Protest leaders in Sudan said on Saturday they had accepted an Ethiopian proposal for a civilian-majority body to lead the political transition. The plan, described by Agence France-Presse, would create a 15-member council with eight civilians and seven military members, and that council would install a civilian administration. "We think that our acceptance of the proposal is a major leap towards meeting the goals of the revolution, which are freedom, peace and justice," protest leader Babiker Faisal told reporters. He said it would put the country on track for a transition toward a lasting democracy. The ruling Transitional Military Council had not yet given its answer.
Another protest leader, Amjad Farid, had said seven of the eight civilians would come from the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella movement. Ethiopia stepped up mediation after security forces broke up a long protest camp outside army headquarters in Khartoum on 3 June. Doctors linked to the protests said more than 118 people were killed and hundreds wounded. The military council put the death toll at 61. Witnesses blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which grew out of the Janjaweed militias accused of war crimes in Darfur. The council first denied ordering the dispersal, then admitted it had. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed led contacts between the sides in the days after the raid. Before the crackdown, the two sides had agreed on a three-year transition and a 300-member parliament, two-thirds of it drawn from the protest movement.
Marwa Gibril, a Sudanese human rights activist, told Al Jazeera that people would be sceptical because trust in the military council had been shaken, and that many still wanted a move to civilian rule. She credited street protest and civil disobedience, along with outside pressure, for bringing the generals back to talks. Saturday’s acceptance was the protesters’ move. The generals still had to say whether eight civilians and seven officers was a bargain they would sign.
Sources: Al Jazeera