{"id":16871,"date":"2019-06-11T19:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T19:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2019-06-11T19:07:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T19:07:50","slug":"bloody-crackdown-in-sudan-launched-at-saudi-bidding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/bloody-crackdown-in-sudan-launched-at-saudi-bidding\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bloody crackdown in Sudan launched at Saudi bidding\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"item-text\">\n<p><strong>A Sudanese military expert says a recent brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in capital Khartoum that killed scores of people was part of a Saudi-Emirati plan and launched at Riyadh\u2019s bidding. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The plan to storm a protest camp outside Sudan\u2019s Defense Ministry in central Khartoum on June 3 had been discussed during recent visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt by Sudan&#8217;s military ruler\u00a0General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who chairs the country\u2019s Transitional Military Council (TMC), the expert told the Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe breaking up of the sit-in was one of the main points on the agenda that was discussed. Unless he got the green light from his regional allies he would not have been able to commit such a crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On Monday, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the camp, prompting clashes with the protesters, who had been camping out there for months to demand that the TMC 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 protests against his 30-year rule.<\/p>\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/03\/597586\/Sudan-Khartoum-Protest\">\n<div class=\"oembed\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/03\/597586\/Sudan-Khartoum-Protest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.presstv.com\/photo\/20190603\/e493180b-c5ca-47fc-bbf7-75f8c08a3953.jpg\" alt=\"PressTV-Khartoum protest turns bloody as Sudanese forces storm sit-in\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/03\/597586\/Sudan-Khartoum-Protest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PressTV-Khartoum protest turns bloody as Sudanese forces storm sit-in<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/03\/597586\/Sudan-Khartoum-Protest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sudanese security force stage a raid on a protest site in Khartoum, leaving casualties.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is associated with protest groups, said on Wednesday the death toll from the crackdown had risen to 108, including three children from one family.<\/p>\n<p>Burhan was last week among Arab leaders attending two emergency summits in Saudi holy city of Mecca to address rising tensions in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n<p>His visit to Saudi Arabia followed trips to Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on May 25, and to the UAE to meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed the following day.<\/p>\n<p>Another senior member of the military council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on May 23.<\/p>\n<p>Sudan\u2019s RSF is led by\u00a0Dagalo, who is the deputy leader of the TMC and the second most powerful man in Sudan right now.\u00a0The general is close to Saudi Arabia and the\u00a0UAE.<\/p>\n<p>Reports say that nearly all of the Sudanese mercenaries fighting in the ranks of a Saudi- and Emirati-led military coalition in the war on Yemen are from the RSF.<\/p>\n<p>The military expert further said the RSF\u2019s clampdown raised serious concerns about human rights abuses against civilians as members of the paramilitary forces were not trained how to deal with civilians and lacked the \u201cdiscipline of professional members of the security forces\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The report added that RSF members had used live ammunition, attacked and beat women, and burnt down tents during the recent raid in Khartoum.<\/p>\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/06\/597862\/Sudan-Amnesty-Bashir-crackdown-TMC-RSF-UN\">\n<div class=\"oembed\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/06\/597862\/Sudan-Amnesty-Bashir-crackdown-TMC-RSF-UN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.presstv.com\/photo\/20190606\/c376b14d-f5a8-4c03-871e-13e7657fa4cc.jpg\" alt=\"PressTV-Amnesty urges intl. response to junta crackdown in Sudan\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/06\/597862\/Sudan-Amnesty-Bashir-crackdown-TMC-RSF-UN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PressTV-Amnesty urges intl. response to junta crackdown in Sudan<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2019\/06\/06\/597862\/Sudan-Amnesty-Bashir-crackdown-TMC-RSF-UN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amnesty International has called for \u201curgent international response\u201d after scores of people were killed in a military crackdown on a peaceful sit-in in Khartoum.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He said the current situation could also drive a wedge between the RSF and its allies and other elements of the armed forces, raising the prospect of more violence and street battles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the army splits or intervenes, it will also be horrible because that could cause street fighting in Khartoum, and that would only increase the casualties among civilians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia and the UAE backed the military council in the aftermath of the coup against Omar al-Bashir by pledging $3 billion\u00a0in cash and aid to the country.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed Abdelaziz, an Algerian-Sudanese analyst, believes that the donation \u201cwould have come with strings attached\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn April 21, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi pledged $3bn\u00a0to Sudan. They did not do it without consideration. And this counterpart is not democracy. They want\u2026 their economic interests to be preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Sudanese military expert says a recent brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in capital Khartoum that killed scores of people was part of a Saudi-Emirati plan and launched at Riyadh\u2019s bidding. \u00a0 The plan to storm a protest camp outside Sudan\u2019s Defense Ministry in central Khartoum on June 3 had been discussed during recent visits &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16875,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions\/16875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}