Khartoum is in a state of chaos amid a military operation to clear a large protest sit-in at the defense ministry.

According to early reports, live ammunition is being used to clear protestors and at least nine people have been killed. The army now appears to be in control of the sit-in area; however, protestors have fanned out into the city and some are setting up new barricades.

The sit-in has been active since the protests flared up in April, resulting in the downfall of long-serving President Omar al-Bashir. Back then some elements within the armed forces were sympathetic to protestors’ demands for the president to step down. Now that patience seems to have worn thin amid deadlocked talks between the two sides and intermittent outbreaks of violence.

Impact

Sudan is entering a critical juncture in the fight for its future: the point where vestiges of the authoritarian regime abandon political compromise and attempt to retain their preferential rights by force of arms. Today’s operation was signaled beforehand in recent visits by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) leadership to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and UAE – its closest backers on the world stage. The TMC was no doubt also encouraged to act by the conspicuous silence emanating from the United States’ high-level diplomatic channels, though depending on events in the next 48 hours and how these events are portrayed by the Western media, this might soon have to change.

Incidentally, the TMC also revoked the license of Al Jazeera and asked the media organization to leave in the days leading up to the operation.