Sudanese protest organisers have presented demands to the country’s
new military rulers, urging the creation of a civilian government, the
group spearheading demonstrations said.
Sudanese protesters |
Thousands remained encamped outside Khartoum’s army headquarters
overnight to keep up the pressure on a military council that took power
after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday.
A 10-member delegation representing the protesters delivered their
demands during talks late Saturday, according to a statement by umbrella
group the Alliance for Freedom and Change.
“We will continue… our sit-in until all our demands are met,”
including the formation of a fully civilian government, one of the
alliance’s leaders, Omar al-Degier, said in the statement.
The umbrella group insists that civilian representatives should be
accepted onto the military council, and that a fully civilian government
should be formed to run day-to-day affairs.
“We surely want our demands to be met, but both sides will have to be
flexible to reach a deal,” said a protester who spent the night at the
army complex.
On Saturday, the new chief of the military council General Abdel
Fattah al-Burhan vowed to dismantle Bashir’s regime and lifted a night
time curfew with immediate effect.
Burhan also pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters
would face justice and that protesters detained under a state of
emergency imposed by Bashir during his final weeks in power would be
freed.
He took the oath of office on Friday after his predecessor General
Awad Ibn Ouf stepped down little more than 24 hours after ousting
Bashir.
Tens of thousands of people have massed outside the army headquarters
since April 6, initially to urge the armed forces to back their demand
that Bashir be removed.
Burhan comes with less baggage from Bashir’s deeply unpopular rule than Ibn Ouf.
But while celebrating the fall of Bashir and then Ibn Ouf — a defence
minister and long-time close aide of the deposed president — protesters
remain cautious.
Degier said their demands include restructuring the country’s feared
National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), whose chief Salih
Ghosh resigned on Saturday.
Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged the military
council to examine Ghosh’s actions during a crackdown against protesters
during the final weeks of Bashir’s rule.
“It is crucial that Sudan’s new authorities investigate Salah Ghosh’s
role in the killings of scores of Sudanese protesters over the past
four months”, said Amnesty’s regional director Sarah Jackson.
The newly formed 10-member transitional council contains several faces from Bashir’s regime.
On Saturday evening, the new military ruler named NISS deputy head Jalaluddin Sheikh to the council.
He also nominated Mohammad Hamdan Daglo — known as Himeidti — a field
commander for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) counter-insurgency unit,
which rights groups have accused of abuses in war-torn Darfur.
One of the protesters taking part in the sit-in outside the army
headquarters said he was ambivalent about Himeidti’s appointment.
“We don’t have many options — they (the RSF) have guns, they have
money,” said Mohamed, who gave only his first name for security reasons.
“Himeidti was part of the crimes that happened previously but at least now he is on the side of the people,” he added.
Key regional power-brokers Saudi Arabia and the UAE voiced backing for the transitional council.
Burhan’s nomination “reflects the ambitions of the brotherly people
of Sudan for security, stability and development”, UAE state news agency
WAM said.
Saudi Arabia has promised an aid package, the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday.
Sudan is part of a UAE and Saudi-led military coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.
That marked a dramatic shift by Khartoum, aligning itself with the
Gulf Arab monarchies and dropping close ties with their arch-rival Iran.
The International Criminal Court has longstanding arrest warrants
against Bashir for suspected war crimes during the regime’s brutal
campaign of repression in Darfur, where a decade-and-a-half of conflict
has killed 300,000 people.
Amnesty demanded Saturday the deposed president be handed over to the Court.
But the military council has said it would never extradite Bashir or any other Sudanese citizen.
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