Nine soldiers detained following El-Obied killings

Sudanese students protest in the capital Khartoum on July 30, 2019, a day after teenagers were shot at a rally against shortages of bread and fuel in the town of al-Obeid, about 420 kilometres southwest of the capital. [AFP]

Sudan’s military council spokesman said on Friday that nine soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were dismissed and detained in connection with recent violence in the cities of Omdurman and El-Obeid.

Spokesman Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi added that the governor of North Kordofan state and its security council will be held accountable for the killings that took place in the state’s capital city of El-Obeid on Monday.

The head of Sudan’s ruling military council on Tuesday vowed to hold people to account over the killings.

The children’s deaths came at a time of heightened tension between Sudan’s military rulers and the main opposition coalition, which called for nationwide protests in response — although the turnout was limited.

More talks between the two sides on the transition from military rule to a new sovereign council were due to take place on Tuesday but were postponed after the shooting, a pattern that has happened repeatedly after bouts of violence.

“What happened in El-Obeid is a regrettable and upsetting matter and the killing of peaceful citizens is unacceptable and rejected and a crime that requires immediate and deterrent accountability,” Burhan was quoted by state news agency SUNA.

The pupils and an adult were shot dead when security forces broke up a student protest in El-Obeid, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum, opposition-linked doctors said.

The teenagers were rallying against fuel and bread shortages, residents said.

The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition of opposition groups accused military and paramilitary forces of opening fire on the high school pupils.