ENRAGED Sudanese opposition supporters took to the streets at the weekend after an investigation cleared leaders in the nation’s ruling military junta of killing protesters in a bloody rampage in Khartoum last month.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) — an umbrella group of doctors, lawyers, trade unions and political parties — said there was a need to shake up the justice system following the release of the report on Saturday.

It found that the Transitional Military Council (TMC) hadn’t given any orders for the dispersal of a sit-in outside the military headquarters on June 3.

The probe claimed that individual officers had violated the orders given to them by the military junta.

Opposition groups claimed that more than 100 people were killed as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, went on the rampage.

At least 70 people were reported to have been raped and soldiers forced some protesters to drink sewer water while urinating on them.

But the investigation said that 87 people were killed during the dispersal of the sit-in last month. 

Committee head Fath al-Rahman Saeed said that at least nine senior officers violated the orders of the security committee of the TMC including two major generals from the RSF.

The officers were not named though Mr Saeed gave their initials.

Security forces had been ordered to clear a different area of the city known as Colombia.

But he claimed they “broke the law and entered the sit-in area … removed the barricades, fired tear gas and fired intense and random bullets that led to the killing and wounding of protesters and the burning of tents.”

Mr Saeed justified the clearing of the protest camp by claiming that “outlaws exploited this gathering” and that “negative and illegal practices took place.”

“It became a security threat, forcing the authorities to make necessary arrangements to clear the area.”

SPA spokesman Ismail Altaj said: “This report has shocked the Sudanese people and the regional and international communities and proved that we need to reform the entire system of justice in the country.”

Sudan has been governed by the TMC since authoritarian president Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April.

Protesters have since demanded a transfer to civilian rule but the military refuses to cede power.

Recent talks, which struck an agreement on a new administration to oversee a move towards democratic elections, appear to have stalled again.