Download a pdf version of this update here >> [Sudan Update – Jan 2022]

Massive demonstrations have continued in Sudan throughout December and early January, with tens of thousands taking to the streets despite increasing repression. The main organisations mobilising and leading the protest movement are the neighbourhoodbased Resistance Committees. The Resistance Committees in Khartoum attempted to establish a sit-in at the Republic Palace on 20 December, but were
prevented by the security forces which used live ammunition. The Forces of Freedom and Change
(FFC), a coalition of opposition organisations, called for an international investigation into the accounts of
protestors being raped by the security forces at this attempted sit-in. The UN Human Rights Office subsequently confirmed it has received 13 allegations of ‘rape and gang rape’ by the security forces
at this event.

On 2 January Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, having been unable to form a government. His resignation leaves the military junta which seized power on 25 October without civilian support.
Leaders of the FFC expressed their regret at Hamdok’s resignation. The Resistance Committees were indifferent, considering Hamdok to have sided with the military by signing the political declaration
of 21 November and negotiating his return to office after house arrest.
General Burhan has now granted the General Intelligence Service (GIS) powers of arrest under the State of Emergency that he introduced following his coup on25 October; the GIS subsequently began a
targeted campaign of arrests against the Resistance Committees.

At least 71 protesters have been killed by the security forces since Burhan’s 25 October coup, following the death of Maasoum Hashem at the March of the Millions on Sunday 9 January and the killing of 7 demonstrators in Khartoum on 17 January.

Following Hamdok’s resignation, the EU and Troika Powers (including the UK government) issued a statement calling for a return to civilian-military power-sharing on the basis of the 2019 Constitutional
Declaration, and proposed an ‘internationally facilitated and Sudanese-led’ dialogue.

However, the demand raised by many protesters in the streets and by most of the Resistance Committees is to reject any negotiations with the military, or their participation in a future government. They are losing confidence in the international powers, including the British government, who are refusing to break links with the military and keep putting pressure on civilian forces to return to negotiations with the coup leaders.

The Sudan Professionals Association has put forward a Charter for Completing the Glorious December
Revolution, with demands that include granting a civilian prime minister supreme authority over the armed forces, placing the military budget under the Finance Ministry, dismantling the Rapid Support Forces and rebel groups and integrating them into the national army, and reducing the powers of the Sovereignty Council.

What you can do:

• Sign the Sudan Solidarity Declaration – endorsed by the 200-strong Sudan Solidarity Emergency conference on 6 December tinyurl.com/sudansolidaritydeclaration
• Send a message of protest to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calling on the British government to reject any participation by the military in Sudan’s future government and to hold the coup leaders accountable for their crimes.
• Pass a resolution in your union branch in solidarity with the Sudanese revolution

Update co-produced with Sudanese Diaspora Roundtable – UK