Today, Wednesday, the commander of the Sudanese army, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, announced the army’s aspiration to see an elected national government, indicating that this will not be achieved by calls for demonstrations and sabotage, after Khartoum expressed its dissatisfaction with the statements of the United Nations representative, amid Western support for the expected demonstrations tomorrow, Thursday.
Today, Al-Burhan delivered a speech before the Sudanese Special Forces in Khartoum, in which he said that the armed forces will not compromise in their duty to work to achieve and sustain the security and stability of the country, and that they are looking forward to the day when they see an elected national government that will take over from it the burden of running the country.
Al-Burhan added that "the only way to do that is either by comprehensive national consensus or by going to elections, not with calls for demonstrations and sabotage."
The Sudanese army commander stressed that there is no objection to exercising the right to expression through peaceful demonstrations that take into account the preservation of public and private property and do not harm the interests of citizens.
Al-Burhan denied the validity of his accusation of carrying out a military coup, and said that his measures aimed to correct the course of the transitional period, and pledged to hand over power through elections or national consensus.
Al-Burhan's statements come hours after the Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned the United Nations representative in the country, Volker Peretz, against the background of his statements about popular demonstrations expected throughout the country tomorrow to demand civilian rule, expressing his dissatisfaction with them.
On Tuesday, Peretz called on the Sudanese authorities to ensure the protection of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, saying that violence against demonstrators would not be tolerated, according to a statement by the UN mission in the country.
Statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations pic.twitter.com/wBNYHyZnKq
— UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan (@UNITAMS) June 28, 2022
Western support for the protesters
On the other hand, a joint statement by the embassies of the United States, Britain, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and Japan in Khartoum - published by the US embassy via Twitter - said that the pro-democracy protests show that the Sudanese people want a democratic transition.
pic.twitter.com/jyqToN5xdW
— US Embassy Khartoum (@USEmbassyKRT) June 29, 2022
The statement called on all parties to work within the framework of the political process, to find a path towards a democratic transition, while affirming the right of the Sudanese people to demonstrate without fear or violence.
The statement also urged all parties in Sudan to exercise restraint and protect civilians.
A person was killed in today's protest
Under the slogan "The Road to June 30", the preparations of the Sudanese Resistance Committees are escalating for popular demonstrations scheduled for Thursday in Khartoum and a number of cities in the country.
And before tomorrow's appointment, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said today, Wednesday, that one of the demonstrators was killed after being shot in the chest, accusing the security forces of firing it during their response to a demonstration that took place today in the city of Bahri.
Today's demonstrations saw hundreds of people take to the streets in several neighborhoods on the outskirts of Khartoum, and many raised banners urging protesters to take to the streets in large numbers tomorrow.
Since the beginning of this week;
The security forces intensified their deployment in the main streets of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri, and yesterday began vehicle inspection campaigns with serious preparations to close the main bridges linking the three cities of the capital.
And the date of June 30 is a special event for the Sudanese who used to commemorate the government of ousted President Omar al-Bashir annually since 1989 to celebrate its arrival to power, overthrowing the government of the late Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
In 2019, about 6 weeks after the removal of al-Bashir, the political scene deteriorated with the failure of the agreement between the Military Committee and the Coalition for Freedom and Change (the forces of the revolution that ousted al-Bashir), especially after the massacre caused by the sit-in in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum, which prompted the civil forces To go out on June 30 to denounce the massacre.