Sudanese protest leaders have criticized the suspension of negotiation talks by the ruling military council with their representatives over a peaceful transfer of power to civilian rule.
The umbrella group leading the protest movement, The Alliance for Freedom and Change, said in a statement that the military council’s move ignores the developments achieved in negotiations so far.
“The suspension of negotiations is regrettable…and ignores the reality of the revolutionaries who are increasingly angry as a result of the bloodshed and the souls that we lost,” the alliance said in a statement on Thursday, reported Reuters.
The protest alliance group promised to maintain sit-in protests outside the Defence Ministry and across the country.
Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition protest leaders were scheduled to meet on Wednesday to talk on an agreement on the composition of the new ruling body. The two parties had already reached an agreement on the composition of a 300-member legislative council and a three-year transition period to a civilian administration.
But, on Thursday, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chief of Sudan’s ruling military council, announced the talks had been suspended amid a deteriorating security situation in the capital, Khartoum.
Gen Burhan accused protesters of disrupting the normal life by blocking roads outside a protest zone set up outside of the defense ministry. He called out the protestors to open blocked bridges connecting the capital with other regions and stop provoking security forces. He said the TMC wants a suitable atmosphere is created to complete an agreement with the opposition alliance.
The development follows recent violent clashes in central Khartoum. On Wednesday at least nine people were wounded by troops firing live ammunition to clear demonstrators. On Monday, at least four people were killed when security forces tried to clear some protest sites.
