Britain will on Thursday unveil £55 million ($77.5 million, 64.2 million euros) in new funding to support education in developing countries, as part of its bid to get 40 million more girls into school in the next five years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under fire for slashing Britain’s foreign aid budget in an attempt to reign in a spiralling deficit caused by coronavirus lockdowns.
But he will join former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on a visit to a UK school on Thursday, where they will unveil the new aid for girls education to prevent what he said was a pandemic “lost generation”.
Johnson will take part in live classroom link-up with schoolchildren in Kenya to urge world leaders to invest in education, as he committed £55 million for a new programme “turbocharging efforts to get girls into school and learning”, his Downing Street office said.
The “What Works Hub for Global Education” will advise governments across Africa and Asia on the best ways to reform school systems and support female enrolment, which is also a key plank of Britain’s G7 presidency.
“Supporting girls to get 12 years of quality education is one of the smartest investments we can make as the world recovers from Covid-19,” Johnson said in a statement.
“Otherwise we risk creating a lost pandemic generation.
“Across the world there is a vast untapped resource -– girls whose education has been cut short or denied altogether, who could be leading efforts to pull their communities out of poverty.”
A joint UK-Kenya Global Education Summit in London in July aims to raise $5 billion over the next five years.
Experts have warned that the problem of teenage pregnancies in Kenya is worsening during the coronavirus pandemic, with some girls pushed into transactional sex to survive while others have more sex as they stay home from school.
Some children get free lunches or free sanitary towels at schools, which were closed by the virus.
Being home also places an added burden on parents who may have lost their jobs.
“So the young girls will turn to men who will be providing them with pocket money, money for pads,” Evelyne Opondo, senior Africa regional director at the Centre for Reproductive Rights, said last August.
Serena Williams saw the 1,000th match of her illustrious career end in a straight-set defeat by Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska at the Italian Open.
The 39-year-old American, playing her first competitive match since mid-February, was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.
Podoroska looked assured in her first meeting with the 23-time Grand Slam champion as she reached the last 16.
Naomi Osaka suffered a second straight defeat on clay, while Simona Halep’s title defence was ended by injury.
Japanese world number two Osaka lost 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to American Jessica Pegula in a blow to her preparations for the French Open, which starts on 30 May.
Meanwhile, Halep’s participation in the clay-court Grand Slam – which she won in 2018 – is in the balance after a scan showed she has a tear in her left calf.
The Romanian world number three had to be helped off court because of the injury that forced her to retire against Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Halep, leading 6-1 3-3 when she had to stop, was wincing in pain and looked close to tears as she hobbled back to her chair.
“I will get an MRI tomorrow to understand the injury in more detail, but at the moment we are unsure of recovery time,” the two-time Grand Slam champion tweeted on Wednesday evening.
It was, however, a more straightforward day for Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty, who reached the third round by beating Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 6-1.
Williams has work to do before Roland Garros
On a day where nine of the women’s top 10 were playing in Rome, most of the attention was focused on the return of Williams to match action.
The American’s last appearance came in the Australian Open semi-final defeat by Osaka on 18 February.
Being pitted against 44th-ranked Podoroska, who surprisingly reached the Roland Garros semi-finals last year, looked to be far from ideal in her bid to spend time on court in the Italian capital this week.
Eighth seed Williams lacked intensity and struggled on first serve throughout the match, landing just 48% of them, and was unable to take any of the three break opportunities which came her way.
Podoroska initially struggled to close out the match as Williams wiped out the Argentine’s 5-2 lead for 5-5 in the second set, before Podoroska regained her composure to beat a top-10 opponent for the third time in her career.
Williams is not scheduled to play again before the French Open starts but she hinted after this defeat that she could now look to add a tournament to her schedule.
“It was definitely kind of good to go the distance and to try to be out there, but clearly I can do legions better,” she told a news conference.
“Maybe I do need a few more matches, so I’m going to try to figure that out with my coach and my team and see what we would like to do.
“I have been training for months, but it feels definitely different on clay to make that last adjustment.”
Osaka’s body language illustrates clay concerns
Osaka hit 37 unforced errors as she lost to Pegula in one hour and 27 minutes
Osaka, who received a first-round bye, has often struggled on clay and negative body language – including when she smashed a racquet – showed her discomfort against a confident Pegula.
After a tight opener where she missed three set points, Osaka’s level dropped in the second and world number 31 Pegula took control.
Pegula, 27, kept her focus and discipline to take advantage of Osaka’s increasingly wayward hitting, breaking for 4-2 when the four-time Grand Slam champion walloped a wild volley wide and going on to seal the biggest win of her career.
For 23-year-old Osaka, this defeat followed a second-round loss at the Madrid Open earlier this month.
Former Ecuador and Manchester United skipper Antonio Valencia on Wednesday announced his retirement from football.
The 35-year-old, who was playing for Queretaro in Mexico, had been suffering from long-standing injury problems.
“I’m ending my career in Queretaro,” he wrote on Twitter. “I didn’t think this moment would come so soon, but my body has asked me to take this decision.”
He spent a decade at United from 2009-19 and ended his spell there as club captain after Michael Carrick retired in 2018.
Originally a dashing and explosive right winger, Valencia later played as a full-back.
He thanked his family and fans, adding that “if in this career I failed them, I’m sorry.
“I always tried to give my best. To my country and the national team: thank you for everything.”
Valencia suffered a badly broken ankle in 2010 and fractured his foot in 2015 but it was his left knee that forced his retirement.
“If I could have changed one thing, I would have changed my knee,” he said in a press conference streamed on Queretaro’s social media accounts on Wednesday morning.
Queretaro’s team doctor, Hugo Soriano Ramirez, who joined Valencia in the press conference, explained the player developed knee problems aged 29.
He said the injury “limits his movement and is intensely painful,” adding that treatment has been ineffective and an operation would offer no guarantees that he could play football to the necessary level.
Valencia began his career at Nacional de Quito in 2003 before moving to Villarreal in Spain in 2005 after winning the Ecuadorian league.
He joined Wigan Athletic a year later where he caught the eye of former United manager Alex Ferguson.
Valencia joined United in 2009 and went on to win two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, Europa League and the League Cup twice with the Red Devils.
“I was able to travel to Europe, something I would have never dreamed of,” added Valencia.
“I played for Villarreal and Recreativo de Huelva (on loan) to then arrive in my second home: England.
“Wigan was a unique experience and then God gave me the opportunity to arrive at Manchester United and be captain.”
In 2019 he returned home to join Liga de Quito, the only Ecuadoran side to ever win the Copa Libertadores (2008) and Copa Sudamericana (2009) — the respective equivalents of the Champions League and Europa League.
A year later, with the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on South American club football competitions, Valencia switched to Queretaro.
He played 98 times for Ecuador, scoring 11 goals and represented his country at the World Cup in 2006 and 2014, and four Copa America tournaments.
He was awarded the National Order of Merit in 2019.
Arsenal dented Chelsea’s bid to finish in the Premier League’s top four as Emile Smith Rowe punished Jorginho’s blunder to seal a 1-0 win on Wednesday.
Midfielder Jorginho was guilty of a woefully misplaced back-pass that ended with Gunners youngster Smith Rowe slotting home early in the first half at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel’s home side were bereft of quality in the final third as they succumbed to only a third defeat in their 26 matches in all competitions.
The Blues remain in fourth place, but their bid to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top four finish is now on a knife edge.
They sit six points clear of fifth placed West Ham, who have a game in hand, and seven ahead of sixth placed Liverpool, who could be the biggest threat with two games in hand.
Chelsea’s tepid display was hardly ideal preparation for their attempt to win the first trophy of Tuchel’s reign in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Leicester at Wembley.
Beaten for the first time in six league games, Chelsea’s final two top-flight matches against the Foxes and Aston Villa next week now take on extra significance.
That will deny Tuchel the chance to rest players before the Champions League final against Manchester City on May 29.
Eighth-placed Arsenal’s first league double over Chelsea since 2003-04 was a rare bright spot in a turbulent season.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is fighting to persuade the Arsenal hierarchy to keep faith with him after their lacklustre Europa League semi-final exit against Villarreal.
The Spaniard insists his side “have made progress in many areas” this season, even though are likely to miss out on European football for the first time since 1995-96.
Against that troubled backdrop, beating in-form Chelsea was evidence that Arteta may yet to be able to revive Arsenal’s fortunes.
– Tenacious Arsenal –
Keeping one eye on the FA Cup final, Tuchel made seven changes from the side that won at Manchester City on Saturday.
Kai Havertz was one of those restored to the line-up and the German forward wasted a golden opportunity to put Chelsea ahead.
Havertz alertly caught Pablo Mari in possession near the half-way line when the Arsenal defender tried to take an extra touch rather than clear.
Sprinting through on goal, Havertz had just Bernd Leno to beat but fired high over the bar.
Arsenal made the most of that escape to take the lead thanks to Jorginho’s gift in the 16th minute.
Smith Rowe notched his first Premier League goal against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday and the 20-year-old’s second may prove to be one of the easiest he ever scores.
Jorginho carelessly failed to check where Kepa Arrizabalaga was positioned before passing well away from the Chelsea keeper from the edge of the area.
Kepa scrambled to claw the ball off the line, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pounced and teed up Smith Rowe to tap into the empty net.
Mason Mount was denied when he ran onto Havertz’s pass and saw his shot turned away by Leno.
Chelsea kept creating but couldn’t find the final touch, with Christian Pulisic heading over from close-range after Kurt Zouma’s effort fell to him.
The Blues had lost their last eight league games at Stamford Bridge when trailing at half-time, last winning from that position in 2013.
Tuchel’s men dominated possession but Arsenal defended with a tenacity that eluded them for much of the season.
Pulisic thought he had equalised when he bundled home from Havertz’s flick on the hour, but the goal was correctly ruled out by VAR for offside.
Chelsea were inches away from equalising in the last minute when Zouma’s header was tipped onto the bar by Leno before Olivier Giroud’s follow-up cannoned off the woodwork.
The Comoros presidency on Wednesday pardoned a senior opposition figure sentenced to jail for life in 2018 for allegedly plotting against the state.
Former vice-president Djaffar Said Ahmed Hassane was among four opposition politicians handed life sentences with forced labour in December 2018, months before disputed presidential elections in 2019.
A presidential decree on Wednesday announced that the politician had been “pardoned” and his conviction fully revoked.
Hassane — who fled to Tanzania before his conviction — was charged for speaking out against a controversial constitutional referendum organised by President Azali Assoumani, which cleared him to serve two terms instead of one ahead of the polls.
The referendum triggered violent protests across the southern African archipelago that led to the arrest of several other high-profile opposition figures — including Hassane’s brother Bahassane Ahmed Said.
At least 17 were charged with unrest and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
They were pardoned days after Assoumani took office in May 2019 amid widespread accusations of election rigging.
The Comoros islands — Anjouan, Grande Comore and Moheli — have endured years of grinding political turmoil, including about 20 coups or attempted coups, since independence from France in 1975.
Assoumani initially came to power in a coup, then ruled the country between 1999 and 2006, and was re-elected in 2016 in a vote also marred by violence and fraud allegations.
He was credited with nearly 60 percent of the vote in the 2019 polls, an outcome rejected by the opposition along with many observers.
The governing body has written to teams saying it had “become aware” some rear wings passed tests but had “excessive deflections while cars are in motion”.
The FIA has told teams it will introduce new load-deflection tests from 15 June.
In addition to new, more targeted static tests, the FIA plans to use on-board cameras to monitor the behaviour of wings while cars are in motion in an attempt to spot any excessive movement of bodywork.
Teams will be required to put a series of markings on their wings to facilitate this process.
Article 3.8 of the F1 technical regulations states that bodywork must be “rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car” and “remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car”.
This is a ban on so-called ‘moveable aerodynamic devices’, which has been in place for many years.
But it is a difficult area of the rules because all surfaces flex under load to some degree, and historically some teams have tried to exploit this in search of an aerodynamic advantage.
If a wing or other bodywork part can be made to deflect or rotate in relation to others above a certain speed, it can reduce drag on the straights and make the car faster. The bodywork would then snap back into optimum downforce-producing position before the corners.
FIA single-seater technical head Nikolas Tombazis wrote in a note to teams that the deformations the FIA was referring to “can have a significant influence on a car’s aerodynamic performance and hence could be deemed to contravene the provisions of article 3.8”.
He did not name teams or give specific examples of wing behaviour.
“We will be looking out for any anomalous behaviour of the deformation of the rear wing,” said Tombazis.
“In particular, we will not tolerate any persistent out-of-plane deformation that may be contrived to circumvent the symmetrical loading applied in the load deflection tests.
“Should we observe any characteristics that indicate exploitation of this area, we will introduce further load deflection tests as necessary.”
Teams are being given a month to comply with the new tests so they have enough time to strengthen their wings if necessary.
There will be a tolerance of 20% built into the test in the first month of its operation.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said at the Spanish Grand Prix that Toto Wolff, his opposite number at Mercedes, had spoken to him on the issue.
Horner insisted his car complied with the regulations, saying: “The car’s scrutineered thoroughly and there are pull-back tests, all kinds of tests it has to pass,” he said. “The FIA are completely happy it has passed all the tests that are pretty stringent.
“I was surprised to see his comments, but it is something Toto has mentioned to me previously. So I doubt it was Lewis’ opinion. It probably came from elsewhere.”
The first race at which the new tests will come into force is the French Grand Prix on 25-27 June.
Before then, F1 is scheduled to race in Monaco on 20-23 May, Azerbaijan on 4-6 June and Turkey on 11-13 June, although the Istanbul race is in doubt following a surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Nearly two dozen women in DR Congo have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by aid workers during an Ebola outbreak, adding to a scandal that broke last year, a report said on Wednesday.
Twenty-two women have said they were sexually exploited or abused, in acts that included alleged rape or led to unwanted pregnancies, by male aid workers responding to an Ebola crisis in eastern DR Congo, The New Humanitarian (TNH) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation said.
The men offered them jobs in exchange for sex, identifying themselves as working for major aid organisations.
Three of the seven organisations named are UN agencies, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which features in 14 of the claims.
The allegations centre on Butembo, a major trading city and an epicentre of the 2018-2020 outbreak of Ebola that claimed 2,200 lives.
“One woman said she was raped by a man who said he was with the WHO, and reporters learned of three others who said they had become pregnant,” the investigators said.
“One of those women died after a botched abortion as she tried to conceal the pregnancy from her husband and children, her sister said.”
The gruelling fight to roll back the Ebola epidemic, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst ever, has been tarred by allegations of sexual abuse by well-paid aid workers who flooded into the poor region.
An investigation last year by the TNH, a news agency that covers humanitarian crises, gathered testimony from 51 women who said they had suffered sexual exploitation in the neighbouring city of Beni.
The WHO, reacting to the latest accusations, said Wednesday it had identified two women in Butembo as “potentially having had sexually exploitative relationships with individuals” connected to the agency.
That information will be shared with an independent investigative commission set up last October, it said.
“(The) WHO is committed to taking prompt and robust action, including collaborating with relevant national authorities on criminal proceedings, in all cases where WHO staff may be found guilty of perpetrating (sexual exploitation and abuse),” the agency’s spokeswoman Marcia Poole said.
The new report said sexual predators also claimed to work for the UN’s International Organization for Migration; the UN’s children’s fund, Unicef; the International Rescue Committee (IRC); International Medical Corps (IMC); the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA); and DRC’s health ministry.
Most of the aid workers allegedly involved were Congolese, the report said.
A spokeswoman for the independent commission said the panel aimed to publish the results of its inquiry at the end of August.
The Champions League final will now be staged in Porto in Portugal after the UK government and UEFA could not reach agreement over quarantine exemptions for more than 2,000 VIPs, staff and media for the match to be played at Wembley. It will be officially ratified by UEFA on Thursday.
The all-English final between Manchester City and Chelsea was originally scheduled for the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on May 29.
UEFA was forced to look at alternative venues after a devastating Covid outbreak in Turkey caused the UK government to place the country on its red list for travel, and banned English fans from going.
And the 50,000-capacity Estadio do Dragao in Porto has now been lined up as the venue for the final after UEFA struck a deal with the Portuguese authorities over the attendance at the match. Chelsea and Manchester City will each receive a ticket allocation of between 4,500 and 6,000.
But health experts and MPs have criticised the decision for putting supporters at unnecessary risk in the middle of a pandemic, insisting UEFA should have foregone VIPs this year and made it a ‘fans’ final’ in London.
The 50,000-capacity Estadio do Dragao in Porto has been lined up as the venue for the final
Chelsea and Man City fans celebrated their fantastic semi-final triumphs last week. They are now destined for Portugal, after the Champions League final on May 29 was moved
UEFA were under pressure to change venue for the final with Turkey on the UK’s ‘red list’
Hopes were initially high that the match would come to Wembley and the UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin both appeared committed to making the switch, but they could not find enough common ground to make it work, with concerns over the UK’s quarantine rules.
After lengthy talks, officials from both sides had to accept defeat.
As well as experts and MPs, fans had also demanded the match be played at Wembley, which could have hosted 22,500 fans for the final.
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust urged Ceferin at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, to explore ‘all possibilities’ in London before making a decision.
But Dom Rosso, the trust’s vice chairman, posted on Twitter that Ceferin had also emphasised the importance of accommodating sponsors, which suggested Wembley’s star was fading.
Such was the intense nature of the negotiations that Ceferin left the fans’ Zoom call to make further phone calls as he sought to finalise the location and attendance for the match.
Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz, which hosted the 2020 final, was also initially viewed as a contender
A late sticking point in Portugal was how many fans would be allowed to attend. Portugal is yet to let any supporters return to matches and UEFA wanted the authorities to scale up quickly to enable them to make significant allocations to clubs and sponsors.
The selection of Porto will at least allow supporters to make firm plans.
Portugal has been placed on the UK’s ‘green list’ for travel, which means supporters will be able to fly there and back with minimal restrictions and will not have to isolate on their return.
Transport minister Grant Shapps sprung a surprise when he placed Turkey on the red list
Daily covid cases in Portugal are similar to the UK, with both much lower than Turkey. Poland, where the Europa League final will be played is also shown in the graphic. Source: Our World in Data/ John Hopkins University
Supporters have wasted no time in organising their trips. Flight prices to Portugal rocketed this week even before the Wembley talks had concluded.
A return direct flight at midday for the weekend of the game from Stansted to Porto was available for £200 on Tuesday morning, but rocketed three-fold to £623 by Wednesday afternoon.
Cheaper fares are still on sale for people willing to travel early in the morning or using indirect routes.
Lisbon flights have also increased, as speculation initially suggested the Portuguese capital could stage the game. Flights bought on Monday evening for £160 had soared to £309 – an increase of 93% – by Tuesday morning as fans began to realise Portugal was a more likely destination.
Flights from Manchester have also risen sharply week on week.
The prospect of Wembley hosting the showpiece were dashed because more than 2,000 VIPs, staff and media due to attend the game would require an exemption from the UKs covid travel restrictions.
The rules require visitors from red and amber list countries to isolate for 10 days and they are due to come into force from May 17. They were announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
Manchester City and Chelsea will face off in the fixture, which was set to take place in Istanbul
Manchester City and Chelsea have booked their places in the Champions League final
Turkey is on the red list and most of Europe is on the amber list, including Switzerland, where UEFA is based.
Sources told Sportsmail that while the talks were constructive the European governing body’s requirement for up to 2,000 guests, including sponsors and representatives of more than 50 football associations from across the continent, as well as staff, could not be accommodated.
TRAVEL TRAFFIC LIGHT
It is currently still illegal for Brits to travel abroad for non-essential reasons but this will change on May 17, when people will be allowed to fly to countries with low Covid infection rates.
Travellers to countries on the ‘red list’ will have to quarantine for 10 days in a government-approved hotel on their arrival in the UK.
Those coming from ‘amber list’ countries, which includes Switzerland, where UEFA is based, will be required to self-isolate at home for 10 days, taking covid test on day two and eight.
While those returning from countries on the ‘green list’, which is set to include Portugal, will not have to isolate, but will have to take a test
It is understood, the English FA could scale up the attendance at Wembley to the 22,500 requested by UEFA and quarantine exemptions could have been provided for essential staff, but the number of additional guests would have been too great given the UK is about to emerge from lockdown.
This afternoon, Culture Secretary Dowden said the UK had ‘cleared the way to get Wembley available if UEFA want to take advantage of that’ but indicated the government would not bend on quarantine rules.
‘It is though important that we protect the integrity of our quarantine system,’ he added.
On the flipside, VIPs are tied into lucrative sponsorship contracts and UEFA felt it could not abandon a valuable source of income, after 14 months of matches mostly without fans or sponsors present.
The situation has been compounded because capacities have been cut drastically for the Euro 2020 tournament due to begin in June.
‘UEFA needs the VIP revenues,’ a source close to the negotiations told Sportsmail. ‘They are losing money on the Euros. There is no way they would give up on VIPs. They are connected to sponsorship.’
At his meeting with fan groups, UEFA president Ceferin reaffirmed his view that sponsors needed to be accommodated.
And if the game was going anywhere, Portugal has the advantage that it has relatively low numbers of covid cases. There are currently fewer coronavirus infections than in Britain, with 32 cases per million people daily.
But UEFA’s position has drawn criticism from health experts and MPs who said the governing body should have made an exception on VIPs and dignitaries because of the coronavirus pandemic.
UEFA’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, met with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to discuss the Champions League final being held at Wembley, but the pair could find no agreement
It would be safer to host the all-English match in London and avoid large-scale movements of people.
‘It is not in the real world,’ MP Clive Efford, who is a member of the Department for Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, told Sportsmail. ‘We have two clubs from the same country, which is capable of hosting this match during a global pandemic. Why are we taking it to a third country?
‘You can only imagine that [VIPs and sponsorship] is too valuable for them to forego… but once again, this is football finance taking over the interests of fans.’
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of Norwich, said: ‘From a public health perspective, the safest thing would have been to have the match in London and for UEFA not to bring people to the game who are not essential to the running of the game.
The LED screen inside Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium displayed a message of ‘Good luck in Istanbul!’ after the club beat Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final, but plans changed quickly
Demonstrators gather outside the army headquarters in Sudan's capital Khartoum on May 11, 2021 which corresponds to Ramadan 29, on the hijri-date anniversary of the killing of Sudanese protesters during a raid on an anti-government sit-in in 2019. - Hundreds rallied in the Sudanese capital to demand justice for protesters killed during anti-government demonstrations which led to the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir more than two years ago. The protest was held outside the the army headquarters in Khartoum at the site where thousands gathered in 2019 initially demanding Bashir's ouster and the transfer to civilian rule. It marked two years since the bloody dispersal of the mass encampment outside the army headquarters on Ramadan 29. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)
Two people were killed and dozens wounded as Sudanese security forces dispersed a rally demanding justice for protesters killed during anti-government demonstrations two years ago, the army said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he was “shocked” by the killings, calling it a “crime to use live bullets against peaceful protesters”.
Hundreds gathered on Tuesday evening outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum, at the site where thousands gathered in 2019 initially demanding the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir and urging a transfer to civilian rule.
The demonstration on Tuesday started shortly before iftar, the evening meal which breaks the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
It marked two years since the bloody dispersal of the mass encampment outside the army headquarters.
“As they (the protesters) left the site, unfortunate events occurred resulting in the killing of two people and the wounding of others,” the armed forces said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been launched.
The army said they were “fully prepared to bring to justice, whoever is proven to be involved”.
On Wednesday, the US embassy in Khartoum expressed “shock and dismay” over Tuesday’s killings.
“We condemn use of live ammunition on peaceful protesters,” it said on Twitter, calling on Khartoum to “fully investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators”.
‘Calling for justice’ – In the protests on Tuesday, young demonstrators were seen carrying banners and photos of the people killed during the crackdown on the 2019 sit-in, according to an AFP correspondent.
“Retribution for the martyrs,” many chanted, as they waved Sudanese flags.
“We will continue calling for justice,” said protester Samar Hassan.
One protester gave a speech calling for further demonstrations, if the government failed to present the findings of an investigation into the 2019 killings in the coming weeks.
Witnesses said security forces fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Ahead of Tuesday’s gathering, Sudanese authorities set up roadblocks on the routes leading to the army headquarters.
Hamdok, in a statement on Twitter, called the 2019 crackdown “extreme brutality”.
He vowed his transitional government, which took power after Bashir’s ouster, would “bring perpetrators to justice”.
The 2019 sit-in was held to call for an end to Bashir’s three-decade rule.
The iron-fisted ruler was ousted in April 2019, but the protesters kept up the encampment for weeks demanding the transfer of power from the military to civilians.
In June 2019 and towards the end of Ramadan, armed men in military fatigues violently dispersed the camp.
The days-long crackdown left at least 128 people dead, according to medics linked to the protest movement.
The ruling generals at the time denied ordering the bloody dispersal and called for a probe into the incident.
An investigation committee was launched in late 2019 to look into the events, but has yet to finish its inquiry.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to suffer a shortfall of nearly four billion dollars from mining and oil contracts that it signed with controversial Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, an anti-corruption group said on Wednesday.
The United States hit Gertler with sanctions in December 2017 over mining deals he struck with help from his friend, the DRC’s then president Joseph Kabila.
The tycoon had deprived the DRC of tax revenues of $1.36 billion over a decade, according to a 2013 report by the Africa Progress Panel chaired by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
On Wednesday, a coalition of anti-graft campaigners called The Congo Is Not for Sale (CNPAV) said that its own analysis of public finances found “the DRC lost income of $1.95 billion between 2003 and 2021.”
“If nothing is done to stop this haemorrhage, an additional $1.76 billion could escape state coffers between 2021 and 2039,” the CNPAV said.
CNPAV spokesman Jean-Claude Mputu told a news conference that “no intermediary has ever cost the country as dearly” as Gertler.
“Nothing is being done and money is still leaving the country,” he said.
The DRC is one of the world’s main producers of valuable minerals such as copper, gold, cobalt and coltan.
But the country of 84 million is one of the world’s poorest and is wracked by political violence.
The government has proposed a budget of the equivalent of $6.9 billion for 2021.
Gertler’s profits in the DRC came to light in 2016 with the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.
The massive loss in revenue to the DRC, according to the United States, comes from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies linked to him.
Gertler, 47, has denied any suggestion of underhand dealing.
Some of the US sanctions against him were reversed by former president Donald Trump during his last days in office but were reimposed in March.
Mputu threw down the gauntlet to Kabila’s successor, Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in January 2019 on pledges to root out the DRC’s entrenched corruption.
Tshisekedi “so far has not taken any step aimed at investigating Mr. Gertler’s mining transactions,” Mputu said.
The country “desperately needs this money to rebuild its economy and get its population out of poverty.”
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