Sudan: Protest leaders suspend civil disobedience, resume talks with military council

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

Sudan has been led by a military council since it toppled autocratic President Omar al-Bashir on April 11 after months of nationwide protests against his iron-fisted rule of 3 decades.

Following Bashir’s removal, protesters camped outside military headquarters in Khartoum for weeks to demand civilian rule, before security and paramilitary forces dispersed them in a June 3 crackdown.

The protest movement launched a campaign of civil disobedience on Sunday, and most businesses stayed closed and residents hunkered indoors for the next 3 days. It had threatened to pile even more pressure on the generals by releasing a list of members for a new ruling body, the key point of dispute between both sides.

However, they agreed to end the campaign and return to talks, said an envoy of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

“The Alliance for Freedom and Change agreed to end the civil disobedience campaign from today,” Mahmoud Drir, who has been mediating between the two sides since Abiy visited Khartoum last week.

“Both sides have also agreed to resume talks soon,” he told reporters.

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

In Khartoum, the protest strike saw most shops and businesses remain closed with some companies extending to the end of the week the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan.

Demonstrators declared their nationwide shutdown a success.

“This shows clearly what we can do, and also in a peaceful way,” said Ishraga Mohamed.

Protest leaders vowed to name a new ruling body to replace the generals.

“The Alliance for Freedom and Change will reveal its sovereign council and a prime minister in an announcement to be made at a suitable time,” the Sudanese Professionals Association, a key member of the umbrella protest movement, said late on Monday.

The crackdown came after negotiations between protest leaders and the generals collapsed late last month over who should lead the new governing body, a civilian or a soldier.

The military council have continued to blame deteriorating conditions in Khartoum on the disobedience campaign.