Credit: twitterpmethiopa /  Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) meets Chief of the Sudanese Transitional Military Council, Lt. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Sudan capital city Khartoum June 7, 2019. 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Sudanese security forces have reportedly gone on a rampage in Sudan capital city Khartoum subjecting civilians to violence in an effort to control protests. Sudan’s capital has been on lock down since last week as paramilitary groups dismantle the many sit-in protest sites that have sprouted as Sudanese people call for an end to the military-led government. More than 100 people have been reported killed in violence. The violence last Monday began when security forces fired on pro-democracy protesters in Khartoum, Deadly violence grips Sudan’s capital in the aftermath of the army overthrowing the authoritarian government of Sudan President Omar Hassan  al-Bashir in April.  Last week,  the African Union  suspended Sudan’s membership “with immediate effect”.  Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed traveled to Sudan Friday and met the country’s ruling generals and protest leaders to urge a rapid transition to civilian rule. No breakthroughs were reported as of the weekend. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, together with his delegation, arrived in Khartoum, Sudan this morning for talks with the Chief of the Sudanese Transitional Military Council, Lt. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.#PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/HaUPXMGv67

— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) June 7, 2019

“The army, the people and political forces have to act with courage and responsibility by taking quick steps towards a democratic and consensual transitional period,” Abiy said in a signed statement issued to reporters after he held separate meetings with the generals and protest leaders.

Sudan’s rebels seek to meet Ethiopia’s PM, threaten to  hold separate talks, the Sudan Tribune reported.

Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) said they would seek to meet the Ethiopian prime minister to discuss peace issues and hinted that it would enter into separate negotiations with the transitional military junta in Sudan if the opposition coalition fails to agree on a leadership body, according to the Sudan Tribune.   Protest leaders in Sudan called for a new campaign of civil disobedience after some of them were detained by security forces.

Accountability in Sudan ‘crucial’ to avoid ‘further bloodshed’: UN rights office

The week-long crackdown by the military authorities in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, with dozens reported killed, has prompted a “gravely concerned” UN human rights office (OHCHR) to propose the “rapid deployment” of a monitoring team to look into allegations of serious rights violations. Spokesperson Rupert Colville told journalists in Geneva on Friday that the UN was seeking the military Government’s cooperation to deploy the mission, which would seek, at the earliest opportunity, “to engage with relevant Sudanese authorities, civil society organizations and others”. After the three-decade autocratic rule of President al-Bashir ended in a military takeover in April, talks faltered in May between protesters and the ruling Transitional Military Council over a timetable for civilian rule.