Sudan’s pro-democracy movement, military agree to share power

FAN Editor
People celebrate in Omdurman
People celebrate after Sudan’s ruling military council and a coalition of opposition and protest groups reached an agreement to share power during a transition period leading to elections, in Omdurman, Sudan, in image obtained from social media on July 5, 2019 Sudan Congress Party via REUTERS

Khartoum, Sudan — Leaders of Sudan’s pro-democracy movement, which forced the military to remove longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir from power in April, have welcomed a power-sharing agreement with the ruling military council as a victory for their “revolution.”

The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, which has spearheaded protests calling for civilian rule, released a statement Friday saying that both parties had agreed to form a joint sovereign council to lead the country’s transition.

It said the council will include five civilians representing the protest movement and five military members. An eleventh seat will go to a civilian chosen by both parties.

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Of the agreement, the statement said: “Today, our revolution has won and our victory shines.”

The emerging deal could break weeks of political impasse since a military crackdown on protesters left over a hundred dead in the northeast African nation last month.

An African Union envoy, Mohammed el-Hassan Labat, said Friday both sides agreed that the council would will rule the country for “three years or a little more.”

The two sides agreed to “establish a sovereign council by rotation between the military and civilians” during that time, the Reuters news agency quotes him as saying. Reuters reported that elections are supposed to follow.

The deal could break weeks of political impasse since the military ousted autocratic al-Bashir.

Talks on a power-sharing agreement had collapsed when security forces razed a protest camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on June 3.

The AU and Ethiopia made intensive efforts to bring the generals and the protesters back to the negotiating table.

Negotiations resumed earlier this week, following massive protests last weekend in which tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Sudan’s main cities in the biggest show of numbers since the razing of the protesters’ sit-in camp. At least 11 people were killed in clashes with security forces, according to protest organizers.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Wednesday called on Sudanese authorities to lift restrictions on the internet and properly investigate all acts of violence and allegations of excessive use of force.

Over 250 people have been killed since an uprising erupted against al-Bashir in December, according to protest organizers. After his overthrow, protesters remained in the streets, fearing the generals intended to cling to power or preserve some form of authoritarian rule.

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