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UN Security Council to meet on Sudan violence

A Sudanese protester walks past burning tires as military forces tried to disperse the sit-in outside the capital Khartoum's army headquarters on June 3, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations Security Council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting to address rampant violence in Sudan that recently took a hugely deadly turn in the country’s capital.

The Council is to hold the gathering on Tuesday following a call by Britain and Germany, AFP reported, citing diplomats.

Nationwide protests have been calling on the country’s military rulers running the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to hand over power to a civilian government. The TMC assumed power in April after the military toppled President Omar al-Bashir in the wake of angry demonstrations against his 30-year rule.

On Monday, the military forcefully broke up a weeks-long sit-in outside Khartoum's army headquarters, leaving more than 30 people dead and hundreds of others wounded.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which reported the number of the casualties, said an eight-year-old child was among those killed.

Describing the scene of the massacre, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which gathers protest leaders, said, "There is no one, but the pure bodies of our martyrs."

The crackdown drew sharp international criticism, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemning the use of excessive force by the security forces against protesters and calling for an independent investigation.

Also on Monday, UK-based rights body Amnesty International urged the international community to consider "all forms of peaceful pressure, including targeted sanctions on those members of the Sudanese transitional authorities responsible for this morning's violent attack on sleeping protesters."

The TMC has offered to let protesters form a government to run the country, but insists on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. Several rounds of negotiations between the protest leaders and the junta have broken down amid differences.


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