CAIRO, 07 April 2022, (TON): Sudan’s pro-democracy groups called for mass protests, denouncing an October military coup that plunged the country into political turmoil and aggravated its economic woes.

The call for marches was the latest of many to pressure the generals, whose takeover triggered near-daily street protests demanding civilian rule.

The army’s takeover upended Sudan’s transition to democracy after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.

It also sent the country’s already fragile economy into free-fall, with living conditions rapidly deteriorated across the country. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

According to a Sudanese medical group “the protests have been met by a deadly crackdown that has killed more than 90 people, mostly young men, and injured thousands of others.”

Western governments and world financial institutions suspended their assistance to Sudan in order to pressure the generals to return to civilian-led government. The UN envoy for Sudan warned last month that the east African nation was heading for an economic and security collapse unless it addresses the political paralysis following the coup.

Wednesday’s marches were called for by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association and the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, an alliance of political parties and groups which spearheaded the uprising that culminated in al-Bashir’s ouster in 2019.