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Pro-military protesters want to disband the Transitional Cabinet, a move that the pro-democracy protesters condemned as a coup.
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas at pro-military protesters who blocked the main roads and bridges of the capital Khartoum as tensions between the general and the pro-democracy movement increased, which intensified the uprising against former President Omar al-Bashir.
On Sunday, protesters briefly blocked the main roads and bridges in Khartoum, separating the central region from the northern communities.
According to activist and rights activist Tahani Abbas, they also cut off the Mec Nimr Bridge that connects Khartoum’s city centre to the rest of the capital.
The move caused traffic to block the streets early on Sunday, which is the first working day of the week, especially Nile Street, which is the main traffic artery in Khartoum.
Since the military deposed Bashir in April 2019 after nearly three years of authoritarian rule, the deterioration of military-civilian relations in the ruling government has threatened Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported in Khartoum that these protesters wanted the military to take over and replace the current cabinet with a new cabinet, including all those involved in the protests that broke out in December 2018.
“They tried to expand the sit-in area from the Presidential Palace to block every road leading there, and put pressure on the Transitional Government and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok to dissolve his cabinet and appoint new members, including from Freedom and the forces of change, the National Charter Alliance,” she said.
She said that the protests were mainly the result of divisions within the alliance, leading to anti-government protests against Bashir.
“But not everyone in the coalition believes that they are adequately represented in the government, because the coalition includes armed groups, [and] Opposition members outside the capital at the time of the protest,” Morgan said.
“So some of them said they felt excluded from government involvement and they wanted the Prime Minister to dissolve his cabinet.”
Worried about military hijacking of civil rule
After the coup attempt last month, the current crisis has surfaced.
Officials blamed the move on Bashir’s supporters, but the generals lashed out at the civil service of the government, accusing politicians of seeking government positions instead of helping to alleviate the people’s economic suffering.
General Abdul Fatah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sudanese Sovereignty Council, said that the dissolution of the Hamdok government can solve the ongoing political crisis. On Thursday, the proposal was rejected by hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters across the country who took to the streets.
Earlier this month, pro-military protesters rallied in Khartoum, echoing Burhan’s request.
Since then, the protesters held a sit-in outside the presidential palace in the capital. When Prime Minister Hamdok met with his cabinet last week, they tried to attack the cabinet headquarters. The security forces used tear gas to disperse them.
On Saturday, dozens of pro-military protesters stormed the reception area at the headquarters of the country’s state-run news agency and lit tires outside the office.
According to Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, the director of SUNA News Agency, it has postponed press conferences for democracy activists.
The development took place the day after the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to seek a settlement of the dispute.
The US Embassy in Khartoum stated that Feltman “emphasizes that the United States supports the democratic transition of civilians in accordance with the wishes of the Sudanese people.”
According to the constitutional declaration for the formation of a coalition government in August 2019, tensions occurred a few weeks before the leadership of the ruling sovereign committee was rotated from the military to the civilian staff as planned.
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