Sudanese security forces - seen here in a June 30, 2022 photo - deploy in Khartoum ahead of the latest planned mass rally against the military coup. By - (AFP/File)
Sudanese police fired tear gas in the capital Khartoum on Saturday to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters demonstrating against coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, AFP correspondents reported.
Security forces set up road blocks on bridges over the Nile River linking Khartoum to its suburbs, AFP reporters said, to discourage protesters who vowed to take to the streets in large numbers.
Protesters oppose Burhan's October seizure of power and also highlight heavy fighting in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state, about 450 kilometers south of Khartoum.
They accuse the military leadership and former rebel leaders, who signed a peace deal until 2020, of exacerbating ethnic tensions there for personal gain.
Sudan's latest coup derailed the transition to civilian rule, sparked nearly a week of protests and a crackdown by security forces that left at least 114 dead, according to pro-democracy health workers.
Nine were killed on June 30, health officials said, as tens of thousands of people rallied and their deaths reinvigorated the movement.
Map of Sudan with capital Khartoum. Author (AFP)
On July 4, Burhan surprisingly promised to clear the way for a civilian government.
But the country's main civilian umbrella group dismissed the move as a "trick". Protesters continued to press the army chief to resign.
Sunday's rally follows a period of relative calm over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ended last week.
Demonstrators in Khartoum held signs warning of recent bloodshed in ethnic clashes in the country's south.
"Al-Damazin is bleeding," read the sign of one Khartoum protester on Sunday, referring to the Blue Nile state capital.
Troops were deployed in the Blue Nile city of Al-Roseires on Sunday after at least 33 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the state, according to the health ministry.
The Blue Nile guerrillas fought former strongman President Omar al-Bashir during Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war and took up arms again in 2011.
Bashir was ousted in 2019. The following year, the transitional administration reached a peace deal with key rebel groups, including from Blue Nile as well as the war-ravaged western region of Darfur.
But the areas remain awash in weapons, and local grievances over land, water and livestock regularly erupt into deadly clashes.
The current violence in Blue Nile is between two local ethnic groups, the Berti and the Hausa.
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