UN Chief Antonio Guterres asks Sudan Army to reverse coup & take heed about protestors

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday, October 31 urged Sudan’s military general to reverse the coup as tens of thousands of angry Sudanese citizens took to the streets rallying in the pro-democracy protests. In a tweet on Sunday, UN Chief Guterres said, “We witnessed in Sudan on Saturday the courage of so many people who peacefully protested military rule.” Furthermore, he added, ''The military should take heed.” Guterres further stated that “it’s time to go back to the legitimate constitutional arrangements. Reports of violence are alarming & perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

The UN chief’s appeals came after tens of thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets in one of the largest pro-democracy protests since last week's coup demanding a civilian transitional government. The Sudanese citizens have been leading mass protests against the military's forceful seizure of power by launching roadblocks with bricks and barricades that they label a symbol of safety and defiance against the military coup within the north African nation. 

Sudan Army fires live rounds of ammunition on protesters

Several Sudanese protestors were reported to have been injured after the Sudan Army fired live rounds of ammunition after the angry protesters, who have been demanding the technocratic rule, attempted to remove barricades set up to defy the military’s seizure of power earlier last week, an independent Egyptian online newspaper, Mada Masr reported. Since the military coup in Sudan, as many as 12 civilians have been killed while close to 100 have been injured in the violent confrontations between the Sudan Army and the civilians opposing the military regime, the US embassy in Sudan said in a statement. 

The Head of Sudan's ruling military council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared a nationwide emergency amid the civilian unrest. He dissolved the transitional Sovereign Council and government amid the backlash from the countries of the world. Labelling the recent political upheaval within the country as "a correction of the path and a correction of the transition period,” Sudan’s top military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan blatantly denied that the Sudanese Army had staged a coup against the ruling administration. "Condemnations are expected," Al-Burhan stressed in a televised address, particularly emphasising that the world seeing the military's action as "a coup" must know that it is not.

Image: AP