After months of political turmoil, Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders have reached a “full agreement” on a constitutional declaration paving the way for a transition to civilian rule.

The document, which sits alongside the power-sharing deal signed on July 17, aims to form a combined civilian-military ruling body to oversee the formation of a transitional civilian government and parliament.

The transitional government is then to govern for a three-year transition period, the African Union said on Saturday.

This deal comes after prolonged negotiations between Sudan’s ruling military council and leaders of the protest movement that toppled veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in April.

“I am announcing to the Sudanese, African and international public opinion that the two delegations have fully agreed on the constitutional declaration,”… </s> A fragile deal has emerged giving rise to hopes that Sudan will transition to civilian rule. Just as the picture was beginning to appear gloomy, a power-sharing agreement was reached by the ruling military council and opposition leaders. The UAE, on Friday, expressed its backing for the deal, saying that it lays the foundation for an “auspicious political transition”. After weeks of violent protests, both sides agreed to take turns in heading a sovereign council to lead the transition. The UAE expressed hope that this important step will mark a new phase during which security and stability would prevail.

The protest leaders who took part in the talks showed remarkable flexibility when they agreed to a military general running the country for the first 21 months of the transition. This is to be followed by a civilian rule for the next 18 months, according to a statement from the Sudanese Professionals Association, which spearheaded the protests.

The sovereign council will be the strategically important country’s highest authority. It will comprise five military members and five civilian appointees, with an additional civilian member agreed by the two sides, and the deal will be finalised by Monday.

Before this deal was hammered out, there had been concerns whether the army will be willing to share power. The deal is cause for optimism as it had put on display the unity of the opposition, and also due to the promise of an independent inquiry into the events of June 3, when security forces opened fire on protesters in the capital Khartoum, killing dozens and injuring many more.

Now, there are realistic hopes that the new deal could break the political deadlock that has gripped the country since the military toppled the regime of President Omar Al Bashir in April, after a popular protest against his three-decade rule.

As details of the new deal emerged, one thing became quite clear. Both sides had made concessions. It is to be seen if there is enough trust between the parties to ensure that agreement is implemented in full.

The Sudanese transitional agreement has highlighted the importance of dialogue when resolving such matters. Several dozens have been killed in the turmoil that has plagued Sudan. Now, it is up to the Sudanese to ensure the timely and transparent implementation of the transition agreement and to resolve any outstanding issues through more dialogue. </s> Sudanese opposition groups declared victory for their “revolution” on Friday as the military junta agreed to a power-sharing deal until the transition to an elected civilian government is complete.

If the deal holds together, it will end a political crisis that began in April with the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir. Hundreds have been killed and injured during military crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrators.

According to an African Union mediator, the power-sharing deal will “establish a sovereign council by rotation between the military and civilians for a period of three years or slightly more.”

The council will include five seats for military officers and six for civilian representatives. The junta must effectively approve one of the civilian members.

The mediator added that both sides agreed to conduct a “detailed, transparent, national, independent investigation into all the regrettable violent incidents that the country faced in recent weeks.”

The deal appears to resolve an impasse created by the military junta’s insistence that it should control executive power in Sudan until the years-long transition to civilian rule is complete. Previous power-sharing bargains have collapsed because the military insisted on holding more seats in the ruling council or installing a military officer as a supreme executive.

The compromise proposal will install a military officer as president of the ruling council for the first 21 months of its existence, to be followed by a civilian president. In exchange, civilian political groups will be able to appoint positions in the executive Cabinet.

“Today our revolution has won and our victory shines,” the Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA), the main opposition group, declared on Friday.

“We hope that the formation of transitional institutions marks the beginning of a new era. We hope it is an era where we can shut off the sound of pistols and destroy for good prisons of arbitrary detention,” said another opposition group, the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change (FDFC).

An FDFC leader conceded that the deal is not fully satisfying to the opposition but “it is a step forward to bring peace to our people.”

Military-controlled media outlets broadcast a message of “congratulations to the Sudanese people.”

The deal was struck after a brutal raid on an opposition sit-in camp resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, plus reports of rape and other human rights abuses by the infamous Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group loyal to the junta. Demonstrators turned out in even greater numbers after the raid, a show of determination that apparently convinced the junta to relent on some of its demands. </s> Sudanese pro-democracy supporters celebrate a final power-sharing agreement with the ruling military council Saturday, Aug 17, 2019, in the capital, Khartoum. The deal paves the way for a transition to civilian-led government following the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April. (AP Photo)

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s pro-democracy movement and ruling military council signed a final power-sharing agreement Saturday at a ceremony in the capital, Khartoum, after weeks of tortuous negotiations.

The historic deal paves the way for a transition to a civilian-led government after the military overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir months ago and the more recent deadly suppression of protests.

Earlier this month, the two sides initialed a constitutional document in the wake of international pressure and amid growing concerns that the political crisis that followed al-Bashir’s ouster could ignite civil war.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, called the signing a “victorious and historic day for our nation.”

“The revolution has achieved its goals,” he said, vowing the military would guarantee the transition to civilian rule.

Protest leader Mohammed Naji al-Asam said the two sides have ushered in a “new page” in Sudan’s history after three decades of “repression and corruption.”

The power-sharing deal creates a joint military and civilian sovereign council to rule for a little over three years until elections can be held. A military leader is to head the 11-member council for the first 21 months, followed by a civilian leader for the next 18. Lt. Gen. Shams el-Din Kabashi, spokesman for the military council, said Burhan would be the initial leader.

The agreement also establishes a Cabinet appointed by the activists, as well as a legislative body to be assembled within three months. The protest coalition is to have a majority in that body, as nominated by the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, a coalition of opposition parties and movements representing the protesters.

The two sides appeared to agree on the soundness of a deal that came about in part because of international pressure. Ethiopia and the African Union co-led mediation efforts between the military and protesters.

Many regional leaders and international envoys attended Saturday’s ceremony, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Attendees in the Friendship Hall where the ceremony took place received Ahmed with cheering and chanting.

But at least one analyst, Suliman Baldo, a senior researcher with the Enough Project, said the country will still face obstacles during the coming months of transition.

“Daunting challenges will face Sudan’s progress to democracy and sound governance, chief among them the survival of the elements of the former regime in the institutions of the transition,” Baldo said.

Still, the Sudanese celebrated in Khartoum and elsewhere across the country Saturday. Video posted online showed people celebrating in the streets in Darfur and the eastern province of Kassala.

Railway workers and other protesters had traveled to the capital Friday by train from Atbara, the northern transport hub where the uprising began in December.

The military overthrew al-Bashir in April following months of protests against his three-decade-long authoritarian rule. The protesters then remained in the streets, demanding a rapid transition to civilian leadership.

The ruling military council and the activists came under renewed pressure to reach an accord after security forces opened fire on student protesters on Aug. 1 in the city of Obeid, leaving six people dead. At least nine troops from the paramilitary Rapid Support forces were arrested over the killings.

In June, security forces violently dispersed the protesters’ main sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, killing dozens of people and plunging the fragile transition into crisis. The power-sharing agreement includes the establishment of an independent investigation into the crackdown on protests, specifically the dispersal of the sit-in.

Former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, the leader of the opposition Umma party, said the deal was a “first step” in the democratic change until “fair” elections are held.

“Today is the day of transition to civilian rule. … The next stage will be a test for us, without exclusion. We will open the door so all people can participate,” said al-Mahdi, who led Sudan’s last freely elected government before an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989.

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the military council, and protest leader Ahmad Rabie, who is a high school teacher, signed the deal. Both had initialed the documents earlier this month.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres congratulated the Sudanese people and looked forward to “engaging with and supporting the transitional governing institutions.”

The Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change nominated a well-known economist, Abdalla Hamdok, to be prime minister during the transition. He served as the deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa since November 2011, and has yet to be confirmed by the sovereign council. The council’s members are to be announced Sunday, after which the ruling military council will immediately be disbanded.

The power-sharing deal has been criticized by the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of the largest rebel groups in Darfur. The rebels have stressed to protest leaders that the agreement did not include “basic principles” to achieve peace in Sudan. The deal calls for the government to reach a peace agreement with the rebels within six months.

The rebel alliance, which is part of the FDFC opposition coalition, wanted to include a peace document agreed on by the protest movement in the power-sharing deal. The rebel leaders have engaged in talks with other protest leaders to settle the disputed points. </s> Sudan military council and opposition agree new deal for transitional government

Sudan military council and opposition agree new deal for transitional government

The agreement comes after months of protests. File pic

Sudan's military council and the main opposition coalition have reached an agreement for a new period of transitional government.

It comes after the country's leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the army in April, sparking months of political turmoil and protests in the African nation.

African Union mediator for Sudan. Mohamed Hassan Lebatt. said representatives from the military and the civilian pro-democracy groups will continue talks during the weekend.

Among the details still to be finalised are the members of the transitional government and a timeline for the installation of the government.

It had already been agreed the group will be comprised of 11 members - five officers selected by the military council, five civilians chosen by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition and another civilian to be agreed upon by both sides. Its first leader will be from the military.

Once the government is installed, the country will begin a three-year path to elections.

News of the deal, which was brokered after weeks of talks run by the African Union and neighbouring Ethiopia, was greeted with joy on the streets of the capital Khartoum.

People sounded their car horns and sang the national anthem, with some chanting: "We're victorious".

Mr al Bashir faces charges of corruption and possession of foreign currency.

Since he was overthrown, there has been a transitional military council in power.

Talks aimed at moving to civilian rule had been deadlocked for weeks, with the generals wanting overall control during the interim period but demonstrators wanting limited military representation.

A preliminary deal was signed last month, but at least four student protesters were killed earlier this week, delaying talks. </s> Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the main opposition coalition have reached an agreement to usher in a new period of a transitional government, the African Union (AU) said.

Mohamed Hassan Lebatt, the AU mediator for Sudan, said representatives from both sides – civilian pro-democracy groups and the military – will continue talks on Saturday over the technical details of the deal.

“I am announcing to the Sudanese, African and international public opinion that the two delegations have fully agreed on the constitutional declaration,” Lebatt told a news conference in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The document, which outlines the powers and the relationships between the branches of the transitional government, comes after weeks of protracted negotiations brokered by the AU and neighbouring Ethiopia amid sporadic bouts of violence in the capital Khartoum and other cities.

Sudan has been in a state of political turmoil since the army removed veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in April, with dozens of demonstrators killed during street protests.

As news of the agreement emerged, people began gathering on Nile Street, the main avenue in the capital Khartoum, honking car horns and ululating in celebration.

“We have been waiting for a civilian state to seek fair retribution from the murderers of our sons,” one protester Somaiya Sadeq told AFP news agency.

“We’re victorious!” some people chanted while others sang the national anthem.

Legal and technical teams still need to establish a timeline for the declaration to come into effect and for the transitional government to be appointed.

Once the transitional government starts work, Sudan embarks on a three-year transition period expected to lead to elections.

Two key points of contention had been the role of Sudan’s General Intelligence Service and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country’s most powerful paramilitary group.

According to a draft of the declaration seen by Reuters news agency, the intelligence service will report to the cabinet and the sovereign council, the body that will rule the country in the transitional period, while the RSF will fall under the general command of the armed forces.

The sides had previously agreed that the sovereign council will comprise 11 members – five officers selected by the TMC, five civilians chosen by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition and another civilian to be agreed upon by both sides. Its first leader will be from the military.

When the sovereign council is formed, the TMC, headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, will be dissolved.

The FFC alliance is expected to hold a press conference at 08:00 GMT to explain the details of the deal. </s> Sudan's ruling military council and leaders of its civilian opposition movement announced a preliminary power-sharing deal Friday, marking an end to a months-long stalemate and raising hopes that deadly unrest since former President Omar al-Bashir's ouster could culminate in democratic rule.

"Today our revolution is triumphant," the Sudanese Professionals Association, which led the protests that took down Bashir in April, said in a statement posted to social media. "We will continue to accomplish the goals of the revolution."

The deal calls for a joint sovereign council that will lead Sudan during a transition period of three years and three months, according to the SPA.

The 11-member council will consist of five soldiers and five civilians, with a sixth civilian chosen by both sides. It will have a rotational presidency: A military leader will preside over the council for 21 months, followed by a civilian leader for 18 months. Elections would then be held.

"This agreement will be comprehensive and will not exclude anyone," said Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the Transitional Military Council, Reuters reports.

The African Union and Ethiopia helped broker the deal during two days of talks in Khartoum. Negotiators are set to come together this weekend to hammer out a final version.

"The devil will be in the detail of any deal – but we hope this marks a step towards an end of the horrific crimes that have been committed against the people of Sudan for decades," Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement. "This agreement must be judged by how those in power now live up to their responsibilities to respect people's fundamental rights — something the Sudanese people have been deprived of for well over three decades.

As word of the deal spread Friday, hundreds of Sudanese took to the streets in celebration, beating drums, singing and waving the national flag.

But while both sides hailed the agreement, many people remained skeptical. "Of course there is a lack of trust between the people of Sudan, of the opposition, when it comes to the military," Halima Gikandi reports for NPR.

The Transitional Military Council took control of the country soon after Bashir was deposed, announcing it would rule for two years before democratic elections could take place. Protesters and opposition leaders balked and demanded an immediate transfer of power to a transitional civilian government.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters camped outside military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, as opposition leaders engaged in negotiations with the military. But talks collapsed early last month after Sudanese security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing dozens of people.

Protesters maintained their call for civilian rule by launching a civil disobedience campaign that brought Khartoum to a standstill and by continuing to hold mass demonstrations, even as they were met by violence.

In all, protesters say the military crackdown left more than 100 people dead.

The SPA says the military has agreed to a national independent investigation into the protester deaths. Despite distrust of the military, opposition leaders see the power-sharing deal as the only viable pathway to a functional government that can address the concerns of the people, Gikandi reports.

"Our people are wounded, our wounds will heal," the Sudanese Professionals Association said in Friday's statement. </s> The leaders of Sudan's pro-democracy movement and the country's ruling military council signed a power-sharing agreement on Wednesday. The two sides held a signing ceremony in the capital, Khartoum, marking the end of three months of protests and negotiations. The document is a step toward civilian rule, but details of the agreement, including how power would be divided, still need to be worked out.

The deal establishes a joint civilian-military sovereign council to govern Sudan during a three-year transition period before elections. The council will be made up of five civilians, five people from the military, and an 11th person to be chosen by the council. A military leader will head the council for the first 21 months, and then a civilian leader will lead it for the following 18 months.

Further terms of the transitional period will be detailed in a constitutional declaration, but disagreements persist over how power would be shared among the sovereign council, the Cabinet and the legislative body, and some protesters have criticized the deal for not handing power over to civilians immediately.

There is also disagreement over an investigation into military leaders' role in the use of violence to crush protests, and whether they can have immunity from prosecution, according to The Associated Press.

On June 3, troops opened fire on demonstrators in Khartoum and killed at least 128 people.

On the day of the protest NPR spoke with the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, which was helping to coordinate the demonstrations. The committee told NPR of violence inflicted on protesters by Sudanese troops: "The Transitional Military Council forces are firing live ammunition inside East Nile Hospital and chasing peaceful protestors inside the hospital's campus. Royal Care Hospital in Buri area is under siege by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) forces at the moment. TMC's forces are preventing volunteers from reaching the hospital."

Wednesday in Khartoum, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan was a signatory for the military to the power-sharing deal. The New York Times reported on the signing, "Protest leaders are uncomfortable with the prominence of General Hamdan and his Rapid Support Forces, which have emerged as the dominant group in a byzantine security apparatus that under Mr. al-Bashir included military units, security agencies and semiofficial militias."

Former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, a former military general, was ousted in April. He ruled Sudan for 30 years. Bashir is now wanted by international prosecutors for war crimes in Darfur. </s> Sudan’s ruling military council and an opposition alliance this morning signed a political accord as part of a power-sharing deal aimed at leading the country to democracy following three decades of autocratic rule, Reuters reported.

The agreement, which ended days of speculation about whether a deal announced earlier this month would hold, was initialled in Khartoum in the presence of African mediators following a night of talks to iron out some details of the agreement.

The deal is meant to pave the way to a political transition after military leaders ousted former President Omar Al-Bashir in April following weeks of protests against his rule.

At least 128 people were killed during a crackdown that began when security forces dispersed a protest camp outside the Defence Ministry in central Khartoum in June, according to medics linked to the opposition. The Health Ministry had put the death toll at 61.

A political standoff between Sudan’s military rulers and protesters threatened to drag the country of 40 million towards further violence before African mediators managed to bridge the gap between the two sides.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, hailed the agreement as the start of a new partnership between the armed forces, including the paramilitary forces he leads, and the opposition coalition of Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC).

Ibrahim Al-Amin, an FFC leader, said the accord signalled a new era of self-reliance for Sudan’s people.

“We want a stable homeland, because we have suffered a great deal,” Amin said in a speech after the ceremony.

The sides are still working on a constitutional declaration, which is expected to be signed on Friday.

Under the power-sharing deal reached earlier this month, the two sides agreed to share power in a sovereign council during a transitional period of just over three years.

They also agreed to form an independent government of technocrats to run the country and to launch a transparent, independent investigation into the violence.

READ: What next for Sudan?

The power-sharing agreement reached earlier this month called for a sovereign council comprised of 11 members – five officers selected by the military council, five civilians chosen by the FFC and another civilian to be agreed upon by both sides.

The constitutional declaration will now decide the duties and responsibilities of the sovereign council.

The military was to head the council during the first 21 months of the transitional period while a civilian would head the council during the remaining 18 months.

But the agreement was thrown into doubt when new disputes surfaced last week over the military council’s demand for immunity for council members against prosecution.

The military council also demanded that the sovereign council would retain ultimate decision-making powers rather than the government.
The Sudanese military and representatives of civil groups agree on a deal to share power for a transition period.