Sudan protest leaders to unveil civilian ruling body
Protest leaders on Friday announced plans to unveil a civilian body to take over from Sudan’s ruling military council as crowds of demonstrators kept up the pressure outside army headquarters and Washington said it will send an envoy to encourage the transition.
The military council, which took power after ousting Sudan’s longtime leader Omar al-Bashir on April 11, has so far resisted calls from protesters to quickly make way for a civilian administration.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests, said in a statement that the civilian council members would be named at a news conference at 1700 GMT on Sunday outside the army complex to which foreign diplomats are also invited.
“We are demanding that this civilian council, which will have representatives of the army, replace the military council,” Ahmed al-Rabia, a leader of the umbrella group of unions for doctors, engineers and teachers, told .
Four months after anti-regime protests started, access roads were packed on Friday with crowds flocking to huge square outside army headquarters.
Activists mobilised demonstrators through social media to keep up the pressure for replacing the military council, now led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
“Power to civilians, power to civilians,” protesters chanted through Thursday night.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington’s short-term goal was to “get the military folks out of centre-stage” and “back to being responsible for security, nothing else.”
“Longer term is to make absolutely sure that whichever group is going to be responsible for the transition prepares a transition implementation that will lead to a truly democratic government that will reflect the will of the Sudanese people,” he said.
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