Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders reached a “full agreement” on the constitutional declaration, the African Union said, paving the way for transitioning to civilian rule.

The agreement came after prolonged negotiations between Sudan’s ruling military council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change which has been leading the protest movement across Sudan for months.

“I am announcing to the Sudanese, African and international public opinion that the two delegations have fully agreed on the constitutional declaration,” AU mediator Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt told reporters.

Lebatt said meetings will be held to discuss a formal signing ceremony.

The main points of contention concerned the powers of the proposed joint civilian-military ruling body, the deployment of security forces and immunity for generals over protest-related violence.

Saturday’s announcement came after the military council announced nine paramilitaries had been arrested for killing four teenage demonstrators earlier this week as talks with protest leaders over the country’s future navigated a second day.

The move against the paramilitary men of the feared Rapid Support Forces stemmed from the fatal shooting of four schoolchildren and two other demonstrators during a rally against fuel and bread shortages in the city of Al-Obeid in North Kordofan on Monday.

The killings have sparked anger across Sudan.

On Thursday, four more protesters were shot dead in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, just across the Nile from Khartoum, said doctors linked to the country’s protest movement.

“An investigation has been launched into the incident of Al-Obeid and seven members of the RSF were immediately dismissed and handed over to civilian judges for trial,” General Shamseddine Kabbashi, spokesman for the ruling military council, told reporters earlier on Friday.

He also said that measures will be taken against those responsible for Thursday’s violence. </s> KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese medical union says at least one person has been shot dead by security forces near a sit-in outside the military’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

The Sudan Doctors Committee says the shooting took place late Saturday on Nile Street and that at least 11 people were wounded.

Two people were killed in the area last week.

The doctors committee is part of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests that led to the military overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April.

Tens of thousands have staged a sit-in outside the military headquarters since April 6, following nearly four months of protests against al-Bashir.

Tensions have risen as negotiations remain deadlocked between protesters and the generals, who took over the country after al-Bashir’s ouster. </s> Sudan's ruling military council and main opposition alliance have agreed on a constitutional declaration to pave the way for a transitional government, the African Union said early Saturday.

The agreement came after months of negotiations between the military council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which has led a countrywide protest movement.

"I am announcing to the Sudanese, African and international public opinion that the two delegations have fully agreed on the constitutional declaration," Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt, the African Union mediator, told reporters.

Lebatt said talks would resume on Saturday about a formal signing ceremony. No immediate details of the agreement were available.

The final agreement is meant to usher in a joint military-civilian body to rule the country for three years following the ouster of longtime strongman President Omar al-Bashir in April.

The generals and opposition had previously agreed to form a sovereign council composed of 11 members, five from the military and five from the opposition, plus one additional civilian agreed to by both sides.

Other areas of contention have included establishing control over the General Intelligence Service and the Rapid Support Forces, the country's most powerful paramilitary group.

The opposition has accused the two security forces of killing protesters, and has demanded that those responsible be held to account.

Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese medical union says at least one person has been shot dead by security forces near a sit-in outside the military's headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

The Sudan Doctors Committee says the shooting took place late Saturday on Nile Street and that at least 11 people were wounded.

Two people were killed in the area last week.

The doctors committee is part of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests that led to the military overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April.

Tens of thousands have staged a sit-in outside the military headquarters since April 6, following nearly four months of protests against al-Bashir.

Tensions have risen as negotiations remain deadlocked between protesters and the generals, who took over the country after al-Bashir's ouster. </s> he Sudanese government has said 11 people were killed on Tuesday in the capital Khartoum, including six members of the state security forces.

They died when the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) tried to disperse thousands of demonstrators who were calling on President Omar al-Bashir to step down.

Some soldiers helped protect the protesters and even shot back in the direction of the security personnel. The anti-government demonstrations began in December but intensified on Saturday.

Since then thousands of protesters have been holding a sit-in outside the military headquarters. -BBC Africa </s> (AP) — Organizers of the pro-democracy protests in Sudan say the death toll across the country since the violent dispersal of their sit-in in Khartoum earlier this week has increased to 60.

The Sudan Doctors’ Committee says security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman.

That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum’s Bahri neighborhood.

The doctors’ committee is the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading protests against army rule.

On Monday, security forces broke up the protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum, posing a new challenge to the protest movement. </s> Bassam Hatoum And Noha Elhennawy, The Associated Press 

 



KHARTOUM, - 's pro-democracy movement vowed Thursday to press its campaign of civil disobedience until the ruling military council is ousted and killers of protesters are brought to justice, as security forces fanned out across the capital and appeared to thwart any new demonstrations.

The African Union, meanwhile, suspended from all activities “with immediate effect” over the deadly military crackdown on protesters that left 108 dead this week. It threatened “punitive sanctions” if the military does not quickly hand over power to civilians.

The crackdown marked the start of a violent new chapter in the uprising that began in December and led to the military overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April. The protesters had remained in the streets while holding talks with the military to demand a handover of power to civilians. Those negotiations were suspended after the violent dispersal of the main sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, on Monday.

The Doctors' Central Committee, one of the protest groups, said Wednesday that troops were seen pulling 40 bodies of people slain by the security forces from the Nile River in Khartoum and taking them away.

It said Thursday that more bodies had been pulled from the river, without giving an exact number. The committee said it was not known where the bodies were taken. It also said more than 500 protesters have been wounded in the crackdown, and that three children were among those killed.

's military-controlled Health Ministry disputed the death toll, with the ministry's undersecretary, Soliman Abdel Gabbar, saying only 61 people died in this week's violence. He said those include 52 killed in Khartoum, and that only two corpses were pulled from the Nile.

Clashes have erupted in other parts of the country as well. The ese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests since December, said security forces have attacked demonstrators in more than a dozen cities and towns, in some cases beating, killing and raping civilians. The SPA did not provide further information about the attacks.

The group urged people to block main roads and bridges to “paralyze public life” across the country.

“Our success depends on our full adherence to peaceful protests, no matter how hard the criminal militias seek to drag us into violence,” the association said Thursday.

Hundreds of armoured vehicles of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces could be seen across the capital. The paramilitary force grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by al-Bashir's government to suppress the Darfur insurgency in the early 2000s, a scorched-earth campaign that led to his indictment by the International Criminal Court on charges including genocide.

Barricades erected earlier this week by protesters near the site of the dispersed sit-in were removed and roads were opened. Most stores were closed and few people were seen on the streets.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling military council, has called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they have rejected.

“All members of the military council belong to the old regime, and that is why we are betting now on lower-rank officers,” said Amal al-Zein, an activist and a leader of 's Communist Party, part of the protest movement.

“We are hoping patriotic policemen and military officers will act to protect the ese people,” she said, implying they might overthrow their superiors.

The military and protest leaders had spent weeks negotiating the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country until elections. The protesters demanded civilians dominate the council, which the generals resisted.

After the crackdown, the military suspended the talks and cancelled all agreed-on points. It said it would form a government and hold elections within seven to nine months.

From Ethiopia, the African Union's Peace and Security Council said 's suspension will remain in effect until “the effective establishment” of a civilian-led transitional authority, calling it the only way of exiting the crisis.

The council said it would impose “punitive sanctions” if 's ruling military council does not hand over power to civilians, and called for “the immediate resumption of negotiations, without pre-conditions, between all ese stakeholders.”

The council is in charge of enforcing union decisions, somewhat similar to the U.N. Security Council.

The suspension deprives 's ruling military council of international legitimacy, according to Amani Africa, an independent think-tank based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The United Nations, European Union and other bodies are expected to take their cues from the AU's action.

In practical terms, now cannot participate in any AU meeting and any AU financial or other support will cease, the think-tank said, though 's peacekeeping obligations are expected to continue.

The AU has suspended countries in the past over what were considered unconstitutional changes of government, including Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Niger. In certain cases, a suspension can last for years. No other country of the 55-member continental body is currently suspended.

The AU could take further steps, imposing sanctions and calling on the U.N. to do the same, the think-tank said.

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, earlier this week strongly condemned the violence in and urged the military “to protect the civilians from further harm.”

In Moscow, a top diplomat said Russia, which has largely stayed on the sidelines of the crisis in , opposes “any foreign intervention” and believes a compromise is needed.

Mikhail Bogdanov, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East desk, told local news agencies that Russian diplomats are in touch with all political players in , including the opposition. Bogdanov visited Khartoum earlier this year. </s> The Latest on developments in Sudan (all times local):

The head of Sudan's ruling military council says the generals are ready to resume negotiations with the opposition, after three days of a violent crackdown that has claimed 60 lives across the country.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said on Wednesday there would be "no restriction" in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests.

He says: "We open our hands to negotiations with all parties ... for the interest of the nation."

Burhan also added that those responsible for the violent beak-up of the demonstrators' sit-in would be held accountable.

There was no immediate reaction from the protesters. The motives for the general's apparent reversal — if sincere — were not immediately clear.

Burhan had earlier cut the negotiations and cancelled all agreed-on points between the military and the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters.

Organizers of the pro-democracy protests in Sudan say the death toll across the country since the violent dispersal of their sit-in in Khartoum earlier this week has increased to 60.

The Sudan Doctors' Committee says security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman.

That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum's Bahri neighborhood.

The doctors' committee is the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading protests against army rule.

On Monday, security forces broke up the protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum, posing a new challenge to the protest movement. </s> Sudan protesters to keep up campaign until military's ouster

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan's pro-democracy leaders are vowing to press their campaign of civil disobedience until the ruling military council is ousted and killers of protesters are brought to justice.

The pledge comes after new clashes brought the death toll in three days of the military's crackdown to 108. In one of the most shocking moments, troops pulled 40 bodies of the victims from the Nile in Khartoum on Wednesday.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which was behind months of rallies that drove longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir from power, asked people to block main roads and bridges on Thursday to "paralyze public life" across the country in retaliation for the military's crackdown.

The crackdown began with a violent dispersal of the protest movement's main sit-in camp, outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on Monday.
The African Union suspends Sudan's membership "with immediate effect", after dozens of protesters were killed by pro-government forces in the capital Khartoum.