Sudan Military Junta Turns Against Protesters

Sudan’s military government has now turned against the protesters that helped in the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir.

The Junta is now telling the protesters to leave the streets and go back home empty handed without the Civilian government that they clamored for.

On Sunday, protest leaders said they had ended contact with the military council that removed the president.

They accused it of being composed of “remnants” of Mr Bashir’s regime.

The military says it is committed to handing over power and will consider a joint military-civilian council.

But it insisted that it was responsible for security in the country.

“It can’t continue like this,” said the head of the military council, Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan.

It was not clear if the protesters would respond to the call.

“We will carry on manning the checkpoints as usual,” 23-year-old demonstrator Kawthar Hasaballah told AFP news agency. “No one, not even the military council, will remove us from our places.”

A mass sit-in outside the military HQ has been taking place since 6 April. Five days later Mr Bashir was overthrown and replaced by a military council that promised it would hand over power to civilians within two years.

Leaders of the protest movement have suspended talks and co-operation with the military. There had been hopes that the talks would lead to civilian rule.

A spokesman, Mohamed al-Amin, called the military council an extension of the old regime and said they no longer recognised it, adding that a civilian administration would be unveiled in the next couple of days…BBC