KHARTOUM: Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets Thursday denouncing last year’s military coup and worsening living conditions, an AFP correspondent said.
“The military should go back to the barracks,” protesters in the capital Khartoum chanted. “Down with the government of hunger,” they added.
Mass demonstrations have rocked Sudan since army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan led a military coup on October 25 that drew wide international condemnation.
The military power grab upended the country’s transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of president Omar Al-Bashir.
Sudan’s already ailing economy has taken severe blows since the coup, as Western donor countries cut crucial aid pending the restoration of transition to civilian rule.
In recent weeks, the Sudanese pound has plummeted against the dollar as prices of food, fuel and basic commodities soared.
Meanwhile, the authorities have pressed ahead with a violent crackdown on anti-coup protests that has left at least 92 people killed and hundreds wounded, according to medics.
On Monday, United Nations special representative Volker Perthes warned that Sudan was heading toward “an economic and security collapse” unless the civilian-led transition is restored.
He said the UN, along with the African Union and the regional IGAD bloc, have agreed to join efforts to facilitate Sudanese-led political talks.
The so-called Friends of Sudan, a grouping which includes Western powers, also warned on Wednesday of “the immense economic pressures” facing the Sudanese people.
The group also said the restoration a civilian led transition “would pave the way to restore economic assistance and international debt relief.”
This week, Burhan dismissed senior members and boards of some 30 public universities in Sudan in the latest sign that he is tightening his grip on power.
The move has prompted many professors to submit collective resignations, while others launched open ended strikes.
“This decision is a blatant infringement on the independence of universities,” a union for Sudanese university and higher institution professors said in a statement.
Sudan has yet to appoint a prime minister since the January resignation of premier Abdalla Hamdok, who was ousted in the coup before he was later reinstated.
Sudanese protest military coup, tumbling economy
https://arab.news/4bx8s
Sudanese protest military coup, tumbling economy
- Mass demonstrations have rocked Sudan since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military coup on October 25
- Sudan's already ailing economy has taken severe blows since the coup
Israel’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
