{"id":3666,"date":"2019-04-26T14:18:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T14:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=3666"},"modified":"2019-04-26T14:18:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T14:18:41","slug":"sudan-crisis-million-strong-march-for-civilian-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2019\/04\/26\/sudan-crisis-million-strong-march-for-civilian-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudan crisis: &#8216;Million-strong march&#8217; for civilian rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thousands of protesters have filled the streets of Khartoum calling for an end to the country&#8217;s military council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many had travelled in from across Sudan to take part in the &#8220;million-strong march&#8221; for civilian rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It comes despite the\u00a0resignation of three controversial figures\u00a0from the ruling Transitional Military Council &#8211; one of the protesters&#8217; key demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The three generals were seen as staunch Islamists and allies of deposed President Omar al-Bashir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We are in the middle of a historic moment. Any divisions will break the back of Sudan,&#8221; one protester told the BBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The military council is simply wasting time hoping that we will get disappointed and go home,&#8221; said another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We have been here for four months already. We can wait for 100 years until we get what we want.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The enormous rally has been organised by an umbrella group of protesters called the Alliance for Freedom and Change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Protesters demand justice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Protesters are in an almost jubilant mood as they flock to the capital demanding civilian rule, accountability and retribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Blood for blood, we will not accept blood money,&#8221; some have been chanting, as well as &#8220;Bashir to ICC&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ousted president is accused of organising war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur since 2003 by the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Who gave the order to drop bombs on us?&#8221; said two tearful Darfuri women at Thursday&#8217;s protest. &#8220;We want to see them brought to account.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They and other protesters view the Transitional Military Council (TCM) as part of the same machine that kept Mr Bashir in power for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are amassing outside the army headquarters in Khartoum directing their rage at those they hold responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many gathered outside of Sudan&#8217;s army headquarters, while earlier demonstrations were held outside Egypt&#8217;s embassy. Cairo hosted an emergency summit of African leaders on Tuesday, which urged Sudan&#8217;s military regime to implement &#8220;democratic transition measures&#8221; within three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fresh protests on Thursday come soon after a late-night meeting between the military council and leaders of the Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a press conference, military spokesman Lt-Gen Shamseddine Kabbashi said the two sides had reached agreement on most demands, and a joint committee would be set up to resolve outstanding disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Sudanese Professionals Association, which organised many of the initial protests against Mr al-Bashir, described the meeting as a step towards &#8220;confidence-building&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, protest leaders have not commented publicly since the generals&#8217; resignations were announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other controversial figures remain in the military council, such as deputy leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. He is a former commander of the Janjaweed militia who are accused of genocide during the Darfur conflict, which began in 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of protesters have filled the streets of Khartoum calling for an end to the country&#8217;s military council. Many had travelled in from across Sudan to take part in the &#8220;million-strong march&#8221; for civilian rule. It comes despite the\u00a0resignation of three controversial figures\u00a0from the ruling Transitional Military Council &#8211; one of the protesters&#8217; key demands. The three generals were seen&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2019\/04\/26\/sudan-crisis-million-strong-march-for-civilian-rule\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[64,228],"class_list":["post-3666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-protest","tag-sudan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3667,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666\/revisions\/3667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}