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Four protesters were shot dead during a rally in the Sudanese city of Omdurman on Thursday, doctors said, as protest leaders and ruling generals began talks to resolve outstanding issues. during the transition to a civilian regime.
The shooting took place as thousands of protesters took to the streets of several cities in Sudan, including the capital Khartoum and its twin city, Omdurman, to protest against the killing of schoolchildren during a protest that is held earlier this week.
"Four protesters were killed by live ammunition and several others wounded at a rally in Omdurman," said the doctors committee badociated with the protest movement in Sudan in a statement.
On Monday, four high school students were among the six dead at a rally in Al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, in central Sudan.
Thursday's rallies denounced the murders, which took place when crowds of students protested against the growing scarcity of commodities.
General Jamal Omar, a senior member of the ruling military council, accused members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of opening fire at Monday's rally.
On Thursday, the ruling generals and protest leaders in Sudan opened further talks on unresolved issues regarding the way forward for the country.
"We (the negotiating team) are starting the negotiation session now," said the event leader, Satea al-Haj.
The protest leaders on Thursday called for a march of one million people across the country to "demand justice for the victims" and condemn the killings on Monday, which they themselves have imputed to RSF.
"Where is the investigation committee?" Protesters chanted protesters as they walked through the Burri and Bahri neighborhoods of the capital, places of regular protests since the unrest began in December against the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.
Paramilitaries accused
Many residents of Khartoum carried Sudanese flags as well as photographs of some of those killed during months of protests – initially against Bashir, then against the military council that had taken over the autocrat in April.
Protesters gathered again in Al-Obeid, Port Sudan, a coastal city in the Red Sea, in the White Nile State and in the central city of Madani, witnesses said.
Omar, a member of Sudan's ruling military council, accused RSF elements of opening fire at the Al-Obeid rally on Monday.
The rally was initially stopped with truncheons by a group of RSF forces guarding a nearby bank, the general told reporters during a Wednesday visit to the city, according to the AL-Ghad TV channel Cairo.
"This action provoked the reaction of some students who threw stones at the forces," Omar said.
"Some members of the force then acted individually to open fire on the demonstrators, identifying those who fired live ammunition and killed six people," he said.
A doctor from Al-Obeid Hospital, who received the victims on Monday, told AFP that four of those killed were students.
The rally of Al-Obeid was against a growing shortage of bread and fuel, residents and witnesses told AFP this week.
It was the sudden tripling of the price of bread in December that triggered the protests that multiplied and resulted in the overthrow of Bashir.
Doctors linked to the Alliance for Freedom and Change protest group said more than 250 people have been killed in demonstrations-related violence since December.
Remaining issues
The protesters' main claim was to institute a civilian regime, but talks with the generals were repeatedly suspended in a climate of regular violence that culminated on 3 June when gunmen dispersed a protest camp of a duration of one week.
At least 127 people were killed that day alone, according to doctors linked to the protests.
The officials gave a much lower death toll.
Discussions resumed after intense mediation by Ethiopian diplomats and the African Union, and the two sides signed a power-sharing agreement on July 17 to form a joint civil-military governance body.
This body would then establish a transitional civilian administration for a period of just over three years, following which elections would be held.
Talks were suspended again following killings in Al-Obeid.
Now that they have resumed their work, both parties should address several key issues.
The remaining obstacles concern the powers of the proposed joint civil-military governing body, the deployment of security forces and the immunity of generals in case of demonstrable violence.
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