Sudan general vows ‘gallows’ for perpetrators of crackdown

KHARTOUM: A top Sudanese general vowed Sunday to send to the “gallows” those who carried out a deadly crackdown on protesters earlier this month that killed dozens and left hundreds wounded.

“We are working hard to take those who did this to the gallows,” Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy chief of the ruling military council said in a speech broadcast live on state television. “Whoever committed any fault” will be held accountable, Dagalo added.

Thousands of protesters who had camped outside the Khartoum military headquarters for weeks were violently dispersed by armed men in military fatigues on June 3, according to witnesses. More than 100 people were killed that day in Khartoum, according to doctors linked to the protest movement, while the health ministry put the nationwide death toll at 61.

On Thursday, military council spokesman General Shamseddine Kabbashi expressed “regret” over the crackdown. But the council insists it did not order the dispersal, saying it had actually planned to purge an area near the protest camp where people are said to sell drugs.

“The planning of the operation of Colombia (area) was done by military and security authorities,” the council said in a statement late Saturday. “We assure you that the council is keen to investigate minute by minute facts through its investigation committee.”

Brigadier Abderrahim Badreddine, spokesman for the investigative committee, said initial findings showed “officers and soldiers of different ranks from regular forces entered the sit-in without any orders from their superiors.”

“They were not part of the troops who were ordered to clean Colombia,” he told state television. The crackdown has triggered international condemnation, with the United States and others calling for an independent probe into the killings.

Bashir appears before prosecutor: Fallen Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir was Sunday seen in public for the first time since being ousted, as he was driven in an armed convoy to the prosecutor´s office.

The former strongman, who ruled his east African nation with an iron fist for three decades, was toppled on April 11 after weeks of protests against his reign. Dressed in a white traditional robe and turban, Bashir rode in a heavily-armed convoy from the notorious Kober prison in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to be quizzed by prosecutors for alleged corruption.

Prosecutor Alaeddin Dafallah told reporters after Bashir left the office that the ousted president had been informed that he was facing charges of “possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving gifts illegally.” Thousands of protesters who had camped outside Khartoum´s military headquarters for weeks were violently dispersed by armed men in military fatigues on June 3, according to witnesses. More than 100 people were killed that day in Khartoum, according to doctors linked to the protest movement, while the health ministry put the nationwide death toll at 61.