{"id":16889,"date":"2019-04-14T15:54:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T15:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16889"},"modified":"2019-04-14T15:54:49","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T15:54:49","slug":"sudan-protesters-call-for-civilian-rule-in-talks-with-military-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16889","title":{"rendered":"Sudan protesters call for civilian rule in talks with military leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alliance leaders say they will continue Khartoum sit-in until all their demands are met<\/strong>
\nBy Jason Burke\u00a0<\/strong>Africa correspondent (The Guardian of London)<\/strong>
\nTalks between Sudan\u2019s new military rulers and protest organisers demanding a civilian government have continued, as thousands of demonstrators remained camped outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum for an eighth day.
\nThe armed forces\u00a0took power on Thursdayafter forcing President Omar al-Bashir to step down after 30 years of repressive rule.
\nA 10-member delegation representing the protesters delivered their demands during talks late on Saturday, according to a statement by umbrella group the Alliance for Freedom and Change.
\nThe group insists civilian representatives should be accepted on to the military council, and that a fully civilian government should be formed to run day-to-day affairs.
\n\u201cWe will continue … our sit-in until all our demands are met,\u201d said one of the alliance\u2019s leaders, Omar al-Degier.
\nThe Sudanese foreign ministry urged the international community on Sunday to back the country\u2019s new military rulers to help \u201cdemocratic transition\u201d.
\n\u201cThe ministry of foreign affairs is looking forward to the international community to understand the situation and to support the transitional military council … in order to achieve the Sudanese goal of democratic transition,\u201d it said.
\nOn Saturday, the new chief of the military council, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,\u00a0vowed to dismantle Bashir\u2019s regime\u00a0and lifted a night-time curfew with immediate effect.
\nIn a broadcast to the nation, Burhan praised the \u201cpeaceful revolution\u201d and the sacrifices made by Sudanese people. The 60-year-old soldier ordered the release of hundreds of political detainees and promised inclusive dialogue with all involved with the aim of forming a civilian government acceptable to everyone.
\nBurhan took the oath of office on Friday after his predecessor, Gen Awad Ibn Auf \u2013 a defence minister and long-time aide of the deposed president \u2013 stepped down little more than 24 hours after ousting Bashir.
\nProtests erupted on 19 December in Sudan\u2019s eastern city of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread. This quickly evolved into nationwide demonstrations against Bashir\u2019s 30-year rule. Tens of thousands of people have massed outside the army headquarters\u00a0since 6 April, initially to urge the armed forces to back their demand that Bashir be removed.
\nBurhan comes with less baggage from Bashir\u2019s deeply unpopular rule than Ibn Auf.
\nBut while celebrating the fall of Bashir and then Ibn Auf, protesters remain cautious. \u201cWe surely want our demands to be met, but both sides will have to be flexible to reach a deal,\u201d said a protester who spent the night at the army complex.
\nDegier said the protesters\u2019 demands included restructuring the country\u2019s feared national intelligence and security service (NISS), whose chief, Salih Ghosh, resigned on Saturday.
\nThe delegation for the talks includes several members who have only recently been released after months of detention.
\nThe newly formed 10-member transitional council contains individuals who played key roles in Bashir\u2019s regime.
\nOn Saturday evening, the new military ruler named the NISS deputy head, Jalaluddin Sheikh, to the council. He also nominated Mohammad Hamdan Daglo \u2013 known as Himeidti \u2013 a field commander for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) counter-insurgency unit, which rights groups have accused of abuses in war-torn Darfur.
\nThe fall of Bashir has intensified a competition for influence in Sudan, one of Africa\u2019s biggest countries, by Middle East powers.
\nKey regional powerbrokers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates voiced backing for the transitional council. Burhan\u2019s nomination \u201creflects the ambitions of the brotherly people of\u00a0Sudan\u00a0for security, stability and development\u201d, said the UAE state news agency WAM.
\nSudan is part of a UAE- and Saudi-led military coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The decision to ally with the two powers marked a dramatic shift by Khartoum, aligning itself with the Gulf Arab monarchies and dropping close ties with their arch-rival Iran.
\nThe international criminal court has longstanding arrest warrants against Bashir for suspected war crimes during the regime\u2019s campaign of repression in Darfur, where a decade and a half of conflict has killed 300,000 people. The military council has said it would never extradite Bashir or any other Sudanese citizen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alliance leaders say they will continue Khartoum sit-in until all their demands are met By Jason Burke\u00a0Africa correspondent (The Guardian of London) Talks between Sudan\u2019s new military rulers and protest organisers demanding a civilian government have continued, as thousands of demonstrators remained camped outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum for an eighth day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}