UN human rights chief alarmed over tense Sudan

GENEVA: UN human rights chief Volker Turk voiced alarm Saturday at the tense situation in Sudan, urging all sides to redouble their efforts towards restoring a civilian-led government.

Pro-democracy activists in Sudan marched against the army and paramilitaries on Thursday as the civilian opposition marked a key anniversary in the decades-old struggle against military rule with new protests.

A new delay to the signing of a deal to restore the transition to civilian government, which had been rescheduled for Thursday, prompted the civilian opposition to call for nationwide protests instead. Turk, the United Nations´ high commissioner for human rights, urged all sides to de-escalate tensions and refrain from violence.

“The country is at a decisive juncture. Much work has been done and many positive steps taken towards the signature of a final agreement -- all efforts must now be made to get the political transition back on the right path,” he said in a statement.

April 6 is a symbolic date for Sudan´s civilian opposition, the anniversary of uprisings in 1985 and 2019 that ended up ousting two leaders who had seized power in coups.

Sudan is still ruled by a military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power in an October 2021 coup, aborting the transition to civilian rule agreed after the 2019 overthrow of Islamist general Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup.

Turk urged all sides to work together to avoid further delays in signing an agreement for a transition to civilian government, while also calling on non-signatories to join the process.