THE DEATH TOLL following a crackdown on Sudanese protesters carried out by security forces has risen to 101 people.

Violence broke out after security forces broke up a sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum on Monday, when demonstrators demanded a handover to civilian rule in the country.

The Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors revealed the latest figure after reporting that 40 bodies had been recovered from the Nile following the violence, although the group gave no further details.

Meanwhile, the commander of the paramilitary forces accused of the crackdown on demonstrators insisted that the country would not be allowed to slip into “chaos”.

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy chief of Sudan’s ruling military council, leads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which protesters said was responsible for the “bloody massacre”.

“We will not allow chaos… we must impose the authority of the state through law,” the commander, known as Himediti, told troops in a televised address.

The general singled out makeshift barricades erected across streets by demonstrators that are aimed at blocking the security forces.

The RSF are paramilitary groups with origins in the Janjaweed militia accused of abuses during the 16-year-old conflict in Darfur.

Sudan’s military council has controlled the country since ousting veteran president Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his authoritarian rule.

It has now ditched an agreement for a three-year transition period to a civilian administration and instead is pushing for an election to take place in nine months.

- © AFP 2019