Hundreds of professors and academics from the University of Khartoum on Wednesday protested on campus and presented an initiative in which they proposed a transitional period.
The protest was the second that University of Khartoum professors have held since the outbreak of demonstrations in the country about a month and a half ago.
In this regard, Professor Mohammed Yousef Ahmed al-Mustapha, a member of the "Khartoum University Professors' Initiative", said the dean of the university rejected the initiative, describing it as biased.
More than 300 professors and lecturers from the university held a sit-in inside the campus, said witnesses, while 531 university staff members signed the "Professors' Initiative," listing a series of demands, including a transitional government be formed in Sudan.
In related news, security forces announced the release of the daughter of Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, Mariam, hours after her detention.
Two security vehicles arrived at Mariam’s home in Khartoum in the morning and took her away for questioning, a day after Sudan’s security chief ordered the release of dozens of detained protesters.
Mahdi said the arrest is an attempt to intimidate her and her children, asserting that this will not stop the protests.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) announced the program of protests and demonstrations that will take place in various cities of Sudan Thursday, including Khartoum and Omdurman, saying protesters will march towards the presidential palace.
On the other hand, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) renewed in a statement its support to President Omar al-Bashir saying it is ready to face those destabilizing the country, and stressing that it will not allow the Sudanese state to collapse or fall into chaos.
This came during a meeting between Sudan’s Defense Minister, Awad Ibn Ouf, and SAF’s Chief of General Staff Kamal Abdel-Marouf who briefed army officers in the ranks of Brigadier General and Colonel on the situation in the country.
The Defense Minister said that some parties have sought to provoke the Army in order to drag it into “illogical action that doesn’t fall in conformity with its history.”
Ibn Ouf added that the army would neither compromise the security of the country nor its leadership.
The Chief of General Staff stressed the SAF wouldn’t allow the country to collapse, saying those leading the protests are the same persons who remained hostile to Sudan and sought to distort its world image.
Ibn Ouf vowed to resort to the law and prosecute those who aim to tarnish the efforts of the SAF, saying the army wouldn’t hand over the country to the leaders of the rebellion or agents of the suspicious foreign organizations.
A wave of protests have shaken cities across Sudan since December 19, where demonstrators call for improving living conditions and the economic situation in the country. Protesters have also called for an end to Bashir’s three-decade rule.
