Sudan.. A large mobilization of “millions of anger” amid international concern

Under the slogan “No negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy”, the People’s Resistance Committees in the capital, Khartoum, called for participation and mobilization in what it called the “Million of Anger”, Saturday, in rejection of the Sudanese army’s overthrow of the transitional government and to demand the removal of the military component from power.

On October 25, the army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, declared a state of emergency in the country, dissolving the Sovereignty Councils and transitional ministers, releasing governors, and arresting party leaders, ministers and officials, followed by rejectionist protests and international criticism calling for the return of the transitional government.
The past period included international and African mediation to spare the country cycles of chaos and new turmoil, but it stumbled in reaching a formula of agreement with the insistence of the civilian component on the return of the transitional government, while Al-Burhan issued, on Thursday, a constitutional decree to form a new Sovereignty Council headed by him, which analysts considered complicating matters as hostile protests erupted. In Khartoum and other areas, amid calls for a massive exit Saturday.

Millions of anger
The coordination of the Resistance Committees in Khartoum, the committees that lead the demonstrations in the neighborhoods, said in a statement posted on the official page of the Sudanese Professionals Association, the leader of the protest movement, on Facebook: “We agreed that Saturday will be a revolutionary day in which millions of anger will march to bring down the military.” .
The statement called on “everyone inside and outside Sudan to participate actively in the million.”
In turn, the Sudanese Geologists Association, one of the components of the Association of Professionals, appealed to participate in the “November 13 Million”, according to the same source.
For about two weeks, Sudan has witnessed daily protests, demanding civilian rule, while Al-Burhan said, on more than one occasion, that the army is committed to democratic transformation, and that it is in the process of choosing a prime minister to form a government of competencies, without party affiliations.
The army’s decisions ended the power-sharing agreement between the army and civilians that was reached after the overthrow of ousted President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, which was supposed to lead to elections in late 2023.
The “resistance committees” were formed in cities and villages, following the outbreak of the protests on December 19, 2018, and had the largest role in managing the demonstrations in the neighborhoods and cities that overthrew Al-Bashir on April 11, 2019.
A new council and angry demonstrations
After Al-Burhan was sworn in as Chairman of the Sovereignty Council before the Judicial Chief Fattah Al-Rahman Abdeen, demonstrations took place in Khartoum to protest against the decree.
The new council includes 13 members, 9 who were members of the previous council, including 5 senior army officers, and 4 new members who replaced the previous council members belonging to the Forces of Freedom and Change.
The leaders of the Revolutionary Front remained in the council, namely Malik Agar, Al-Taher Hajar and Al-Hadi Idris. Women won 2 out of 5 civilian seats in the new council. The nomination of the representative of eastern Sudan in the new council has been postponed until “more consultations” are held.
Immediately, several areas of the Sudanese capital witnessed protest demonstrations, as angry protesters burned tires and blocked main roads in the three cities of the capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North.
Demonstrators also went out in several residential neighborhoods in southern Khartoum to denounce what they describe as a “military coup” and demand the return of the civilian government.

international concern
The United Nations Special Envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, considered the appointment of a new Sovereign Council, which “makes it more difficult to return to the constitutional order.”
The UN envoy to Sudan called on the army to allow peaceful protests and demonstrations planned for Saturday.
The United Nations also described the recent developments in Sudan as “extremely worrying”, expressing its hope that the democratic transition will return as soon as possible.
The European Union called on the Sudanese authorities to immediately release all detainees since last October 25.
A US, British, Norwegian, Swiss, European statement also expressed deep concern about the announcement of a new sovereign council in Sudan.
The statement called for Abdullah Hamdok and the transitional government to return to power, stressing that the announcement of the formation of a new sovereign council in Sudan is a unilateral measure that undermines the commitment to the transitional framework.

Challenges and difficulties
The interruption of internet services constitutes a major challenge for the assembly, which faces real problems in interacting with associations, committees and the Sudanese public and urging them to participate in this demonstration.
After he used social media to mobilize young people, as happened in 2019, which brought down the Bashir regime, this time he faces problems to develop a successful strategy to communicate with the components of the Sudanese people due to the internet outage.
Despite a court ruling to restore the Internet immediately in the country, for the nineteenth day, the Sudanese are facing great difficulties, up to a complete interruption.

Unite the forces of the revolution
Sudanese writer and political analyst, Muhammad Ali Fazari, said that Saturday’s demonstrations will be different in quantity and quality from the previous protests, which appears from its slogan that “neither negotiation nor dialogue.”
Fazari added, in statements to “Sky News Arabia”: “What is new in the Saturday protests is the unification of the revolution’s forces. Perhaps for the first time, 3 bodies that remained in conflict for a short period of time were united, namely the forces of freedom and change, the gathering of professionals and the resistance committees, as their goal became one, which is the overthrow of what they call the coup. Military”.
He stressed that this momentum increases the strength and momentum of the revolutionary movement, especially after Al-Burhan’s decision to form a sovereign council without the will of the Sudanese street, because the forces of the revolution see in it a return to the military component with the same unwanted faces and people, and therefore they will resist all the measures that came after the “overthrow of Hamdok.”

congestion
He considered that the interruption of Internet services would not constitute a major obstacle to the movement’s forces, which have become increasingly crowded, stressing that they used alternative means of mobilization, such as posters, advertisements via microphones, evening gatherings in neighborhoods, and short messages on phones.
He explained that there is a state of great tension among the Sudanese street after the decisions of the military component. The citizen now knows that his living, economic and social goals are being achieved in a democratic civil state. The protests against Al-Bashir were not only a “bread revolution” but rather a revolution of dignity, which was among its most important slogans.
He continued: “Citizens do not separate between economic, political and social rights. Military governments have not achieved anything new. They have ruled for more than half a decade, and the situation is still stagnant.”