Sudanese military kill schoolchildren

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

The military regime in Sudan has closed all schools in the country indefinitely. With this, the regime responds to large-scale demonstrations by students in protest against the shooting of five people at a demonstration in the city of El Obeid, more than 400 kilometres southwest of the capital Khartoum. Four of them were students.

The protesters protested Monday about the increase in bread and fuel prices in Sudan, when snipers opened fire on the crowd. Dozens of people were injured.

The result was that in Khartoum and other cities hundreds of students, dressed in school uniforms and waving Sudanese flags, took to the streets yesterday. The authorities then closed all schools, from kindergartens to secondary schools, until further notice. In El Obeid the state of emergency has been declared and there is a curfew.

“The authorities are aware that the boiling point has been reached in the streets of Sudan,” says Africa correspondent Koert Lindijer. “It is not the first massacre in recent weeks. People are furious with the military and in particular the Rapid Support Forces militia. They have been made responsible for the massacre in El Obeid and demonstrators are now demanding that it be removed from Khartoum. With the schools closed, the authorities hope to get rid of the protest.”

Unacceptable crime

UNICEF has protested to the regime and calls for an investigation into the events in the city. “No child should be buried in a school uniform”, says a statement from the UN children’s rights organization. The junta’s chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, condemned the shooting. “Shooting peaceful civilians is an unacceptable crime.”

Two weeks ago it was agreed that the generals would share power in Sudan with six civilians. There would be further talk about the political future yesterday, but that consultation was canceled by the opposition.

Even before Monday’s shooting, there was a lot of anger about the conclusions of an investigation into the bloody break up of a massive protest against the junta in Khartoum on 3 June. A camp of protesters was attacked there, according to doctors 127 people died. The soldiers and the public prosecutor claimed it was seventeen dead.

A bit like the Trump administration in the USA covering up the death toll of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Tens of thousands of students and youth took to the streets this week, after Sudan’s armed forces opened fire on a youth rally over bread and fuel shortages in El-Obeid, the regional capital of North Kordofan, Monday. Six people were killed, including four school children, and more than 60 injured. The military junta has now closed down all the nation’s schools: here.