Sudan’s protest and opposition leaders on Thursday revealed they have received a new transition proposal drafted by Ethiopia and the African Union (AU), reported Africa News. The people of Sudan are demanding the military to hand over to civilian rule.
“The Alliance for Freedom and Change received the draft … and will be considering the proposal to make a decision,” the protest and opposition alliance said in a statement.
While the new proposal calls for a civilian-majority ruling council as demanded by protesters, it fails to mention the composition of a new transitional parliament.
It offers the creation of a 15-member, civilian-majority governing body for a three-year transitional period, but, makes no mention of the composition of a legislative body.
The proposal comes after Sudan’s ruling military council urged mediators from the AU and Ethiopia to unify their efforts and come up with a joint proposal on the country’s transition. Although the protest alliance had announced its acceptance of Ethiopia’s earlier proposal, Sudan’s military council rejected the same and called for mediation efforts to be unified.
The proposal had stipulated a transitional parliament of 300 lawmakers, with 67 percent of them from the Alliance for Freedom and Change and 33 percent from other political groups, excluding now ousted longtime President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.
Notably, the talks between the protest and opposition leaders and the Sudanese military came to a halt after security forces broke up a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry on June 3, leaving more than 100 people dead.
On Thursday, the security forces fired tear gas to disperse dozens of students demonstrating against the ruling military council at a financial academy in the heart of Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Lawyers in large number also gathered outside the main courthouse complex in Omdurman, calling for civilian rule and for people to join mass demonstrations planned for Sunday.
“Freedom, peace, and justice. Civilian (rule) is the people’s choice,” the lawyers chanted.
