{"id":644760,"date":"2019-06-03T12:24:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T12:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Pro-democracy<\/p>\n
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Egypt has urged all sides in Sudan to return to the negotiating table as security forces moved to break up a weeks-long protest camp in Khartoum.<\/p>\n

Violence erupted at the sit-in outside the army headquarters in the Sudanese capital earlier Monday leaving at least nine protesters dead, according to medics.<\/p>\n

Thousands have been camping at the site calling on Sudan\u2019s ruling generals to hand over power to civilians following the ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April.<\/p>\n

The military council has denied multiple reports of its forces violently dispersing the sit-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cEgypt is following with great interest the developments in Sudan,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n

CALL FOR RESTRAINT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEgypt also underscores the importance that all Sudanese sides commit to calm, self-restraint and return to the negotiating table,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The move to disperse the sit-in comes after the head of Sudan\u2019s ruling military council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, paid visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt last week.<\/p>\n

Sudan\u2019s generals, backed by the key Arab powers, have resisted calls from African and Western governments to hand over the reins of power.<\/p>\n

Multiple rounds of talks between the generals and protest leaders have broken down over whether a planned transitional body would be headed by a civilian or a military figure.<\/p>\n

SIT-IN CLEARED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sudanese protest leaders said Monday that the site of a weeks-long sit-in outside the army headquarters had been cleared by security forces from the country\u2019s Transitional Military Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rapid Support Forces and the army and police and militia battalions dispersed the peaceful sit-in,\u201d the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the protestors\u2019 umbrella group, said in a statement, adding that outside the \u201cheadquarters there is no one, but the pure bodies of our martyrs that it has not been possible to evacuate from the site\u201d.<\/p>\n

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