Sudanese opposition rejects military’s schedule for elections

 Sudan's opposition rejected on Tuesday a plan by military authorities to hold elections within nine months, a prominent opposition figure said, after the country's worst day of violence since ex-president Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April.
"We reject all that was stated in (Transitional Military Council Head Abdel Fattah) Al-Burhan's statement," said Madani Abbas Madani, a leading figure in the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces opposition alliance.
Madani said an open-ended civil disobedience campaign would continue to force the military council from power.

Sudan’s military earlier canceled a power-transfer agreement with protesters and called for elections within nine months, a day after forcefully breaking up a weeks-long sit-in, leaving more than 30 dead.

The UN Security Council is set to discuss Sudan, the United Kingdom and Germany requested the closed-door session, set for Tuesday afternoon
The Transitional Military Council ousted president Omar Al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his authoritarian rule and had agreed a three-year transition period to a civilian administration.
But army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan announced in a televised statement the plan had been ditched and an election would take place under “regional and international supervision.”
“The military council decides on the following: canceling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change, and to call for general elections within a period not exceeding nine months,” Burhan said.
Dozens of demonstrators were killed and hundreds more wounded on Monday in the bloody crackdown outside Khartoum’s army headquarters, which was met with sharp international condemnation.
Heavily armed members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were deployed around the capital, guarding entrances to the bridges that cross the Nile, and moved in convoys around the city.
The United States, Britain and Norway on Tuesday denounced a plan by Sudan’s military rulers to hold elections after the deadly crackdown on protesters, calling instead for an “orderly transition” to civilian rule.
“By ordering these attacks, the Transitional Military Council has put the transition process and peace in Sudan in jeopardy,” the three powers active on Sudan said in a joint statement.
“The people of Sudan deserve an orderly transition, led by civilians, that can establish the conditions for free and fair elections, rather than have rushed elections imposed by the TMC’s security forces,” they said.
“We call for an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government as demanded by the people of Sudan,” the United States, Britain and Norway said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the excessive use of force against protesters and called for an independent investigation.
The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss Sudan, after Britain and Germany requested the talks, diplomats said.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is close to the protesters, said the “massacre” toll had risen to more than 30, with “hundreds of wounded.”
An eight-year-old child was among those killed, it said, and called for “urgent support” from humanitarian organizations to help the wounded.
Footage from the Royal Care hospital earlier in the day near the site of the sit-in showed people on the floors of the wards receiving treatment as men in uniforms sitting in pickup trucks gathered outside.
An AFP correspondent said the streets of the capital were largely empty Monday night, a time the city is usually busy.