At least 246 people have been killed and 1,353 others injured since the outbreak of the anti-government protests in mid-December, according to the Sudan Doctors Central Committee.

At a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday, the Doctors Committee reported that security forces were responsible for 43 deaths from the beginning of the uprising in mid-December 2018. 83 per cent of the victims were killed after April 11, the date President Omar Al Bashir was ousted in a military coup.

April and May saw 60 people killed across the country as protests pressuring the military to hand over power continued, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia, ramped-up attempts to disperse the sit-in in front of the army command in Khartoum.

The violent dismantling of the sit-in in front of the army command in Khartoum on June 3, also known as the 29 Ramadan massacre, caused the death of 127 people. About 700 protesters and others present at the sit-in that day were injured.

Between June 3 and July 18, 16 people were killed during commemoration rallies and anti-junta protests.

Strike

The doctors announced the lifting of their strike concerning non-emergency cases in hospitals and clinics all over the country, a strike that has lasted more than 200 days.

On December 24, Sudanese doctors all over the country downed tools, in compliance with the directives of the Sudanese Professionals Association.

The head of the Doctors Committee, Mohamed Yasin, noted at the press conference that the strike caused a loss of income for the government of more than SDG 200m ($4,5m*) as “treatment fees did not flow into the treasury of the state anymore”.

He said they are ready to strike again if the Sudanese Professionals Association asks them to.

* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily US dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

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