UN Concerned About Excessive Force Against Protesters In Sudan Amid 7 Killed - Spokesman

The United Nations expresses its "immense concern" over the use of excessive force during the protests in Sudan over the last weekend when at least seven civilians were killed, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a press briefing on Monday

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2021) The United Nations expresses its "immense concern" over the use of excessive force during the protests in Sudan over the last weekend when at least seven civilians were killed, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a press briefing on Monday.

"Our immense concern is about the use of force against peaceful demonstrators over the weekend. We're aware that that demonstrators were met with excessive force over the weekend, and we've seen reports of at least seven Sudanese citizens having died," Haq said. "We want to make sure that their freedom of expression, which was one of the slogans of the Sudanese revolution, should always be maintained and protected."

Haq also said that UN Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan Volker Perthes has been engaging with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the Sudanese armed forces commander-in-chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on the situation in the country.

Sudan has been under the state emergency since October 25, when the Sudanese military detained Hamdok and several other cabinet ministers and dissolved the government. These developments prompted hundreds of residents to take to the streets to protest.

Al-Burhan said in an interview with Sputnik that the government had to be dissolved as the transition period in Sudan was rife with disagreement and violations. The prime minister had to be removed from his residence due to the threat of an attack on him but had since returned home, al-Burhan said.

The transition period began in 2019, when, after several months of mass protests, longtime leader Omar Bashir was replaced by the Transitional Military Council (TMC). The TMC worked with other political forces to set up new state bodies that would help the country make a transition to be fully civilian-led.