US demands ‘independent, credible’ probe into Sudan crackdown

NAIROBI: A US envoy for Africa on Friday called for an “independent and credible” investigation into last week´s crackdown on protesters in Sudan that left dozens of dead.

“The USA believe very strongly there has to be an investigation which is independent and credible which will hold accountable those committing the egregious events,” Tibor Nagy, the assistant secretary of state for Africa, said in Addis Ababa after a two-day visit to Khartoum. Thousands of protesters who had camped outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum for weeks were dispersed on June 3.

According to doctors linked to the protest movement, 120 people died and hundreds were wounded, while Sudan´s health ministry put the death toll at 61. Nagy said the crackdown marked a brutal reversal in a situation where hope had flowered. “The events of June 3rd constituted, in our point of view, a 180-degree turn in the way events were going, with murder, rape, by members of the security forces,” he said in a conference call with journalists. “Until June 3rd, everybody was so optimistic. Events were moving forward in such a favourable direction after 35 years of tragedy for Sudan”. Nagy — the US ambassador to Ethiopia between 1992 and 2002 — pointed to fears in the region about potential chaos in Sudan. “The last thing Egypt wants is another Libya on its southern border.

The last thing Ethiopia wants is another Somalia on its northwestern border,” he said. Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi earlier Friday called for an “objective” international investigation. Mahdi´s elected government was toppled in 1989, in an Islamist-backed coup led by Omar al-Bashir.

After three decades in power, Bashir was himself ousted in April following mass protests, backed by Mahdi. Bashir was replaced by a military council, but protesters carried on with a sit-in outside Khartoum military headquarters to demand a transition to civilian rule.