Sudan crisis: Military and opposition agree transition deal
Sudan’s military leaders have reached an agreement with the opposition alliance to share power until elections can be held, mediators have reported.
The two sides have agreed to rotate control of the sovereign council - the top tier of power, for at least three years. They have additionally pledged to form an independent technocratic government and to investigate the violence of recent weeks, the African Union has stated.
News of this agreement reportedly sparked frenzied street celebrations. Sudan has been in turmoil since the military ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April. Only days ago, vast crowds took to the streets to demand that the ruling military council hand power to civilian-led administration. Opposition medics say more than 100 people were killed in the dispersal and subsequent violence on June 3. Officials put the death toll at 62.
The TMC and the opposition coalition have been wrangling for weeks over what form Sudan's transitional government should take after the military deposed al-Bashir on April 11 in the wake of mass protests against his 30-year rule.
TMC deputy head General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is widely known as Hemeti, welcomed the deal, which, he said, would be inclusive.
Omar al-Degair, a leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), an umbrella organisation of opposition groups, said the agreement "opens the way for the formation of the institutions of the transitional authority, and we hope that this is the beginning of a new era".
"We would like to reassure all political forces, armed movements and all those who participated in the change from young men and women … that this agreement will be comprehensive and will not exclude anyone," added Dagalo, who also heads the feared paramilitary unit Rapid Support Forces (RSF) accused by the demonstrators of crushing the sit-in outside the military headquarters.
The latest round of talks took place in the capital, Khartoum, earlier this week and were heavily mediated by the Ethiopian prime minister and members of the pan African AU.
