Sudan - Drone footage of mass protest in Sudan capital / Protests continue in Sudan as deadlock roll

(16 Jun 2019) "On April 13th 2019 thousands of protestors flooded the Sudanese capital Khartoum calling on the army to hand over power to a civilian government. The army toppled longtime president Omar al-Bashir on April 11th, following months of public protests. But the protesters have said they will remain in the streets until a civilian transitional council is formed. They fear the military, which is dominated by al-Bashir loyalists, will rule indefinitely or hand power to one of its own. *** Sudan's protest leaders are calling for mass rallies across the country amid deadlocked negotiations with the ruling military over its handover of power. The Sudanese Professionals' Association, which has spearheaded four months of protests that drove President Omar al-Bashir from power in April, says it's also calling for a ""million man march"" outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. May 23rd's statement, posted on Facebook, says the protesters want to denounce the ruling generals' resistance to relinquish power to a sovereign council that both sides had already agreed should lead the country during the transitional period. There are also indications that the SPA, a union umbrella, may call for a general strike. The two sides have held several rounds of talks since the military overthrew al-Bashir on April 11th, ending his 30-year reign. *** The deputy head of Sudan's ruling military council said on June 5th that the military ""will not allow"" for chaos in the country. Speaking to thousands of troops in Khartoum during Eid prayers, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo said the military would impose the power of the state to control Sudan. His comments come amid a rising death toll that has reached 100 since the violent dispersal of a sit-in outside the military's headquarters in Khartoum on June 3rd. Dagalo addressed the opposition alliance saying that the door of dialogue was open and that the military council had announced a comprehensive plan for peace. ""But we will not practice any tolerance when it comes to the security and safety of the citizens,"" he said. The mounting casualties are the latest challenge to the protest movement, which now aims to show it can keep up pressure in the streets after its central rallying point - the weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum - was wiped out on June 3rd. In April, the movement succeeded in forcing the military to remove Sudan's longtime strongman, Omar al-Bashir. It then kept its sit-in going, demanding that the generals who took power hand over authority to civilians. The last previously reported death toll stood at 40 but the doctors committee said security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. That came after another 10 people were killed on June 4th, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum's Bahri neighbourhood. Protest organisers said June 5th at least 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River in Khartoum, bringing the death toll since the violent dispersal of the sit-in to 100. The doctors' committee, the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, also said that at least 326 people have been wounded in clashes in the previous two days and that it feared the final death toll would be much higher. Earlier on June 5th, the head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said the generals were ready to resume negotiations and that there would be ""no restrictions"" in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests. *** The military toppled him on April 11th. 00:50:03 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...