Millions of people in Sudan have joined a general strike called by Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), shutting down the centres of cities across the country despite a wave of arrests and intimidation. The SPA, which led the protests that overthrew former president Omar al-Bashir in April, has been demanding that the Transitional Military Council that succeeded him hand over power to civilian forces. The civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing the ruling military junta to accept civilian rule began on Sunday, June 9, after the military and the notorious paramilitary force, the Rapid Security Forces (RSF), forcibly dispersed the sit-ins organised by the SPA outside the army headquarters in Khartoum and other army posts across the country, killing over a hundred, injuring more than 700 and raping many men and women.
Several people have been killed by the RSF since the civil disobedience began. The RSF has been patrolling the streets of the capital and other cities of Sudan on pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns, terrorising the civilians. Despite the repression, the civil disobedience has continued. For the past few days, banks, airports, public transport etc. have been completely paralysed. Most of the shops remain shuttered and the business district in central Khartoum is deserted.
In order to deny the military junta the access to finances and paralyse the state apparatus, the SPA has also called on all Sudanese, including the diaspora staying abroad, to avoid making transactions through banks.
The Central Bank of Sudan, whose employees were terrorised by militiamen for undertaking strike action on May 28 and 29, released an official statement saying that the bank will not be participating in the current strike, called as a part of the civil disobedience action. However, most employees reportedly did not report to work.
Attempts of the military to force the striking staff of Port Sudan to work failed and as all operations there were brought to a halt. A number of workers in aviation, banking and electricity sector have been detained and the SPA said they fear the move was in an attempt to force them to work. Unconfirmed reports estimate the total number of arrests over the last few days to be several hundred.
According to a statement by the SPA, heavily armed paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have “completely shut down” eight hospitals. The militia men attacked the doctors who were treating the protesters injured in last Monday’s massacre and forced many patients out and beat many to death.
Preparations for civil disobedience has been made in advance
One day prior to the start of the civil disobedience, the SPA put out a statement announcing that the preparations were complete. Committees have been formed in all neighbourhoods, with different people tasked with different responsibilities.
These include “ensuring the presence of food and drinking sources for the residents of the neighborhood, especially the elderly, the children and the needy”, “relocation of emergency patients to hospitals in coordination with the sub-medical committees” and spreading information to houses in the neighbourhood to raise awareness about the political situation and explain the goals of the civil disobedience.
With the internet blockade still in place, all the coordination and awareness raising work is being carried out mostly through SMS, and also through hand-written notes circulated by committees formed in the neighbourhoods.
The SPA has also called for protesters to erect barricades on all major roads and bridges. However, unlike the barricades that were erected around the sit-in demonstrations that were dispersed, these barricades are not to be guarded.
In order to avoid confrontation with the RSF militia, the SPA has given a call to “barricade and withdraw”. Should the barricades be demolished by the militia, the protesters have been advised not to intervene but to withdraw to safety quickly, and then rebuild after they leave.
“They dismantled the barricade, we built it again. They dismantled again, and we rebuilt it. It was a game of cat and mouse,” one protester was reported to have said, recounting his experience on the streets, which protesters are attempting to reclaim again.
In the city of Omdurman, a mass rally took place on Friday night, followed by smaller marches on Saturday. Rallies in the city of Bahri (known also as Khartoum North), which lies to the north of the capital city in Khartoum state, reportedly came under attack prior to the start of the civil disobedience.
Update: On June 13, the media reported that the SPA has called off the civil disobedience movement after the Transitional Military Council (TMC), in its meeting with Ethiopian special envoy Mohamoud Dirir, agreed to release political prisoners. This was one of the confidence building measures demanded by the opposition following the massacre of more than 100 protestors, before it resumed talks with the TMC.
(Courtesy: People’s Dispatch, an international media organisation with the mission of publicising voices from people’s movements and organisations across the globe.)
