Sudan chaos deepens

Sudan’s protest movement called yesterday for fresh rallies and rejected the military rulers’ election plan after more than 35 people were killed in what demonstrators called a “bloody massacre” by security forces.

Protest leaders called on their supporters to take part in “total civil disobedience” to topple the ruling military council following the deadly dispersal Monday of a weeks-long sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum.

The Transitional Military Council ousted veteran president Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his authoritarian rule and had agreed a three-year transition period to a civilian administration. But army ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced in a televised statement the plan had been ditched and an election would take place under “regional and international supervision”.

“The military council decides on the following: canceling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change, and to call for general elections within a period not exceeding nine months,” Burhan said.