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A senior Sudanese army commander has blamed a bank’s security force for killing children protesting in El-Obeid earlier this week.
At least six people, including four children, were killed at the student protest in the city on Monday.
Opposition-linked doctors said they died after military forces broke up the rally.
The teenagers were protesting against fuel and bread shortages, residents said.
Sudan has been in turmoil since the overthrow of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in April.
Show all 12 1 /12The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Khadija Saleh, 41, a political activist and blogger, poses for a photograph in Khartoum, Sudan. After six years abroad, Saleh returned to her home country when people took to the streets demanding change. She was at a sit-in near the defence ministry in Khartoum on 3 June when security forces stormed the site. The area had become a centre for anti-government protests. Saleh said she was beaten with sticks, and still wears bandages on her wounds. ‘I came back from a safer place because I want a better future for this country,’ she said.
Photos Reuters
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Awadiya Mahmoud Koko Ahmed, 60, is the head of Food and Tea Sellers Union. She said: ‘I went to see the sit-in area to check what is happening there. I served them free tea with the money my daughter gave me. And we made a kitchen as a group of union members. We prepared food every day. All the people were good. They called me “mom”. When I was in America, I saw that even animals had rights. If I was the president, I would make sure that there was justice. I would treat everyone equally.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Duha Mohmed, 23, escaped the sit-in site at the beginning of the June raid, returning later to help the injured. The student said she was also motivated by a desire for a better life. ‘I don't want to wear headscarf, but it is not my choice. I want my right to wear what I want,’ she said.
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Shems Osman, 32, is an employee at an international company. Osman studied psychology in Canada. She has Canadian citizenship but she chose to return to Sudan. She said: ‘In Sudan it is definitely different how women carry themselves and how they are treated, and I think this is because of our African culture more than our Arab culture. Sudanese women are just naturally strong. So, they are naturally on the frontline and they are naturally a part of revolution.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Mai Atya, 27, is a musician. Atya said she was beaten during the raid. She said: ‘My main objective like many others is that we believe there should be a change; a good change in a good direction. I was at the sit-in area during the raid. I heard gun shots and ran away but when I jumped over a fence a Rapid Support Force (RSF) soldier caught us. They kept beating us again and again ... they think women should stay at home.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Amel Tajeldin, 41, a housewife and mother of four. Tajeldin said she would take turns with her husband to watch the children so that she could go out to protest. ‘While it was his turn to look after the children, I took part in the demonstrations,’ she said. She used to teach songs to street children in a makeshift tent at the sit-in. On 3 June, members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shouted at her and other protesters and told them to run, she said. ‘We ran. We were surrounded by soldiers and policemen,’ she said. Both her arms are now wrapped in bandages. ‘While we were running, they beat us. To protect my head, I used my hands. This is why my two arms are broken,’ she said. ‘The ones like us beaten by police were lucky, the ones beaten by RSF members were brutally injured.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Nagda Mansour, 39, is a translator. Mansour was imprisoned for 75 days after attending a demonstration in December. She said it was difficult for many to accept the idea of negotiating with the military because of its leadership’s involvement in the war in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by the deputy leader of the council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, are accused of committing atrocities in Darfur – charges officials have in the past denied. ‘The finalisation of an agreement with the military council remains the beginning not the end,’ said Mansour. ‘We as human rights defenders want to have a guarantee for transitional justice in Sudan.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Hadia Hasaballah, 42, is a counsellor and political activist. Hasaballah works for an NGO dealing with the victims of the 3 June raid. She and her team are supporting more than 100 victims. ‘This regime thinks in a traditional way,’ she said. ‘They know that if they humiliate the women, they will humiliate the whole people... None of the Sudanese women will officially say that they were raped because of the stigma.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Samra Siralkhatim, 21, is a student. During the June protests, Siralkhatim hid from the military in various people’s homes for five days. She said: ‘Sudanese are almost like refugees in their own country. During the June 3 raid night, we sought refuge from the military like we did in previous attacks. That time, they let us go into the defence ministry compound. But this time, the doors were closed during the raid. Security personnel were laughing and a member of the military behind the fence told us that the military was “taking a holiday”,’ she said.
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Mahi Aba-Yazid, 35, is unemployed. Under President Omar al-Bashir’s rule, women’s lives were tightly controlled by men, even the way they dressed. Morality laws meant that a woman could be arrested for wearing trousers. For that reason, Aba-Yazid wore trousers while she called for change at the sit-in site. She believes she was beaten more because of this choice. ‘There was already a bullet in my arm. I was bleeding but they continued to beat me,’ she said.
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Nahid Gabralla, 53, is a human rights activist. Gabralla said she was beaten with sticks and threatened with rape at the sit-in. ‘Sudan can be better,’ she said. ‘My daughter deserves to live in a nice country... We will fight for a democratic Sudan, real change and for our rights.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests Manal Farah, 49, is a housewife. Farah lost her son, a 22-year-old university student, when security forces stormed the sit-in. She said he insisted on protesting even though she asked him to stay home. ‘The aim of the government is to convince mothers of revolutionaries to prevent their sons to join the revolution, but no matter what we say to them they will never stop before achieving their objectives,’ Farah said. ‘When he started in university, he started to ask why there is corruption in Sudan. He said there must be a change, a new Sudan ... I pray for my son’s dreams to come true.’
Reuters/Umit Bektas
Lieutenant General Jamal Aldin Omar Ibrahim, head of the Transitional Military Council’s security committee, said: "The force which was guarding the Sudanese French Bank fired the live rounds that led to the regrettable losses in the state of North Kordofan."
He was reading a statement before officials in El-Obeid, the official SUNA news agency reported. The bank guards were a government security force, Mr Ibrahim added.
The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition of opposition groups accused military and paramilitary forces of opening fire on the high school pupils.
However, a regional governor said "infiltrators" had diverted a peaceful demonstration from its course, attacking one bank branch and trying to attack another.
Mr Ibrahim also blamed a teachers' committee associated with the Sudanese Professionals' Association (SPA), a major part of the FFC, for the El-Obeid killings.
Some committee members had incited the students to leave their schools and take part in the protests, SUNA quoted him as saying.
An African Union mediator called on Wednesday for a speedy trial for those responsible for shooting the children.
The SPA, which spearheaded the protest movement that led to the overthrow of Mr al-Bashir, condemned the incident and called for nationwide protests on Thursday.
The recent killings interrupted talks between the military council and the opposition on how to run the country.
However, negotiators from both sides have made progress on the sticking points in discussions on the transition from military rule and are set to hold direct talks within 48 hours, an opposition leader said on Wednesday.
Reuters
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