SUDANESE opposition groups pulled more than 40 bodies from the River Nile today as the country descended further into a bloodbath after the feared Janjaweed militia instigated a massacre.

“Forty bodies of our noble martyrs were recovered from the River Nile today,” the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.

As the situation continues to worsen, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) — an umbrella organisation of doctors, lawyers, trade unions and opposition parties, rejected an offer of talks from military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, warning: “This call is not serious.”

Protesters in front of one of the major hospitals in Omdurman today, chanting for the lives and blood of the martyrs of the heinous massacre committed by the Janjaweed and other security forces against protestors of the Army HQ#SudanUprising pic.twitter.com/v1RcZWtDfJ

— Sudanese Translators for Change STC (@SudaneseTc) June 5, 2019

Gen Burhan called for the resumption of discussions, saying: “We open our hands to negotiations with all parties … for the interest of the nation.”

But SPA spokesman Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa said: “Burhan and those under him have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it. Their vehicles patrol the streets, firing at people.”

“We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience.”

As many as 100 people are believed to have been killed since Monday, when the paramilitary group — now known as the Rapid Security Forces (RSF) — turned on those gathered outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.

Thousands have been gathered there for weeks as they demand a transfer of power to civilian rule after the protest movement ousted the authoritarian Islamist President Omar al-Bashir in April.

He was replaced by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) which is refusing to relinquish power to the people of Sudan. 

An initial agreement with the opposition Forces for Democracy and Change collapsed last week after failing to make progress on the role of the presidency.

Security services launched sporadic attacks on the sit-in protest outside the military headquarters, with activists erecting barricades to protect themselves.

Gen Burhan announced the end of talks yesterday and said elections would be held within nine months. 

But opposition groups favour a longer period to guarantee free and fair elections and for a new civilian-led administration to break up the political network associated with Mr Bashir’s regime.

Spokesman for the Forces for Democracy and Change Madani Abbassi Madani said: “What happened [on Monday] — the killing and injuring of protesters, the humiliation — was a systematic and planned attempt to impose repression on the Sudanese people.”

The Sudanese Communist Party warned earlier this week of foreign interference, including funding and military training of the RSF.

It called for international support for the “peaceful revolution” and urged the people of Sudan to join strikes and protests.