90 Sudanese protesters killed since December: Doctors

KHARTOUM (AA) – At least 90 Sudanese demonstrators have been killed since anti-regime protests erupted countrywide last December, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a report released Monday.</p> <p>“The most recent casualty was Saad Mohamed Ahmed, who was killed by a bullet to the abdomen,” the report asserts.</p> <p>Ahmed was reportedly killed Saturday when security forces used live ammunition to break up a demonstration in the southwestern city of Nyala.</p> <p>In its report, the doctors’ committee provides the names of the 90 slain protesters, along with information on the circumstances of their death.</p> <p>It also urges members of the public to provide any additional information they might have regarding the death of demonstrators.</p> <p>The committee goes on to lament the difficulties involved in documenting victims amid what it describes as a “media blackout” imposed by the Sudanese security forces and “those who still seek to protect the regime”.</p> <p>According to the doctors’ committee, protesters have been killed by gunfire, by torture and by inhaling excessive teargas. Some, it said, had been run over by vehicles during recent demonstrations.</p> <p>On April 11, the Sudanese army announced the “removal” of President Omar al-Bashir following months of popular protests against his 30-year rule.</p> <p>A Military Transitional Council (MTC) is now overseeing a two-year “transitional phase” during which it has pledged to hold free presidential elections.</p> <p>Demonstrators, however, have remained in the streets to demand that the MTC hand over power — at the earliest possible date — to a civilian authority.