(KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government announced the arrest of the soldiers who opened fire on the demonstrators who took part in a peaceful rally on Tuesday.
The Sudanese Council of Ministers held an emergency meeting to discuss the murder of two demonstrators and the injury of other dozens during a peaceful commemoration of over 200 people killed outside the army headquarters in June 2019.
“The Minister of Defence confirmed that the armed forces have arrested all the army personnel accused of shooting at the peaceful demonstrators before to hand over the perpetrators of the crime to be brought to justice within a few days,” said the cabinet in a statement released after the meeting.
The use of fire against the demonstrators has been condemned by the political forces and western diplomats in Khartoum particularly the United States embassy and the European Union delegation in Sudan.
Also, the head of the UN political mission in Sudan UNITAMS condemned the attack against protesters and urged the Attorney General to “swiftly investigate” the violence to ensure that right to “peaceful protest must be protected”.
The extraordinary meeting further decided to summon the independent national committee tasked with the investigation of the bloody attacks that took place on 3 June 2019 at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers to “hold it accountable for its work and ask it to set a ceiling to end the investigation and present its findings”.
The head of the independent committee Nabil Adeeb, a lawyer known for his integrity, has come under fire from the martyr families and activists for taking more than a year without concluding the investigation.
Recently he stated that he needs to verify video footage released on social media or aired by some ban Arab TV channels.
He added he asked the prime minister to expand his mandate but is still waiting for an answer.
The rally to commemorate the deadly violence against protesters in 2019 by the elements of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the former National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) has shown Sudanese anger against the Hamdok government for its failure to achieve justice for the victims of the attacks.
Also, some political groups called to form a new committee.
Source: Sudan Tribune