Sudan junta ruler ‘committed to handing power to civilians’

On Sunday, Burhan, who assumed power on April 12, said “the council is committed to giving power to people.” He said the council would respond to the popular demand for the formation of a civilian government within a week.

He also confirmed that former president Omar al-Bashir and senior officials from his circle had been jailed.

After some four months of anti-government protests, long-time leader Bashir was ousted by the military on April 11.

However, the military council, which was first led by Lieutenant General Ahmed Awad bin Auf for only several hours, has resisted calls from protesters to quickly make way for the establishment of a civilian council.

Protest leaders say the civilian council would form a transitional government to rule the African country for a four-year term, followed by elections.

The 10-member military council was originally formed for a planned two-year transitional period. Despite negotiations with protesters, the two sides have struggled to agree on the shape and form of a civilian leadership.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which has been at the forefront of the anti-Bashir campaign, has said that it would unveil its own civilian council later on Sunday, and thousands of people have already convened outside the army headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, ahead of the 1700 GMT announcement.

On Saturday, protest leaders and the military rulers discussed a power transfer and agreed to continue discussions.

“We clarified our main demand, which is the transfer of power to civilian authorities,” said Siddiq Yousef, a senior member of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, in an interview on state television following the Saturday talks.

“We agreed to continue negotiations to reach a solution that satisfies both the sides, so that the transfer of power will happen in a peaceful way,” he added.

The protests against Bashir initially erupted on December 19, 2018, in the face of a government decision to triple the price of bread.
The demonstrations quickly turned into a mass movement across the country against the president, and finally led to his ouster.

Bashir, 75, who ruled over 30 years, took power in a coup in 1989. He had said that he would only move aside for another army officer or at the ballot box.