Sudanese Protesters Take to Streets to Demand Civilian Rule

An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
TT
20

Sudanese Protesters Take to Streets to Demand Civilian Rule

An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP

Flashing victory signs, honking car horns and burning tires, masses of Sudanese protesters fearing a return to military rule took to the streets nationwide to make their point.

"We will not go back to dictatorship," said 21-year-old Solafa Mohammed covered in the Sudanese flag during a protest in the capital, Khartoum.

"We went out to say that we are alert and protecting our revolution."

Mohammed was among tens of thousands of protesters who rallied on Thursday in support of Sudan's transition to civilian rule.

They came to counter a pro-military protest camped outside the presidential palace in central Khartoum since Saturday.

The pro-civilian rule demonstrations occurred across the country from Port Sudan in the east to the Darfur region in the west.

They were reminiscent of the late 2018-2019 protests that erupted against the three-decade rule of then-president Omar al-Bashir, who was deposed in April 2019, according to AFP.

Many were dancing, singing, and chanting against senior military figures who have shared power with civilians since August 2019.

On a dusty red lot in Khartoum, they flew Sudanese flags, some of them so big they provided shelter from the sun for protesters underneath. Others carried giant green, yellow and blue flags, several metres long, from pre-Bashir Sudan.

"We will not give up our demand of a civilian state," said protester Amir Shazly.

The demonstrations were organized by the mainstream faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change, an umbrella civilian alliance which spearheaded the anti-Bashir protests more than two years ago.

They coincided with the anniversary of the Sudanese uprising against military rule by president Ibrahim Abboud in 1964.

The transfer to civilian rule is "not even a demand but its what the military itself agreed to do," said another protester, Ahmed al-Tayeb.

Sudan has been led by a civilian-military administration since a power-sharing deal in August 2019 that outlined the transition and the eventual transfer of power to civilians.

Under the transition, the country's political scene has been marred by deepening divisions between civilians and the military, and factional infighting among themselves.

Critics have alleged that the pro-military sit-in, organised by a splinter faction of the FFC, was backed by members of the military and counter-revolutionary sympathizers with the former regime.

Demonstrators at the sit-in have been calling for "military rule" and the dissolution of the transitional government headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Support for Hamdok's government has waned in recent months especially following tough IMF-backed economic reforms that took a toll on ordinary Sudanese.

Sudan's deepening economic crisis is marked by triple-digit inflation and severe shortages exacerbated by anti-government protesters who have blockade Sudan's main sea port.

"This government has not offered the Sudanese people anything for two years," said Hamada Abdelrahman, a protester outside the presidential palace in Khartoum.

Still, rival protesters remained adamant on the transfer of power to civilians.

"We are now sending a message that the streets belong to the revolutionaries," said protester Mujahed Mohammed in Khartoum.

"Its the people who get to decide."



Iran Seeks to Turn ‘New Page’ in Ties with Lebanon

 In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
TT
20

Iran Seeks to Turn ‘New Page’ in Ties with Lebanon

 In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese officials on Tuesday that Iran wanted to turn a "new page" in relations with Beirut, hinting at a shift in diplomatic ties that were long grounded in supporting Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was once a powerful armed movement and political party with sway over Lebanon's state, but it was severely weakened by Israel's bombing campaign last year. Since then, Lebanon's army commander was elected president and a new cabinet with curtailed influence for Hezbollah and its allies took power.

Araqchi's one-day trip to Beirut on Tuesday was his first since February, when he attended the funeral of Hezbollah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, killed in Israeli air strikes in September.

Araqchi told both Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi that he wanted to "turn a new page" in Iran's ties with Lebanon, according to statements by Salam and Raggi's offices.

"Araqchi affirmed his country's keenness to open a new page in bilateral relations with Lebanon, based on mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs," Salam's office said. Araqchi also extended a formal invitation for Salam to visit Iran.

The statement from Raggi's office said the pair had a "frank and direct discussion," including on establishing the state's monopoly on the use of arms - an apparent reference to possible negotiations on the future of Hezbollah's arsenal.

The top Iranian diplomat briefly addressed reporters on Tuesday after meeting with Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is a key Hezbollah ally. Unlike previous addresses by Iranian diplomats, his comments did not mention Hezbollah.

The visit followed several turbulent episodes in ties between the two countries.

Lebanon's foreign ministry summoned Iran's ambassador to Beirut in April over comments alleging that plans to disarm Hezbollah were a "conspiracy".

Last year, then-Prime Minister Najib Mikati also issued a rare rebuke of Iran for "interfering" in internal Lebanese affairs.

In February, Iran blocked Lebanese planes from repatriating dozens of Lebanese nationals stranded in Tehran after Lebanon said it would not allow Iranian aircraft to land in Beirut because of Israel's threats that it would bomb the planes.