Sudan’s military leader Al-Burhan lifts state of emergency

• Hashim Sheikh
• . May 30, 2022
• . Update: May 30, 2022 3:04 pm
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Sudan– Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Sunday lifted a state of emergency imposed in the country since last year’s coup. According to a statement announced by the Transitional Sovereign Council, Burhan issued a decree lifting the state of emergency nationwide.

Furthermore, the ruling sovereign council stated that the decision was taken to develop an environment to foster “fruitful and meaningful dialogue” with the aim of achieving stability in the war-hit country. Senior officials of the military also recommended freeing the people imprisoned during a state of emergency. Last month, the authorities released a number of civilian leaders who protested against the coup.

Sudan has been marred by massive unrest since the coup was imposed on October 25 last year. After dissolving the transitional cabinet, Burhan announced a state of emergency, resulting in raging demonstrations led by pro-democracy protesters. These protests played a key role in the removal of former strongman Omar al-Bashir in a major uprising in April 2019. The emergency gave free rein to the military to arrest critics among the protesting demonstrators and security forces to curtail the opposing voices. Massive protests have been going across the country demanding the removal of the military from power.

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Months of protests

Last week, hundreds of people marched in Khartoum, following which security forces undertook violent measures to disperse the crowd. The violent crackdown resulted in the killing of two pro-democracy protesters, according to reports.

Taking to Twitter, Volker Perthes, UN envoy for Sudan, condemned the killing of the two protesters. “I am appalled by the violent death of two young protesters in Khartoum yesterday. Once again: it is time for the violence to stop, time to end the state of emergency, time for a peaceful way out of the current crisis in Sudan,” he posted.

Reportedly, more than 90 people have been killed and over 4,300 have been injured in the military crackdown on anti-coup protests taking place in Sudan since October last year. In response to the military coup, the US and other instrumental bilateral and multinational donors halted billions of dollars-worth of aid and assistance to Sudan. Meanwhile, the military officials have proposed elections to take place in July 2023 as per schedule in order to transfer the power to an elected government in place.