US, EU Call to Not Use Violence Against Sudanese Protesters as Congressmen Call for Sanctions

Demonstrators from the Resistance committee of Almamoura area of Khartoum on Dec 28, 2021 (AFP photo)

June 29, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – U.S. and EU diplomats urged to refrain from violence against the pro-democracy protests planned on Thursday as Congressmen renewed calls for targeted sanctions on the coup leaders.

Pro-democracy forces plan to hold a protest on Thursday to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the popular rallies that forced the military leaders to hand over power to civilians in August 2019, before a coup that toppled the transitional government.

The Resistance Committees organise neighbourhood protests reminding Sudanese to take to the street on June 30, while the security services arrested activists in a bid to abort the successful demonstration.

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Molly Phee spoke on Wednesday with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and urged not to use violence to disperse the protests supporting the restoration of a civilian government.

Phee said that she also spoke with the leaders of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition and Sudanese Revolutionary Forces.

“Spoilers must not be allowed to use June 30 protests to undermine progress on restoring the transition,” she added.

For their part, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden ambassadors and the EU Delegation in Khartoum released a statement calling upon the Sudanese authorities to “guarantee freedom of expression”.

“Moreover, it is essential for protests to remain peaceful and protected by security forces,” added the European diplomats.

General al-Burhan repeated on Wednesday that power handover to civilians requires a national agreement or elections.

“Power transfer cannot be implemented through chaos, sabotage, or the provocation of others,” he said in remarks before to the Sudanese army special forces.

Also, the authorities plan to close bridges in the three cities of the capital Khartoum to prevent protests from Omdurman and Bahri from reaching the presidential place the headquarters of the military-led Sovereign Council.

Also, a disruption to mobile internet access is expected in Khartoum to prevent coordination between the protesters.

Congress urges targeted sanctions

Four Congressmen in Washington issued a joint statement calling on the Sudanese coup leaders to cede power to civilian government and respect the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, Jim Risch, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representatives Gregory Meeks and Michael McCaul, Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee condemned the killing of over 200 civilians in Khartoum and Darfur as result of excessive use of violence against protesters and tribal clashes.

“We urge Sudanese security forces to refrain from using violence to suppress peaceful protests and to respect the rights of the Sudanese people to advocate for change without fear of reprisal,” reads the joint statement.

The congressmen urged the Sudanese military to return to their barracks and called the Biden administration and the international community to take punitive measures against the military leaders.

“We also urge the United States and other members of the international community to curb impunity by imposing individual, targeted sanctions on security force leaders responsible for gross violations of human rights or significant public corruption.”

On Thursday, the security forces killed a protester in Bahri when they fired live ammunition to disperse the neighbourhood protest calling to take part in the national protests of June 30.

(ST)