Khartoum
Sudan army chief slams transitional council
Relations between the civilian and military components of the country's three-year transitional government have deteriorated in recent weeks, with General Abdel...
The activists in the capital Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman also demanded justice for those killed during the popular uprising that toppled president Omar al-Bashir last year.
The popular mass movement had already brought down long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir but was still on the streets demanding further reforms when it was attacked by men in military fatigues on 3 June 2019.
The protesters -- who lambasted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's recent austerity policies and higher food prices -- rallied in defiance of a ban on large gatherings to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
Marchers gathered in different parts of the capital Khartoum and in the city of Atbara where protests began against dire economic conditions on 19 December last year.
Thousands gathered in Freedom Square, where ousted president Omar al-Bashir held a large rally in his final months in power, to call for the dissolution of his National Congress Party.
Bashir, wearing a traditional white gown, sat in the same metal cage he appeared in on Monday when his trial on graft charges opened.
Bashir (75) was forced from power on 11 April, after months of protest against his regime and appeared before a prosecutor for the first time on 16 June.
The opposition alliance will also nominate Mohamed Alhafiz Mahmoud as deputy prime minister, sources said, and Abdelqadir Mohamed Ahmed as head of the judiciary.
Under the accord, signed Sunday after mediation by the African Union and Ethiopia, a civilian-majority sovereign council will lead Sudan through a transitional period of three years.
The rallies came a day after protest leaders and army rulers inked a power-sharing deal to form a joint civilian-military body tasked with installing a civilian administration -- the main demand of demonstrators.
The accord was signed in Khartoum in the presence of African mediators following a night of marathon talks to iron out some details of the agreement reached earlier this month.
The demonstrations were the first since the ruling military council and civilian opposition agreed in principle to a power-sharing arrangement ahead of elections. The deal has yet to be finalised and signed.
The power-sharing deal, reached in the early hours after two days of hard-won talks brokered by Ethiopian and African Union mediators, came after previous negotiations collapsed in May over who should lead the new body.
The 'million-man' march is seen as a test for protest organisers whose push for civilian rule has been hit by the 3 June raid on a Khartoum sit-in and a subsequent internet blackout.
The former strongman, who ruled his northeast African nation with an iron fist for three decades, was toppled on 11 April after months of protests against his reign.
The United Nations Security Council condemned the violence and noted the junta’s undertaking to investigate the massacre.
The apparent breakthrough in the standoff between the military rulers who toppled veteran leader Omar al-Bashir and protesters demanding civilian rule followed mediation led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Titor Nagy would urge the military junta to cease attacks on civilians who are on a civil disobedience campaign aimed at removing them.