Sudan crackdown: paramilitary forces threw dead protesters into Nile, doctors say as death toll hits 108
- Retrieval of the bodies came as Sudan’s ruling general called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they promptly rejected
- Raid followed weeks of wrangling between the ruling military council and opposition groups over who should lead Sudan’s transition to democracy,
Paramilitaries in Khartoum threw dozens of bodies into the Nile to try to hide the number of casualties inflicted during a dawn attack on pro-democracy protesters in the Sudanese capital earlier this week, doctors and activists said.
At least 108 people are thought to have been killed in the crackdown across Sudan, which has been under military rule since President Omar al-Bashir was outed in April.
Word about the retrieval of the bodies came as Sudan’s ruling general, Abdel-Fattah Burhan, called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they promptly rejected. They said the generals cannot be serious about talks while troops keep killing protesters.
A spokesman for the protesters said that instead they would continue their demonstrations and strikes seeking to pressure the military into handing over power to a civilian authority.
The attack on the camp was led by a notorious paramilitary unit called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with other troops who waded into the camp, opening fire and beating protesters.
During the mayhem, the Doctors Committee said witnesses reported seeing bodies loaded into military vehicles to be dumped into the river.
The camp was not far from the Blue Nile, just upstream from where it joins the White Nile and then flows north through Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean.
Videos posted on social media appeared to show corpses in the river.
The RSF is largely composed of militia accused of systematic human rights abuses during the war in Darfur.
The force is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who also serves as deputy head of the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC), which has been in power since Bashir was ousted.
Dagalo said in a televised address to troops on Wednesday that Sudan could not be allowed to slip into chaos.
“We will not allow chaos … we must impose the authority of the state through law.”
The military council said on Twitter that some RSF members had been attacked and that people had put on their uniforms to impersonate them in an attempt to harm their reputation.
Many protesters are still unaccounted for and the death toll is likely to rise further.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir forced out of power after military takeover
One activist, who did not want to be named, said: “We are still looking for my cousin. He was there … We are just hoping he is being cared for somewhere but can’t contact us.”
Harrowing details of rapes by the paramilitaries were also emerging. At least one such assault took place when the RSF invaded a hospital where injured protesters were being treated.
Others occurred in the street when paramilitaries chased and caught fleeing civilians, activists said.
Weam Shawga, a women’s rights activist, told The Guardian she was threatened with rape by the RSF when they attacked the sit-in.
“I was beaten with sticks and they told me: ‘We could’ve raped you as we did with other women … We know that you are here because you want to have sex’,” she said.
Arrests of opposition leaders were continuing despite calls from international powers for restraint.
The US, UK and Norway issued a joint statement demanding a transition to a civilian government, saying the crackdown endangered the process.
Amnesty International called on the African Union and the UN to “take immediate action to hold the perpetrators of this violence accountable”.
The Guardian, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters
