Sudanese people celebrate agreement reached to end deadly military standoff
Months after a coup, which resulted in a new potential conflict between the military and civilians, the two sides have decided to put their arms down in an agreement
Sudanese citizens took to the streets on Friday to celebrate the end to a deadly standoff between the ruling Transitional Military Council and the opposition alliance.
After several weeks of unrest and fighting, Sudan’s military leadership and the country’s pro-democracy movement have struck an agreement to create a joint sovereign council that will be made up of five military members and five civilians and an additional civilian agreed upon by both sides. The council will govern “for the next three years or a little longer,” Mohamed el-Hassan Labat, the African Union’s envoy to Sudan, said on Friday, according to CNN.
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Happy citizens spilled out on the streets of Khartoum to celebrate.
“Today our revolution has won and it waves the flags of victory,” the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) said, according to CNN.
The two sides will also jointly launch an investigation into the deadly street violence that has occurred since President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April. More than 100 protesters were fatally gunned down — including 19 children — after security forces shut down a protest camp outside of Khartoum’s military headquarters early last month, causing talks to officially shut down. In addition to the killings, more than 70 women and men were raped and more than 700 people were injured in the attack.
Bashir was indicted in Darfur by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and committing crimes against humanity.
The government of Ethiopia and the African Union serve as mediators and helped to broker the joint sovereign council, Labat told media outlets.
Under the newly formed deal, the Sudan military council will be in charge of the country’s leadership for the first 21 months. And a civilian administration will rule the council during the following 18 months, CNN reported.
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The United Nations’ Human Rights Council is also launching an independent investigation into the brutal June attacks.
