Sudan military scraps transition deal after deadly crackdown

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Sudan's military on Tuesday canceled a power-transfer agreement with protesters and called for elections within nine months, a day after more than 35 demonstrators were killed in what they called a "bloody massacre".

Protest leaders called on their supporters to take part in "total civil disobedience" to topple the ruling military council following the violent dispersal of the weeks-long sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum.

The Transitional Military Council ousted president Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his authoritarian rule and had agreed a three-year transition period to a civilian administration.

But army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced in a televised statement the plan had been ditched and an election would take place under "regional and international supervision".

Sudanese protesters gesture as they chant slogans along a street and demanding that the country's Transitional Military Council hand over power to civilians in Khartoum, Sudan, June 3, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"The military council decides on the following: canceling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change, and to call for general elections within a period not exceeding nine months," Burhan said.

Dozens of demonstrators were killed and hundreds more wounded in Monday's crackdown was met with sharp international condemnation.

Tensions remained high across Khartoum, with heavily armed members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, thought to have been largely behind Monday's crackdown, deployed in large numbers.

The paramilitaries, in their trademark pickups mounted with heavy machine guns, guarded entrances to the bridges that cross the Nile and moved in convoys around the city. Streets around the city center were almost deserted Tuesday, with many markets and shops closed and almost no cars on the roads on an overcast morning.

Flights into Khartoum were disrupted as airlines monitored developments on the ground.

International reactions

Sudanese protesters gather by a barricade on a street, demanding that the country's Transitional Military Council hand over power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan, June 3, 2019. /Reuters Photo

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the excessive use of force and called for an independent investigation. The United States called it a "brutal" crackdown on protesters, who want the generals behind the overthrow of veteran president Omar al-Bashir to hand over to civilian rule.

Diplomats said the UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss Sudan after Britain and Germany requested the talks.

While African and Western governments have been strongly supportive of the protesters, Arab governments, led by Saudi Arabia, have backed military council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and called for renewed talk between protesters and the military.

Ahead of the crackdown as talks faltered, Burhan had visited Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are crucial donors to Sudan, depositing an initial 500 million U.S. dollars at the central bank since Bashir's fall as part of a planned 3 billion U.S.-dollar overall package to maintain their influence in the country.

(Cover: Sudanese protesters use burning tires to erect a barricade on a street, demanding that the country's Transitional Military Council hand over power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan June 3, 2019. /Reuters Photo)

(With input from AFP)