Hundreds of Sudanese join anti-government sit-in

KHARTOUM — Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday joined a sit-in demonstration in the Sudanese capital demanding the dissolution of the country's embattled transitional government.

Trucks loaded with people arrived outside the presidential palace in central Khartoum where the anti-government protesters have been camped out since Saturday, an AFP correspondent said.

The demonstrations were called by a breakaway faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), an umbrella civilian alliance which spearheaded protests leading to the fall of autocrat Omar Al Bashir more than two years ago.

They highlighted the deep political divisions among factions leading Sudan's fragile transitional since Bashir's ouster.

"We came as part of a delegation to rectify the course of the revolution," said Ismail Mohamed Awad, one of the demonstrators.

"We are demanding a competent, non-partisan government," added the 35-year-old.

Another protester, Hisham Awad Al Nimr, said he would not leave the sit-in until the leader of Sudan's ruling body, Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, "dissolves the government".

Sudan has been led by a civilian-majority ruling council, chaired by Burhan, since an August 2019 power-sharing deal.

Support for the government of UN-economist-turned Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has waned in large part over a tough raft of economic reforms.

The mainstream FFC faction supporting Hamdok’s government has called for mass protests on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the splinter faction of the FFC urged its supporters to hold their ground and to also gather in large numbers on the same day.

On Tuesday, the official news agency SUNA reported that Burhan expressed commitment to the transition to civilian rule in a meeting with the British ambassador to Sudan.