Sudan's military rulers and protesters will hold fresh talks over handing power to a civilian administration today after days of deadlock.
On Saturday, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, an umbrella organization for the protest movement, said the generals had invited it for a new round of talks.
The latest planned round of talks came as thousands of protesters remained camped outside army headquarters in central Khartoum. The army generals and protesters are at loggerheads over who will sit on a new ruling body that would replace the existing military council. The generals have proposed that the new council be military led, while the protest leaders want a majority civilian body.
Late last month, the alliance, which brings together protest organizers, opposition parties and rebel groups, handed the generals its proposals for a civilian-led transitional government. But the generals have pointed to what they call "many reservations" over the alliance's road map. Protesters have massed outside the army complex in central Khartoum since April 6, initially to demand the overthrow of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. But since his ouster by the army on April 11, the protesters have kept up their sit-in. Since al-Bashir's ouster, the protesters have expressed fears that the military will cling to power and undermine all attempts to instate a civilian government in a country that lived for decades under military dictatorship. Protests first broke out on Dec. 19 in response to the tripling of bread prices, swiftly turning into nationwide rallies against al-Bashir's three-decade rule. Protesters, who were initially jubilant over word of the coup, reacted by saying they will not end their sit-in outside the military's headquarters in central Khartoum until a civilian transition government is formed.
