Sudan protesters reject military offer for talks

Sudanese protest leaders have "totally" rejected the military's offer for an unconditional resumption of talks as opposition-linked doctors said the death toll since a violent dispersal of a protest camp in the capital jumped to more than 100.

The number of those killed rose on Wednesday after the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River and taken to an unknown location by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The committee said the bodies were retrieved from the river on Tuesday, a day after security forces stormed the weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

It said the number of those killed was at least 108 but warned that it was likely to rise. More than 500 people were wounded.

The raid, which followed weeks of wrangling between the ruling military council and opposition groups over who should lead Sudan’s transition to democracy, marked the worst outbreak of violence since the army ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his 30-year rule.

The Transitional Military Council cancelled all agreements it had reached with the opposition immediately after the raid, but it rowed back on Wednesday amid mounting international criticism of the violence.

“We in the military council extend our hand for negotiations without shackles except the interests of the homeland,” its head, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said on state TV.

But a Sudanese alliance of protesters and opposition groups rejected the offer, saying the military could not be trusted.

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which is also part of the alliance, said the protesters "totally reject" al-Burhan's call.

"We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience," he added.

Khartoum remained tense on Wednesday, with demonstrators blocking streets in several districts as gunfire rang out in the distance.

Sudan has been rocked by unrest since December, when anger over rising bread prices and cash shortages broke into sustained protests against al-Bashir that culminated in the military removing him after three decades in office.