Sudan's government says 46 killed in crackdown

The Sudanese government said on Thursday that 46 people were killed in "recent events" that began with an assault on a protest camp earlier this week in the capital Khartoum, while the opposition Committee of Doctors said at least 108 people had died.

In what was the first official death toll since a military crackdown on a camp that had been set up for two months, the Sudanese Undersecretary for the Health Ministry, Suleiman Abdul Jabbar, said in a statement that the toll had not reached 100, Efe news reported.

In the early hours of Monday, Sudanese security forces raided an encampment that had been set up in front of the Army headquarters since April 6 and began firing to clear the area.

The Army cracked down on the demonstrators and destroyed the encampment, the nerve centre of the protest that led to the overthrowing of long-running President Omar al-Bashir on April 11.

In its latest toll, released late on Wednesday, the Committee of Doctors said 108 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the crackdown and warned the number of victims could increase.

According to the Committee, there was a hospital registry of 64 deaths and over 40 bodies had been recovered from the waters of the Nile.

Abdelfatah Burhan, the President of the military junta that has been running the country since Bashir was ousted, again called for dialogue with the opposition on Wednesday.

His appeal came after he announced the suspension of all agreements reached in recent weeks with the opposition in a bid to form a transitional government.

The head of the board said there would be elections in nine months, something that was rejected by the opposition that considers a civil transition government of at least three years necessary.

--IANS

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