>\n
\n The fatalities -- all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts -- raised to 34 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors' union said. Hundreds more have been wounded.\n<\/p>\n
\n Demonstrators had taken to the streets across the capital even though telephone lines and internet services had been disrupted since the military took over, AFP journalists reported.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The people choose civilian rule,\" demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan's ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.\n<\/p>\n
\n The security forces fired tear gas, injuring several more protesters, witnesses said. They have denied using live ammunition.\n<\/p>\n
\n The doctors' union said most of the casualties had suffered gunshot wounds to \"the head, neck or torso\", but added that the demonstrators were still marching.\n<\/p>\n
\n Demonstrations also erupted in Port Sudan, an AFP journalist said, against the coup which halted a democratic transition that followed the 2019 toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It was a very bad day for the protesters,\" Soha, a 42-year-old protester, told AFP. \"I saw a person with gunshot wounds behind me and there were a lot of arrests\" in Khartoum.\n<\/p>\n
\n Efforts to stem the protests have seen hundreds arrested, including activists, passers-by and journalists. Qatari network Al Jazeera's bureau chief was arrested Sunday and released Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors has said security forces have also arrested injured people inside Khartoum hospitals.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions instrumental in the 2019 protests, denounced \"immense crimes against humanity\" and accused the security forces of \"premeditated killings\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - Restore 'legitimacy' -\n<\/p>\n
\n US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Kenya on Wednesday urged Africans to watch out for rising threats to democracy.\n<\/p>\n
\n He told Sudan's military the country stood to regain badly-needed international aid if it restores the \"legitimacy\" of civilian government.\n<\/p>\n
\n Washington has suspended some $700 million in assistance to Sudan since the coup.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If the military puts this train back on its tracks and does what's necessary, I think the support that has been very strong from the international community can resume,\" said Blinken.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prior to 2019, Sudan had been under some form of military dictatorship for much of its modern history.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan has declared a state of emergency, ousted the government and detained the civilian leadership, derailing a transition to full civilian rule and drawing international condemnation.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan insists the military's move \"was not a coup\" but rather a push to \"rectify the course of the transition\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Trajectory of revolution' -\n<\/p>\n
\n US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee has been shuttling between the generals and the ousted civilian government in a bid to broker a way out of the crisis.\n<\/p>\n
\n Phee has called for the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest.\n<\/p>\n
\n The few remaining free members of his cabinet continue to describe themselves as the \"legitimate\" government and refuse to negotiate with the military leaders.\n<\/p>\n
\n While some of the civilian leaders have been freed since the power grab, new ones have been arrested.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan last week announced a new Sovereign Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief and all nine military members keeping their posts.\n<\/p>\n
\n Its four civilian members were replaced.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan has also removed a clause in the transitional constitutional declaration that mentions the Forces for Freedom and Change, the key group behind the protests that toppled Bashir.\n<\/p>\n
\n He has continued to promise elections will go ahead as planned in 2023, reiterating to Phee on Tuesday that his actions aimed to \"correct the trajectory of the revolution\".<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sudanese security forces shot dead at least 10 anti-coup protesters and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, medics said, in the bloodiest day since the military's October 25 takeover. The fatalities -- all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts -- raised to 34 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors' […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-84419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n