Sudan's opposition will not budge despite military council's invitation to reopen talks

Sudan's opposition is doubling down on its commitment to disengage from talks with the transitional military council after the bodies of 40 more people killed when paramilitary security forces stormed a protest camp in the country's capital, Khartoum, on Monday were found in the Nile River. The total number of deaths has now reached 101, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said on Wednesday.

The military council had originally canceled negotiations with the protest movement after the raid on the camp and the opposition's rejection of elections in nine months, but in response to an international outcry over the violence, they put talks back on the table. The opposition would not budge, however.

"Today the council invited us to dialogue and at the same time it is imposing fear on citizens in the streets," Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the Freedom and Change alliance, told Reuters. Another leader of the alliance, Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa said the military council's call for talks was "not serious" and the protesters will continue to practice civil disobedience.

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