Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, called on the Sudanese authorities to end the violence and create the appropriate atmosphere to allow international mediation efforts aimed at resolving the current crisis in the country.
For its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement issued in Geneva that “the brutal treatment of the protesters makes the human rights situation in Sudan a source of grave concern.”
The statement pointed out that the demonstrators in Sudan are being attacked almost daily by the security forces.
According to the statement, more than 25 percent of the 2,200 injured were directly hit by tear gas canisters, which raises fears that security forces may launch tear gas canisters horizontally at individuals, which is a “violation of international standards.”
He pointed to the continuation of the campaign of arbitrary arrest and detention against demonstrators, journalists and media professionals, and the security forces’ storming of hospitals, health facilities, and activists’ homes, and attacks on medical personnel inside hospitals.
In a related context, the High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the calls made by the European Union to the Sudanese authorities and demands to stop the violence did not find “a deaf ear.”
He said that the military authorities in Sudan have limited freedom of expression and freedom of assembly after the measures taken by the army on October 25.
The statement added, “The military authorities in Sudan confirm, through the distorted use of force and the continuous detention of civilians, their unwillingness to find a negotiated and peaceful solution to the current crisis, which puts Sudan on a dangerous path away from peace and stability.”
The capital, Khartoum, and a number of other cities in the country are in a state of partial paralysis, as most schools and universities have closed, and markets and institutions have partially stopped, in response to calls for civil disobedience carried out by more than 20 professional organizations.
The head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, announced the formation of a committee to investigate these events, giving it 72 hours to issue its results.
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