Sudan military and civilians sign deal to end deadly turmoil

Sudan’s ruling military council and opposition leaders have signed a power-sharing accord after all-night talks.

It is a “historic moment” for the country, the deputy head of Sudan’s ruling military council, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagolo, is quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Sudan has been in turmoil since the military ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Protesters have been demanding the military hand power to civilians.

Those protests turned deadly in a crackdown on 3 June, when more than 100 people were reportedly killed.

What has been agreed?

The two sides have agreed to rotate control of the sovereign council – the top tier of power – for just over three years.

That council will be made of five civilians, five military figures, and an 11th civilian, to be chosen by the 10 members.

A military general will be in charge of that council for the first 21 months, then a civilian will lead for the following 18 months, followed by elections.

The military has been pushing for immunity from prosecution after the protester deaths, but this is absent from the signed deal.

It does, however, promise an investigation into the violence.

A second agreement on constitutional issues is expected to be finalised on Friday.

How did this start?

The unrest in Sudan can be traced back to December 2018, when then President Bashir’s government imposed emergency austerity measures.

In April, the president was overthrown by the military after prolonged protests outside the defence ministry in Khartoum, but demonstrators then wanted to ensure authority was swiftly transferred to a civilian administration.

They stayed put outside the ministry and, on 3 June, security forces moved in to disperse them.

Dozens were killed and bodies were thrown into the River Nile. (BBC Africa Eye has analysed more than 300 videos shot on that day.)

Tens of thousands of protesters then returned to the streets a few weeks later, which forced the junta to resume talks on a power-sharing government. BBC News