By BASSAM HATOUM and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — At least 40 bodies of people slain by Sudanese security forces were pulled from the Nile River in the capital of Khartoum, organizers of pro-democracy demonstrations said Wednesday, and new clashes brought the death toll in three days of the ruling military’s crackdown to 100.

Word about the retrieval of the bodies came as Sudan’s ruling general called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they promptly rejected. They said the generals cannot be serious about talks while troops keep killing protesters.

A spokesman for the protesters said they instead would continue their demonstrations and strikes to pressure the military to hand over power to a civilian authority.

The reported discovery of the bodies in the Nile suggested that Monday’s violent dispersal of the protest movement’s main sit-in camp, outside the military’s headquarters, was even bloodier than initially believed. The attack on the camp was led by a notorious paramilitary unit called the Rapid Support Forces, along with other troops who waded into the camp, opening fire and beating protesters.

During the mayhem, the protesters’ Doctors Committee said witnesses reported seeing bodies loaded into military vehicles to be dumped into the river. The camp was not far from the Blue Nile, just upstream from where it joins the White Nile and then flows north through Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean.

The committee said in a statement that a day earlier, the RSF was seen pulling 40 bodies from the river and taking them away. It said it was not known where they were taken.

One activist, Amal al-Zein, said the number could be even higher. She said activists and private citizens had pulled dozens more bodies from the Nile in areas near the sit-in and took them to a hospital morgue.

“Some bodies have wounds from bullets, others seemed to have beaten and thrown in the Nile,” she said.

On Monday, the Doctors Committee put the death toll from the crackdown at 40. Another 10 were reported killed in clashes Tuesday in Khartoum and Omdurman, the capital’s twin city across the Nile, and farther south in the White Nile state.

At least 10 more were killed in clashes Wednesday, the Doctors Committee said, with at least 326 people wounded over the past two days. The committee said it feared the final death toll would be much higher.

Protests continued in Omdurman and Khartoum’s central Bahri and Buri district, where clashes erupted with the RSF, activists said.

“In Buri, there were lots of shootings and tear gas,” said Hashim al-Sudani, an activist. “They tried to force people into narrow streets” to beat them.

The crackdown has turned a tense but relatively peaceful standoff between the military and the protest movement over the country’s future into a bloody confrontation that threatens to escalate.

Months of protests succeeded in forcing the ouster in April of strongman Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled Sudan for 30 years as head of a repressive state backed by the military and Islamists. When the generals took power after his fall, the protesters stayed in the streets, saying they wanted an end to military rule as well.

For weeks, the military and protest leaders negotiated over the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country for three years before elections. Protesters demand that civilians dominate the council, but the generals resisted.

After Monday’s crackdown, protest leaders suspended negotiations. The head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, then canceled any agreed-upon points from the talks and said the military would form a government to hold elections within seven to nine months.

On Wednesday, however, Burhan abruptly announced that the generals were prepared to resume negotiations with “no restrictions.”

“We open our hands to negotiations with all parties … for the interest of the nation,” Burhan said, adding that those responsible for the attack on the sit-in camp would be held accountable.

The reasons for his about-face were not immediately clear. But the offer could cause divisions within the protest movement, where some factions may be open to returning to the table.

The military council’s deputy head, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — who also leads the RSF, the force protesters blame for the bulk of killings — said in televised comments that a “fair and independent” investigation had been launched into the violent breakup of the Khartoum sit-in and other clashes.

Dagalo, better known by his nickname Hemedti, promised “fast results” and said anyone who “crossed boundaries” will be punished.

The RSF grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by the government to suppress the Darfur insurgency in the 2000s, a campaign that prompted charges of genocide against its perpetrators. Human rights groups said that under Dagalo in more recent years, the RSF carried out rapes, torture and killings of Darfur civilians.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded the demonstrations and since Monday has called for the ouster of the military council, said protesters “totally reject” Burhan’s offer.

“This call is not serious,” SPA spokesman Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa told The Associated Press. “Burhan and those under him have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it. Their vehicles patrol the streets, firing at people.”

“We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience,” he said.

But the head of Sudan’s leading opposition political party, the Umma Party, seemed to suggest the movement needed to discuss its position. Sadeq al-Mahdi urged all factions in the protest movement to meet urgently to work out “how to bring the transfer of power” to a civilian council.

He did not urge a return to negotiations but criticized some in the movement for “unjustified escalation” — an apparent reference to strikes called by the SPA in previous weeks — and said he had expected the military to escalate as well. He said the military council had played a “critical role in the revolution” by ousting al-Bashir and now must admit responsibility for Monday’s attack and hold those behind it accountable.

Al-Mahdi headed the last elected government in Sudan, preceding al-Bashir. His Umma Party is one of a number of long-established opposition parties that joined the protest movement, bringing their organized rank-and-file into the streets. Some protesters view them with suspicion, considering them an old guard not ready to bring dramatic change.

Leading activist Madani Abbas Madani said protesters would continue an open-ended civil disobedience campaign until the overthrow of the ruling military council.

“What happened on Monday was a systematic and planned attempt to impose repression on the Sudanese people,” he said.

 ___

 Magdy reported from Cairo. </s> Medics recover dozens of bodies from the Nile in Sudan

Medics recover dozens of bodies from the Nile in Sudan

Security forces violently dispersed a weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on Monday

Medics say they have recovered dozens of bodies from the river Nile, bringing the total death toll in recent unrest to more than a hundred.

The Sudan Doctors' Committee, a group aligned with opposition, said at least 40 bodies had been pulled from the river in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, and had been taken to an unknown location.

This follows from a day of violence on Monday, when Sudanese security forces opened fire on protesters taking part in a weeks-long sit-in outside the city's military headquarters.

Opposition medics initially estimated that 13 people had been killed, but this figure rose rapidly, eventually passing a hundred by Wednesday.

Activist Amal al-Zein said she believed the death toll could be higher as dozens more bodies had been recovered from various places along the river.

She said: "Some bodies have wounds from bullets, others seemed to have beaten and thrown in the Nile".

No official death toll figures have so far been released.

The sit-in, which began on 6 April, successfully saw the toppling of former president Omar al-Bashir amid a military coup.

But the pro-democracy protests continued as participants demanded the military agree to hand over power to a civilian-led government.

Talks between civilian representatives and the military began in May, eventually reaching an agreement on a transitional period that would last three years.

But the ruling military council suspended talks and cancelled all agreements after the violent intervention in the pro-democracy sit-in earlier this week.

The deputy head of the military council, General Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, said in a televised statement on Wednesday that a "fair and independent" investigation into the sit-in violence had been opened.

He vowed that anyone found to have "crossed boundaries" would be punished.

The council also called for talks to resume, but this was swiftly rejected by the opposition, which said the transition process had been thrown into "jeopardy".

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesperson for the opposition Sudanese Professional Association, said the call to resume talks was "not serious", and that the military "have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it".

He added: "Their vehicles patrol the streets firing at people."

"We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience." </s> A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country’s military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

“We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law,” said Mohammed Hamadan – also known as Hemeti – on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city’s nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.

Reports continue to come in of these militia going into neighbourhoods and killing people. Their leader claims it is impostors behind the violence. </s> A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country's military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

"We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law," said Mohammed Hamadan - also known as Hemedti - on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city's nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003. </s> Organizers of the pro-democracy say the death toll across the country since the violent dispersal of their sit-in in earlier this week has increased to 60.

The Doctors' Committee says security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of

That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the state, three in and two in Khartoum's Bahri neighborhood.

The doctors' committee is the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading protests against army rule.

On Monday, security forces broke up the protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum, posing a new challenge to the protest movement. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption A Sudanese protester stands on a barricade in Khartoum on Wednesday

A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country's military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

"We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law," said Mohammed Hamadan - also known as Hemeti - on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city's nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Security forces, seen here on Monday, moved against protesters after a long stand-off

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.

Reports continue to come in of these militia going into neighbourhoods and killing people. Their leader claims it is impostors behind the violence.

Doctors afraid of going to work

By Catherine Byaruhanga, BBC News, Khartoum

People are still coming to terms with the violence of the last few days.

At the former sit-in area - there are torn and charred posters as well as burnt-out tents.

The fear is that more of the dead could still be there.

Security forces seem to outnumber civilians on the streets of the capital.

Reports continue to come in of their brutal crackdown.

At Ibrahim Maleek Teaching Hospital - the doctors and nurses have not come to work because they're afraid of being targeted. Instead, it's the medical students who are treating patients.

Like 33-year-old Mohanned Mirghani - he says he was shot at close range by the Rapid Support Forces. "They shot me from close range; the RSF were the distance that you are from me now. Two of my friends were also shot but I don't know what happened to them."

It's hard to get a proper sense of what's happened. One big hindrance is the fact that the military rulers have cut off the internet.

What was the lead-up to the latest violence?

Sudan has been controlled by a military council since pro-democracy protests led to the ousting of veteran President Omar al-Bashir in April, after 30 years of authoritarian rule.

Demonstrators had been occupying the square in front of the military headquarters, while their representatives had negotiated with the military council and agreed a three-year transition that would culminate in elections.

But on Monday, security forces swept in and opened fire on unarmed protesters in the square. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the military council, announced that the agreement was cancelled and an election would take place within nine months.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sudan military attacks protesters

On Wednesday, however, after Saudi Arabia publicly called for a resumption of talks, Gen Burhan reversed course and said the military council would "open our arms to negotiate with no restriction".

The offer was rejected by the opposition. "The Sudanese people are not open for talks," said Amjad Farid, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) which spearheaded the protests against Mr Bashir.

"The Sudanese people are not open to this TMC (Transitional Military Council) that kills people and we need justice and accountability before talks about any political process," Mr Farid told the AFP news agency.

What have residents been saying?

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors - one of the groups behind the protests - said on Wednesday that 40 bodies had been recovered from the River Nile.

An official from the group told the BBC that they had witnessed and verified the bodies in hospitals and that the death toll now stood at at least 100.

A former security officer quoted by Yousra Elbagir, a journalist with the UK's Channel 4, said that some of those thrown into the Nile had been beaten or shot to death and others hacked to death with machetes.

"It was a massacre," the unnamed source said.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many Khartoum streets are deserted

Much of Khartoum has been under lockdown in the wake of the killings. Witnesses told the BBC that protesters had retreated to residential areas, where they were building barricades and burning tyres.

"We have reached the point where we can't even step out of our homes because we are scared to be beaten or to be shot by the security forces," one Khartoum resident said, asking not to be named.

Another resident told the BBC he had been pulled from his car by members of the RSF and beaten on his head and back.

A pharmacist who spoke to the BBC from Khartoum said RSF troops were shutting down hospitals to prevent civilians receiving treatment.

"They kicked us out from two hospitals that were giving aid to the injured and the victims of the gunshots," he said. "It's an order from the military council to shut down those hospitals because we were giving aid for the citizens."

A woman, identified only as Sulaima, told the BBC that troops from the Rapid Support Forces were "all over Khartoum".

"They're surrounding neighbourhoods, they're threatening people. They're also using live ammunition. They're everywhere. We're not feeling safe and we don't have trust in the security forces. It's complete chaos."

Large numbers of heavily armed troops were also reported on the streets of Omdurman, Sudan's second-largest city, just across the River Nile from Khartoum.

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so, please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: </s> (AP) — Organizers of the pro-democracy protests in Sudan say the death toll across the country since the violent dispersal of their sit-in in Khartoum earlier this week has increased to 60.

The Sudan Doctors’ Committee says security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman.

That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum’s Bahri neighborhood.

The doctors’ committee is the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading protests against army rule.

On Monday, security forces broke up the protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum, posing a new challenge to the protest movement. </s> (Bloomberg) -- The death toll from a week of demonstrations against rising inflation and food shortages in Sudan rose to more than 37 people, Sudanese doctors said.

“The number is higher than 37 as new protesters have been killed,” the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a statement.

Amnesty International said Dec. 24 it had credible reports that 37 protesters had been shot dead by security forces in the first five days of anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the north African nation. Police used live bullets and tear gas Tuesday to break up a rally in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, demanding that President Umar al-Bashir step down after almost 30 years in power.

The doctors group said it was tallying the number of people killed in the protests. Last week, the government said at least eight people had been killed and hasn’t made any further comment on the death toll.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Nairobi at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Eric Ombok, Shaji Mathew </s> Bassam Hatoum And Noha Elhennawy, The Associated Press 

 



KHARTOUM, - 's pro-democracy movement vowed Thursday to press its campaign of civil disobedience until the ruling military council is ousted and killers of protesters are brought to justice, as security forces fanned out across the capital and appeared to thwart any new demonstrations.

The African Union, meanwhile, suspended from all activities “with immediate effect” over the deadly military crackdown on protesters that left 108 dead this week. It threatened “punitive sanctions” if the military does not quickly hand over power to civilians.

The crackdown marked the start of a violent new chapter in the uprising that began in December and led to the military overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April. The protesters had remained in the streets while holding talks with the military to demand a handover of power to civilians. Those negotiations were suspended after the violent dispersal of the main sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, on Monday.

The Doctors' Central Committee, one of the protest groups, said Wednesday that troops were seen pulling 40 bodies of people slain by the security forces from the Nile River in Khartoum and taking them away.

It said Thursday that more bodies had been pulled from the river, without giving an exact number. The committee said it was not known where the bodies were taken. It also said more than 500 protesters have been wounded in the crackdown, and that three children were among those killed.

's military-controlled Health Ministry disputed the death toll, with the ministry's undersecretary, Soliman Abdel Gabbar, saying only 61 people died in this week's violence. He said those include 52 killed in Khartoum, and that only two corpses were pulled from the Nile.

Clashes have erupted in other parts of the country as well. The ese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests since December, said security forces have attacked demonstrators in more than a dozen cities and towns, in some cases beating, killing and raping civilians. The SPA did not provide further information about the attacks.

The group urged people to block main roads and bridges to “paralyze public life” across the country.

“Our success depends on our full adherence to peaceful protests, no matter how hard the criminal militias seek to drag us into violence,” the association said Thursday.

Hundreds of armoured vehicles of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces could be seen across the capital. The paramilitary force grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by al-Bashir's government to suppress the Darfur insurgency in the early 2000s, a scorched-earth campaign that led to his indictment by the International Criminal Court on charges including genocide.

Barricades erected earlier this week by protesters near the site of the dispersed sit-in were removed and roads were opened. Most stores were closed and few people were seen on the streets.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling military council, has called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they have rejected.

“All members of the military council belong to the old regime, and that is why we are betting now on lower-rank officers,” said Amal al-Zein, an activist and a leader of 's Communist Party, part of the protest movement.

“We are hoping patriotic policemen and military officers will act to protect the ese people,” she said, implying they might overthrow their superiors.

The military and protest leaders had spent weeks negotiating the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country until elections. The protesters demanded civilians dominate the council, which the generals resisted.

After the crackdown, the military suspended the talks and cancelled all agreed-on points. It said it would form a government and hold elections within seven to nine months.

From Ethiopia, the African Union's Peace and Security Council said 's suspension will remain in effect until “the effective establishment” of a civilian-led transitional authority, calling it the only way of exiting the crisis.

The council said it would impose “punitive sanctions” if 's ruling military council does not hand over power to civilians, and called for “the immediate resumption of negotiations, without pre-conditions, between all ese stakeholders.”

The council is in charge of enforcing union decisions, somewhat similar to the U.N. Security Council.

The suspension deprives 's ruling military council of international legitimacy, according to Amani Africa, an independent think-tank based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The United Nations, European Union and other bodies are expected to take their cues from the AU's action.

In practical terms, now cannot participate in any AU meeting and any AU financial or other support will cease, the think-tank said, though 's peacekeeping obligations are expected to continue.

The AU has suspended countries in the past over what were considered unconstitutional changes of government, including Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Niger. In certain cases, a suspension can last for years. No other country of the 55-member continental body is currently suspended.

The AU could take further steps, imposing sanctions and calling on the U.N. to do the same, the think-tank said.

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, earlier this week strongly condemned the violence in and urged the military “to protect the civilians from further harm.”

In Moscow, a top diplomat said Russia, which has largely stayed on the sidelines of the crisis in , opposes “any foreign intervention” and believes a compromise is needed.

Mikhail Bogdanov, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East desk, told local news agencies that Russian diplomats are in touch with all political players in , including the opposition. Bogdanov visited Khartoum earlier this year.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors say the number of people killed this week in Sudan is at least 100, and that 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile at Khartoum on Tuesday. Members of the Rapid Support Forces have reportedly been roaming the streets attacking civilians as it pushes deeper into Khartoum.