Sudan talks to resume soon as opposition halts strikes, says mediator

Protest and military leaders in Sudan have agreed to resume talks soon, an Ethiopian mediator says.

Separately, an opposition alliance agreed to suspend its campaign of civil disobedience and widespread strikes.

The army – which has been in control since long-time President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April – has agreed to release political prisoners, special envoy Mahmoud Dirir told reporters.

Talks broke down after dozens of protesters were killed in a crackdown on a sit-in on 3 June. Since then much of the country has been shut down after the opposition called for an open-ended strike.

Doctors say 118 people have died in the recent outbreak of violence, while officials say there were fewer fatalities – putting the number at 61.

Soldiers have patrolled the streets of Sudanese towns since then, while most businesses have remained closed.

What happens now?

On Tuesday, the Ethiopian mediator between the two sides said that talks on restoring a civilian administration would begin soon.

The army has agreed to release political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, Mahmoud Dirir said.

The opposition Alliance for Freedom and Change issued a statement urging people to return to work on Wednesday.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which called the strikes in the first place, backed the temporary suspension and urged people to return to work for the time being.

Some shops and services had already started to re-open, mostly among small businesses and daily wage earners who could not afford to remain closed.

What kind of deal could be struck?

Military leaders have yet to formally confirm the return to talks.

But a member of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), Salah Abdelkhalek, told BBC Arabic that it might agree to “equal” power sharing with the opposition.

However, he said the TMC was adamant that the head of the new council should be from the military.

He also said that some military officers had been responsible for the 3 June crackdown, and said hundreds of soldiers, including officers, had been arrested – and endorsed the idea of an international inquiry into the violence.

But he added the TMC was willing to negotiate without preconditions.

Earlier on Tuesday, the top US diplomat for Africa announced a trip to Sudan to urge both sides to resume talks.

News of the return to talks followed the intervention of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who met both sides to try and break the impasse.

There are some reports suggesting that Mr Abiy suggested a 15-member ruling council for the transitional period, made up eight civilians and seven military officials. BBC News </s> Sudan’s opposition leaders have agreed to end their campaign of civil disobedience and strikes and resume talks with the country’s military rulers aimed at forming a transitional council.

In turn, the Transitional Military Council also agreed to release political prisoners, Ethiopia’s special envoy Mahmoud Dirir told reporters in Khartoum Tuesday.

“The Freedom and Change alliance agreed to end the civil disobedience(campaign) from today,” said Dirir, who has been mediating since a visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week.

“Both sides have also agreed to resume talks soon” on a handover of power to a civilian administration, he said.

The protest leaders said the call for talks is insincere following this week’s deadly crackdown on demonstrators in Khartoum, which witnesses blamed on the militia known as the Rapid Support Forces.

According to the Voice of America news medical doctors allied with the opposition said the death toll from the crackdown had risen to 118. The Sudanese Health Ministry issued a statement last week that said the number is “no more than 46.”

Protest groups and opposition parties have been demanding that the TMC, which took power after the army overthrew longtime president Omar al-Bashir on April 11, handpower to a civilian-led authority.

Talks on the proposed interimgovernment broke down over which side would have ultimate decision-making authority.

Violence erupted in Sudan last December, when anger over rising bread prices and cash shortages evolved into sustained protests against al-Bashir before he was ousted after three decades in power. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Some stall vendors returned to work on Tuesday - but most businesses remained closed

Protest and military leaders in Sudan have agreed to resume talks soon, an Ethiopian mediator says.

Separately, an opposition alliance agreed to suspend its campaign of civil disobedience and widespread strikes.

The army - which has been in control since long-time President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April - has agreed to release political prisoners, special envoy Mahmoud Dirir told reporters.

Pro-democracy protesters are demanding a return to civilian government.

Talks broke down after dozens of protesters were killed in a crackdown on a sit-in on 3 June. Since then much of the country has been shut down after the opposition called for an open-ended strike.

Doctors say 118 people have died in the recent outbreak of violence, while officials say there were fewer fatalities – putting the number at 61.

Soldiers have patrolled the streets of Sudanese towns since then, while most businesses have remained closed.

What happens now?

On Tuesday, the Ethiopian mediator between the two sides said that talks on restoring a civilian administration would begin soon.

The army has agreed to release political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, Mahmoud Dirir said.

The opposition Alliance for Freedom and Change issued a statement urging people to return to work on Wednesday.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which called the strikes in the first place, backed the temporary suspension and urged people to return to work for the time being.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Driving around deserted Khartoum

Some shops and services had already started to re-open, mostly among small businesses and daily wage earners who could not afford to remain closed.

What kind of deal could be struck?

Military leaders have yet to formally confirm the return to talks.

But a member of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), Salah Abdelkhalek, told BBC Arabic that it might agree to "equal" power sharing with the opposition.

However, he said the TMC was adamant that the head of the new council should be from the military.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The strikes had shuttered many businesses

He also said that some military officers had been responsible for the 3 June crackdown, and said hundreds of soldiers, including officers, had been arrested – and endorsed the idea of an international inquiry into the violence.

But he added the TMC was willing to negotiate without preconditions.

Earlier on Tuesday, the top US diplomat for Africa announced a trip to Sudan to urge both sides to resume talks.

News of the return to talks followed the intervention of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who met both sides to try and break the impasse.

There are some reports suggesting that Mr Abiy proposed a 15-member ruling council for the transitional period, made up of eight civilians and seven military officials.

As ever in this story, scepticism is necessary. The Ethiopian assertion that talks will resume "soon" depends on what is meant by soon.

The opposition Forces for Freedom and Change insist they are not about to return to the negotiating table. For now, any contact between both sides will take place via international mediators.

It is negotiation of a sort – but the opposition insists that before face to face talks begin, six conditions need to be met:

removal of military from streets

international investigation into the killings

release of all detainees

return of internet

freedom of the press

Transitional Military Council to take responsibility for the assault on the protest zone

So far they have only the promise of prisoner releases. But any negotiation - even if it happens soon - will circle back to the same issue: will the military cede power to a civilian government? Nothing about the generals' actions has indicated that this is an imminent possibility.

The fear is that they will use any negotiations to try to divide the opposition while security pressure is maintained on the streets. </s> AFP | Locals set tyres on fire and block a sidestreet leading to their neighbourhood in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to stop military vehicles from driving through the area on June 4, 2019.

Protest leaders have agreed to end their civil disobedience campaign launched after a crackdown on demonstrators and resume talks with Sudan’s ruling generals, an Ethiopian mediator said Tuesday.

“The Alliance for Freedom and Change agreed to end the civil disobedience (campaign) from today,” Mahmoud Drir, who has been mediating since a visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week, told reporters.

“Both sides have also agreed to resume talks soon” on a handover of power to a civilian administration, he said.

The protest movement itself said in a statement that it was calling on people “to resume work from Wednesday”.

“The TMC (Transitional Military Council) as a goodwill gesture has agreed to release all political detainees,” Drir added, without giving details.

Protest leaders launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign from Sunday after a June 3 crackdown on a weeks-long sit-in had left dozens of people dead.

Thousands of protesters had camped for weeks outside the army headquarters in Khartoum demanding that the ruling generals step down and hand power to a civilian administration - the key demand of demonstrators.

The generals seized power after the army ousted longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir on April 11 following months of nationwide protests against his iron-fisted rule of three decades.

Doctors close to the protest movement say at least 118 people have been killed since the June 3 crackdown.

The health ministry acknowledges that 61 people were killed on June 3 across Sudan, including 49 by “live ammunition” in the capital. </s> The Sudanese opposition and the Transitional Military Council have agreed to resume dialogue to resolve the current political crisis, a day after the suspension of civil disobedience in the country, the Ethiopian envoy to Sudan said.

Ethiopian Prime Minister’s special envoy to Sudan, Mahmoud Drir said that talks on the formation of a Transitional Governing Council “will begin soon”, explaining that the Sudanese military council has agreed to release political prisoners “as a confidence building step” after the opposition agreed to suspend protests.

In the early hours of 3 June, the Sudanese security forces stormed a sit-in in central Khartoum, forcibly removing it, according to opposition forces. The Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors reported that the death toll had reached 108.

Since then the military leadership has been accused of using militias to intimidate protesters. Women’s rights campaigner and activist Nahid Jabrallah told the German publication Deutsche Welle that the Rapid Support Forces, part of Sudan’s security services, raped numerous Sudanese women and men as they violently dispersed a pro-democracy sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum last week.

A black out has now been reported in the country with protesters unable to use mobile phones to go online, limiting the information which is now able to flow out of Sudan.

READ: Sudan will not be silenced </s> Sudan's pro-democracy leaders vowed Thursday to press their campaign of civil disobedience until the ruling military council is ousted and killers of protesters are brought to justice, following a crackdown this week that killed scores of people.

The pledge comes after new clashes brought the death toll in three days of the military crackdown to 108. On Wednesday, troops were seen pulling 40 bodies of victims, slain by Sudanese security forces, from the Nile River in Khartoum and taking them away.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, one of the protest groups, said it was not known where they were taken. The committee also said more than 500 have been wounded in the crackdown.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of union groups that has been behind months of rallies that forced the military to oust longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, urged people to block main roads and bridges to "paralyze public life" across the country in retaliation for the military's crackdown.

The crackdown began with a violent dispersal of the protest movement's main sit-in camp, outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, on Monday.

"Our success depends on our full adherence to peaceful protests, no matter how hard the criminal militias seek to drag us into violence," the association said in a Facebook statement on Thursday.

Word about the retrieval of the bodies from the Nile came as Sudan's ruling general called for a resumption of negotiations with the protest leaders, which they promptly rejected. They said the generals cannot be serious about talks while troops keep killing protesters.

The protesters said that instead, they would continue their demonstrations and strikes seeking to pressure the military into handing over power to a civilian authority.

Meanwhile, Sudan's military-controlled health ministry is disputing the death toll of 108 killed in the crackdown. The ministry's undersecretary, Soliman Abdel Gaber, issued a statement insisting that only 46 people died in this week's violence.

Since Monday's violent dispersal of the protest sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, violent clashes have erupted in other parts of Sudan.

The protest leaders said there were attacks in 13 cities and towns this week perpetrated by security forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by al-Bashir's government to suppress the Darfur insurgency in the 2000s, a campaign that prompted charges of genocide against its perpetrators.

Before Monday's crackdown began, the military and protest leaders had for weeks negotiated the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country until elections. The protesters demanded civilians dominate the council, which the generals resisted.

After the crackdown, the military suspended the talks and canceled all agreed-on points. It also announced the military would form a government and hold elections within seven to nine months.

But the head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, then on Wednesday abruptly announced the generals were prepared to resume negotiations— an offer the protesters immediately turned down.

In Moscow, a top diplomat said Russia — which has largely stayed on the sidelines of the crisis in Sudan — opposes "any foreign intervention" and believes a compromise is needed.

Mikhail Bogdanov, chief of the foreign ministry's Middle East desk, told local news agencies that Russian diplomats are in touch with all political players in Sudan, including the opposition. Bogdanov visited Khartoum earlier this year. </s> Leaders of Sudan’s Alliance for Freedom and Change have agreed to end civil disobedience from Tuesday, three days after its launch.

Mahmoud Drir, who has been mediating since a visit by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed in his statement to the press on Tuesday.

‘‘They agreed to uphold what they have agreed upon before the suspension of the negotiations regarding the structures, powers, responsibilities of the transitional government’‘, he said.

‘‘Talks will resume soon in good faith to iron out outstanding points, including the sovereign council and other relevant matters’‘, he added.

The two warring sides agreed to also resume talks on the handover of power to a civilian authority.

The Alliance for Freedom and Change, in a separate statement also confirmed the end to the civil disobedience, calling on the Sudanese “to return to work on Wednesday”.

The civil disobedience campaign was launched after a crackdown on demonstrators by the military. </s> CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th June, 2019) The biggest Sudanese opposition movement Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change declared on Tuesday an end to the civil disobedience campaign after calls for a return to dialogue, the movement's member, Moataz Mohamed Saleh, told the Al Hadath broadcaster on Tuesday.

Last week, the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change announced a permanent disobedience campaign, which paralyzed the country for three days. Currently, Ethiopian special envoy for Sudan Mahmoud Drir is in Sudan, attempting to revive dialogue between the opposition and military authorities.

At the same time a special representative of the Ethiopian prime minister said at a press conference that the Transitional Military Council (TMC) had agreed to release political prisoners in exchange for the opposition's decision to stop the disobedience campaign.

Long-standing popular protests in Sudan culminated in a military coup on April 11, when then-President Omar Bashir was overthrown and detained. TMC took over and pledged to organize a new presidential election within two years. The protesters have meanwhile remained in the streets demanding that the military yield power to a civilian authority. </s> Medics recover dozens of bodies from the Nile in Sudan

Medics recover dozens of bodies from the Nile in Sudan

Security forces violently dispersed a weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on Monday

Medics say they have recovered dozens of bodies from the river Nile, bringing the total death toll in recent unrest to more than a hundred.

The Sudan Doctors' Committee, a group aligned with opposition, said at least 40 bodies had been pulled from the river in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, and had been taken to an unknown location.

This follows from a day of violence on Monday, when Sudanese security forces opened fire on protesters taking part in a weeks-long sit-in outside the city's military headquarters.

Opposition medics initially estimated that 13 people had been killed, but this figure rose rapidly, eventually passing a hundred by Wednesday.

Activist Amal al-Zein said she believed the death toll could be higher as dozens more bodies had been recovered from various places along the river.

She said: "Some bodies have wounds from bullets, others seemed to have beaten and thrown in the Nile".

No official death toll figures have so far been released.

The sit-in, which began on 6 April, successfully saw the toppling of former president Omar al-Bashir amid a military coup.

But the pro-democracy protests continued as participants demanded the military agree to hand over power to a civilian-led government.

Talks between civilian representatives and the military began in May, eventually reaching an agreement on a transitional period that would last three years.

But the ruling military council suspended talks and cancelled all agreements after the violent intervention in the pro-democracy sit-in earlier this week.

The deputy head of the military council, General Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, said in a televised statement on Wednesday that a "fair and independent" investigation into the sit-in violence had been opened.

He vowed that anyone found to have "crossed boundaries" would be punished.

The council also called for talks to resume, but this was swiftly rejected by the opposition, which said the transition process had been thrown into "jeopardy".

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesperson for the opposition Sudanese Professional Association, said the call to resume talks was "not serious", and that the military "have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it".

He added: "Their vehicles patrol the streets firing at people."

"We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience."
Sudanese military and opposition leaders agree to resume talks that broke down after a violent crackdown on protesters earlier in June. The military also agrees to release political prisoners, while the opposition agrees to end its campaign of strikes and civil disobedience.