Thousands of Sudanese Protest against Foreign Interference
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Thousands of Sudanese took to the streets to call for the expulsion of the United Nation's representative to Sudan and a stop to foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
Protesters from civil society organizations gathered outside the UN building in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, to denounce foreign meddling in their nation's internal affairs.
Following the military coup last year, the demonstrators were against UN efforts to mediate between the nation's military and civilian leaders.
They demanded a civilian administration to lead the nation out of its current political crisis and voiced opposition to the transitional constitution put forth by the Sudanese Bar Association.
"Sudanese can solve their own problems without the interference of foreign embassies and representatives in Khartoum," demonstrators present at the rally told Iran Press.
The protesters, who said that the objective of the foreign powers in Sudan was to impose a mandate on the Sudanese nation and exploit their resources, demanded the expulsion of the UN's Special Representative of the Secretary General for Sudan and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes.
They also held placards reading, "No to foreign interference" and "Volker out", in reference to the UN's Khartoum envoy Perthes.
The recent protests have pitted the country's civilian parties against the coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
In the meantime, Sudanese protesters have been staging rallies regularly on a near-weekly basis to protest the coup that derailed the transition to civilian rule and saw the junta assume power.
The junta, led by Burhan, seized power in October 2021, after detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other civilian leaders and dissolving the year-old transitional government as well as the joint ruling military-civilian sovereign council formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir.
Protesters want an end to the military rule by Burhan. At least 119 people have been killed while demanding a return to civilian rule.
Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, has been reeling from a weak economy.
The North African country, with a population of about 45 million people, is currently witnessing skyrocketing inflation due to decades of international isolation and mismanagement.
