Sudanese protesters block Nile Street, a major avenue in the capital Khartoum CREDIT: MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/ AFP
At least five Sudanese protesters and an army major were shot dead Monday in Khartoum, the country’s capital, hours after protest leaders and the ruling generals reached a breakthrough agreement on transitional authorities to run the country.
The developments came as the prosecutor general’s office said ousted president Omar al-Bashir had been charged over the killings of protesters during anti-regime demonstrations that led to the end of his rule last month.
The major and a protester were killed at a sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum where thousands of protesters remain camped for weeks, demanding that the army generals who took power after ousting Bashir step down.
Three soldiers and several demostrators and civilians were also wounded when “unidentified elements” fired shots at the Khartoum sit-in, the ruling military council said, It was gathered from Telegraph news.
A doctors' committee linked to the protest movement later said four more protesters had been shot dead, but did not specify if they were actually killed at the sit-in.
The military council said in a late night press conference that it had “noticed some armed infiltrators among the protesters”.
The umbrella protest movement the Alliance for Freedom and Change said Monday's violence was to “disturb the breakthrough in the negotiations” with army generals as it blamed the bloodshed on the former regime's militias.
Recalled on Monday, the generals and the protest movement said a breakthrough had been reached in their talks over handing of power to a civilian administration.
“At today's meeting we agreed on the structure of the authorities and their powers,” Taha Osman, a spokesman for the protest movement, told AFP.
“The authorities are as follows - the sovereign council, the cabinet and the legislative body,” he added.
He further noted that another meeting would be held on Tuesday “to discuss the period of transition and the composition of the authorities”.