A Sudanese protester has been killed in fresh demonstrations held in the capital Khartoum against last year's military coup and worsening living conditions.
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said in a statement on Thursday that the 23-year-old protester was killed after he took “a live bullet to the chest by coup forces.”
According to the committee’s figures, the number of people killed in a crackdown on mass protests have reached 93.
“The military should go back to the barracks,” protesters chanted. “Down with the government of hunger.”
The power grab by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25 drew wide international condemnation.
After Western donors cut crucial aid, Sudan’s economy fell to a further critical situation, with prices of food, fuel and basic commodities soaring to record highs.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organization said in a joint report that more than 18 million people could face extreme hunger over the coming months, up from about 9 million currently in need of aid.
The latest protest comes on the heels of a warning by the top UN envoy for Sudan that the east African country is heading toward “an economic and security collapse” unless it addresses the political paralysis following October’s military coup.
UN special representative Volker Perthes told the Security Council during a briefing earlier this week that the military’s “violent repression” of protests against the coup was continuing in Khartoum and other major cities.
He said female protesters had been subjected to violence and intimidation by members of security forces and at least 16 women had been raped during protests in Khartoum as of March 22.
Sudan has been in turmoil since the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency. The North African country has yet to appoint a prime minister.