KHARTOUM, — The Latest on developments in Sudan (all times local):
11:40 a.m.
The United States, Norway and Britain have issued a joint statement condemning the Sudanese security forces for their violent attacks on protesters that killed dozens this week.
A statement from the three nations, released late on Tuesday, says Sudan’s ruling military council “has put the transition process and peace in Sudan in jeopardy” by ordering such attacks on protesters. It also expressed concerns the council had halted negotiations with protest leaders and cancelled all previous agreements.
The three nation’s statement came before the Sudanese military council said on Wednesday that the generals are ready to resume negotiations with the opposition.
Security forces on Monday broke up a protest camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. At least 60 have been killed since then, according to protest organizers.
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11:15 a.m.
The head of Sudan’s ruling military council says the generals are ready to resume negotiations with the opposition, after three days of a violent crackdown that has claimed 60 lives across the country.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said on Wednesday there would be “no restriction” in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests.
He says: “We open our hands to negotiations with all parties … for the interest of the nation.”
Burhan also added that those responsible for the violent beak-up of the demonstrators’ sit-in would be held accountable.
There was no immediate reaction from the protesters. The motives for the general’s apparent reversal — if sincere — were not immediately clear.
Burhan had earlier cut the negotiations and cancelled all agreed-on points between the military and the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters.
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8:20 a.m.
Organizers of the pro-democracy protests in Sudan say the death toll across the country since the violent dispersal of their sit-in in Khartoum earlier this week has increased to 60.
The previously reported death toll stood at 40.
The Sudan Doctors’ Committee says security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman.
That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum’s Bahri neighborhood.
The doctors’ committee is the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading protests against army rule.
On Monday, security forces broke up the protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum, posing a new challenge to the protest movement.
By AP
