UN envoy urges Sudan paramilitary leader to show restraint

CAIRO — The U.N. peculiar envoy for Sudan met with the almighty person of a Sudanese paramilitary force, urging him to let peaceful protests Saturday and debar confrontation successful the aftermath of a subject coup earlier this week.

Pro-democracy activistic groups person called for “million-person” marches crossed the state Saturday to property demands for re-instating a deposed transitional authorities and releasing elder governmental figures from detention.

The takeover threatens to derail Sudan’s fragile Western-backed modulation to ideology which got nether mode 2 years ago, aft the ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The U.N. envoy, Volker Perthes, met precocious Friday with Gen. Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, a coup person seen arsenic adjacent to Sudan’s strongman, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

Dagalo commands the feared Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary portion that controls the streets of the superior of Khartoum and played a large relation successful the coup. The RSF is notorious for atrocities and rapes during the struggle successful Sudan’s Darfur portion and for deadly attacks connected pro-democracy protesters successful 2019.

Perthes said successful a connection posted connected Twitter that helium “stressed the request for calm, allowing peaceful protestation and avoiding immoderate confrontation” successful his talks with Dagalo.

A elder U.S. authoritative besides told reporters Friday that Saturday’s wide protests would beryllium “a test” for the state and that the subject has “hijacked and betrayed the aspirations of the Sudanese people.”

Since the subject takeover, determination person been regular thoroughfare protests. At slightest 9 radical person been killed by information forces’ gunfire, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Committee and activists. At slightest 170 others person been injured, according to the U.N.

Burhan has claimed that the takeover was indispensable to forestall a civilian war, citing what helium said were increasing divisions among governmental groups. However, the takeover came little than a period earlier helium was to person handed the enactment of the Sovereign Council, the main decision-making assemblage successful Sudan, to a civilian. Such a measurement would person lessened the military’s grip connected the country. The assembly had some civilian and subject members.

As portion of the coup, Burhan dismissed the assembly and the transitional government, led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, that was successful complaint of day-to-day affairs.

Instead, helium installed himself arsenic caput of a subject assembly that volition regularisation Sudan until elections successful July 2023. In an interrogation with Russia’s state-owned Sputnik quality bureau published Friday, Burhan said helium would soon sanction a caller premier who volition signifier a Cabinet that volition stock enactment of the state with the equipped forces.

“We person a patriotic work to pb the radical and assistance them successful the modulation play until elections are held,” Burhan said successful the interview. He said that arsenic agelong arsenic expected protests are peaceful, “security forces volition not intervene.”

However, observers said it’s doubtful the subject volition let a afloat modulation to civilian rule, if lone to artifact civilian oversight of the military’s ample fiscal holdings.

The coup has been wide denounced by the planetary community.

The U.S. has called for Burhan to re-instate the country’s deposed government. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres connected Friday reiterated his “strong condemnation” of the coup and stressed the request to reconstruct the transitional process to antiauthoritarian regularisation successful the eastbound African country.