Police in Sudan’s capital Khartoum used tear gas on Thursday to disperse demonstrators marking an uprising 38 years ago against dictator Jaafar Al Nimeiri amid uncertainty over the signing of a long-awaited deal to restore the country’s democratic transition derailed by a 2021 military coup.
Witnesses said the demonstrators were in the low hundreds but their number was likely to rise later in the evening. The clashes happened near the centre of Khartoum, home to the Nile-side Republican palace and the headquarters of the armed forces.
There were no reports immediately available on whether there were casualties.
The deal between the military and pro-democracy groups would install a civilian-led government, remove the military from politics and reform the armed forces, police and security forces. The signing was scheduled for April 1 but postponed to April 6 before being delayed once again.
The main pro-democracy group negotiating with the military said on Thursday that the only outstanding issue was how to go about reforming the military and security agencies.
“The negotiations have made progress on several issues but only one issue remains unresolved,” the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) said.
That was a thinly veiled reference to what many in Sudan believe to be a deadlock over the integration of the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary into the armed forces.
RSF commander Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is believed to be reluctant to sacrifice the autonomy of his force, which has its roots in the Janjaweed militia that fought on the side of the government against rebels in Darfur in the 2000s.
The RSF has since morphed into a major force, boasting 100,000, well-armed and combat seasoned men, independently procuring its arms abroad and hiring foreign military advisers. It has vast economic interests, including gold mining.
Sudan’s military ruler, army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, insists that he will not sign off on any deal that does not clearly spell out a timeline for the integration of the RSF.
A military source familiar with the negotiations said RSF representatives wanted the paramilitary to be under the command of the civilian prime minister, who will take charge of the 24-month transitional period before elections are held. The military, according to the source, wanted it to be under the direct command of the army chief.
The technical committee looking into the issue will hold its next meeting on Sunday, said the source.
Generals Al Burhan and Dagalo led the October 2021 coup, but Gen Dagalo later said the power grab did not realise its declared aims and served as a gateway for supporters of former dictator Omar Al Bahsir to make a political comeback.
The FFC and other pro-democracy groups called for Thursday's demonstrations to mark the 1985 uprising against Al Nimeiri, which paved the way for the military to seize power and hand it over to an elected government a year later.
Al Nimeiri seized power in a 1969 military coup that toppled a democratically elected government. Al Bashir, also a career soldier, seized power in a coup 20 years later.
The FFC urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and demanded that security forces protect participants, apparently against possible attacks by Al Bashir loyalists.
The Khartoum branch of the Resistance Committees also called for demonstrations later on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear how big Thursday's demonstrations would be, but civilians have in recent months shown little appetite for street protests, possibly out of fatigue or fear of violence by security forces.
Security forces have killed more than 120 people and injured 6,000 during protests held since the 2021 coup, according to UN figures.
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Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
