Sudan’s ousted prime minister signed a deal with the military on Sunday that will reinstate him nearly a month after a military coup d’état put him under house arrest. According to the deal, the military will also release government officials and politicians arrested since the October 25 coup.
The country’s top general, Abdel Fattah Burhan, said in televised statements that Abdullah Hamdok would lead an independent technical cabinet until elections were held. It is not clear how much power the government will have. It will still remain under military surveillance.
It is also not clear whether all political parties and pro-democracy groups have signed the agreement.
The coup, more than two years after a popular uprising that forced the ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamic government, drew international criticism.
“The signing of this deal opens up enough doors to address all the challenges of the transitional period,” Hamdok said at the signing ceremony broadcast on state TV.
Sudan opposed a military coup that ousted the government in Khartoum last month. (AP)
Sudanese have been taking to the streets in public since the military takeover, which marked the country’s delicate transition to democracy. The settlement comes just days after doctors said at least 15 people had been killed by live fire during anti-coup protests. Hamdok has been placed under house arrest by military leaders for weeks.
The deal also stipulates that an investigation will be conducted to identify those responsible for the killings and wounds of civilians and soldiers who protested after the coup.
“By signing this declaration, we can lay a real foundation for a transitional period,” Burhan said.
The 14-clause deal also emphasized that power should be handed over to an elected civilian government after the end of the transitional period.
Earlier, the Forces for the Declaration of Independence and Change, the group that led the rebellion that culminated in Bashir’s expulsion, objected to any deal with the military.
In a statement on Sunday, the group reiterated its opposition to any new political partnership with the military, stressing the need to bring the perpetrators of the coup to justice.
“We are not concerned with any settlement with this brutal junta and we are using all peaceful and constructive means to bring it down,” the statement said.
The largest political parties involved in the deal, the Ummah Party, also issued a statement, implying that it had not signed it.
Thousands took to the streets in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, shortly before the signing ceremony to condemn the coup and demand an immediate transfer of power to citizens. Demonstrators waved Sudanese flags and chanted “Power is for the people! The army has to stay in the barracks.”
Earlier, military and government officials who spoke of the deal on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information said the United Nations, the US and others played a “significant role” in drafting the deal. Had played.
The United States, its allies and the United Nations have condemned the use of excessive force against anti-coup protesters.
Hamdok thanked Sudan’s “regional and global friends” who helped reach the deal but did not name the countries.
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