Sudan: Army, Protesters Agree on 3-Year Transition Period

By Staff, Agencies

Sudan's military leaders who seized power last month by overthrowing longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir have agreed with opposition groups to a three-year transition period to transfer power to a fully civilian administration, a general has announced.

Speaking to reporters in the early hours of Wednesday, Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta said a final agreement on the sharing of power, including the formation of the next ruling body - the sovereign council - would be signed with the protest movement the Alliance for Freedom and Change within 24 hours.

"We agreed on a transitional period of three years," Atta said.

He further added: “We vow to our people that the agreement will be completed fully within 24 hours in a way that it meets the people's aspirations.”

Thousands of protesters have been holding a sit-in outside the army headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, for weeks, demanding that the army generals, who took power after toppling al-Bashir on April 11, step down.

The army generals had initially insisted on a two-year transition period, while the protest leaders wanted four years.

Atta also said that, during the transition period, the Parliament would be composed of 300 members, of which 67 percent would be from the Alliance for Freedom and Change and the rest would be from other political groups.

The first six months of the transitional period would be allocated to signing peace accords with rebels in the country's warzones, he added.

Opposition figure Madani Abbas Madani speaking to a news conference alongside Atta past midnight said the transitional military council had formed a committee to investigate the attacks of protesters. He also said a joint committee was set up with the opposition to thwart any attempt to break up the sit-in at the army headquarters.