Armored vehicle kills protester at anti-coup demo, say medics

Sudanese security forces killed a protester when an armored vehicle ran over him during the latest rally against last year’s military coup, medics said. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 06 May 2022
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Armored vehicle kills protester at anti-coup demo, say medics

  • The demonstrator’s death brings to 95 the toll from the crackdown on anti-coup protests since the October military takeover led by army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the doctors’ committee said

KHARTOUM: Sudanese security forces killed a protester when an armored vehicle ran over him during the latest rally against last year’s military coup, medics said.

The unidentified protester was killed by the “vehicle belonging to the coup forces during rallies in Khartoum” headed toward the presidential palace, said the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, a pro-democracy group of medics.

Anti-coup demonstrators routinely target the palace, where the ruling Sovereign Council is based along the Nile River.

The demonstrator’s death brings to 95 the toll from the crackdown on anti-coup protests since the October military takeover led by army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the doctors’ committee said.

Regular rallies have taken place against Sudan’s latest coup, which derailed a political transition period set in motion after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.

The military power grab drew wide international condemnation, including the suspension of vital aid, and upended a transition to civilian rule in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The UN, along with the African Union and regional bloc IGAD, have been pushing to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis.

Senior officials from the US, UK and other Western countries have urged Sudanese factions to participate in the UN-AU-IGAD process and warned against any delay, according to an April 29 EU statement.

“They underscored that international financial support for the Sudanese government, including debt relief, could only follow establishment of a credible civilian government,” it said.

Otherwise, “Sudan might lose billions of dollars in development assistance from the World Bank, and that Sudan’s IMF program and $19 billion in associated debt relief would be imperiled,” it noted.

Last month, Sudanese authorities released several anti-coup civilian leaders arrested in the crackdown.

Burhan has pledged to free political detainees to set the stage for talks among Sudanese factions.


Syria Kurds chief says ‘all efforts’ being made to salvage deal with Damascus

Updated 25 December 2025
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Syria Kurds chief says ‘all efforts’ being made to salvage deal with Damascus

  • Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal
  • The two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism

DAMASCUS: Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that “all efforts” were being made to prevent the collapse of talks on an agreement with Damascus to integrate his forces into the central government.
The remarks came days after Aleppo saw deadly clashes between the two sides before their respective leaders ordered a ceasefire.
In March, Abdi signed a deal with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the government by year’s end, but differences have held up its implementation.
Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal, adding in a statement that the two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism, and pledging further meetings with Damascus.
Downplaying the year-end deadline, he said the deal “did not specify a time limit for its ending or for the return to military solutions.”
He added that “all efforts are being made to prevent the collapse of this process” and that he considered failure unlikely.
Abdi also repeated the SDF’s demand for decentralization, which has been rejected by Syria’s Islamist authorities, who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad last year.
Turkiye, an important ally of Syria’s new leaders, sees the presence of Kurdish forces on its border as a security threat.
In Damascus this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed the importance of the Kurds’ integration, having warned the week before that patience with the SDF “is running out.”
The SDF control large swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, and with the support of a US-led international coalition, were integral to the territorial defeat of the Daesh group in Syria in 2019.
Syria last month joined the anti-IS coalition and has announced operations against the jihadist group in recent days.