Sudan’s protest movement said that it is determined to have a civilian as the head of a new governing council ahead of negotiations yesterday with army rulers to finalize its makeup.
Talks between the ruling military council and the protest movement over the planned transfer of power were to resume amid international pressure to return to the table after the generals suspended negotiations last week.
The Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group that brought down former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir after months-long protests against his three-decade rule, said the talks were to begin at 9pm.
“The talks will revolve around outstanding issues concerning the representation in the sovereign council and its chairmanship,” the alliance said in a statement.
The generals and protest leaders were at loggerheads over the final composition of the next ruling body, the thorniest issue so far in negotiations between the two sides.
The generals say that the new body should be military-led, but the protest leaders said they are determined to have a “civilian sovereign council led by a civilian as its chairman and having a limited military representation.”
The military council that took power after ousting al-Bashir on April 11 is headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the generals negotiating with the protesters have previously said that al-Burhan would lead the new governing body, too.
Before talks were suspended, the two sides had agreed on several key issues, including a three-year transition period and the creation of a 300-member parliament, with two-thirds of lawmakers to come from the protesters’ umbrella group.
However, yesterday’s negotiations came against the backdrop of rising tensions after hundreds of supporters of several Muslim movements rallied outside the presidential palace to reject any civilian administration deal that excludes Shariah law as its guiding principle.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
RSS