Sudan protester dies after clashes at Darfur sit-in

Sudanese protesters wave national flags at the sit-in outside the military headquarters, in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, May 2, 2019. Sudan's protesters are holding a mass rally to step up pressure on the military to hand power to civilians following last month's overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Sudanese protester has died after being shot during clashes with security forces at a sit-in in the western Darfur region.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, one of the groups behind nationwide protests that drove President Omar al-Bashir from power last month, says Saad Mohammed Ahmed, 18, was shot Saturday when security forces tried to forcibly disperse a sit-in outside a military facility in Nyala. He died Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Hashim Mahmoud, the governor of south Darfur province, says around 5,000 people marched to the facility from a nearby displaced persons camp, and that security forces used tear gas to try and disperse them.

The government launched a scorched-earth campaign in response to an insurgency in Darfur in the early 2000s. The conflict killed some 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million.