Sudanese protest leaders call for general strike as negotiations stall again

Sudan's leading protest organisers called for a general strike after negotiations with the country's military rulers stalled again on Tuesday.

MENA

3 min read

The New Arab & agencies

21 May, 2019

Protesters want a civilian leader for the country's transitional council [AFP]

Sudan's leading protest organisers on Tuesday called for a general strike across the country after talks between the country's military rulers and opposition groups failed to reach an agreement.

The two sides launched a new, "final", round of talks late Sunday over the sovereign council to rule Sudan for a three-year transitional period following last month's ouster of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.

But talks have frequently stalled over major sticking points.

The latest battle is over the make-up of a new, shared sovereign council and whether a civilian or a general should preside over it.

The military council that replaced Bashir has so far baulked at protesters' demands for a civilian-majority body led also by a civilian.

As the weeks-long, stop-start negotiations came to a standstill early on Tuesday, Sudan's leading protest organisers the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) called on demonstrators to make their demands clear.

"In order to achieve a full victory, we are calling for a huge participation in a general political strike," the SPA, a major party to the negotiations, said in a statement.

"The strike is our revolutionary duty and the participation in the sit-in... is a crucial guarantee to achieve the goals of the revolution."

Demonstrators across Sudan have staged several major general strikes, as well as many more company- and industry-specific strikes, since protests began in mid-December.

Negotions have been led on the civilian side by the Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC), an umbrella group including the SPA and other opposition parties and groups.

Neither side said when talks would resume, but civilian negotiator and protest leader Siddiq Yousef told reporters that talks were "suspended between us and the Transitional Military Council until there is a breakthrough".

The ruling military council did not say if talks had been suspended.

Satea al-Haj, an AFC leader, said on Tuesday that the military council has insisted that the president of the sovereign council should be from the military and has "conclusively" rejected a civilian leader.

"They are justifying it by saying the country faces security threats," he earlier said.

Another AFC leader, Mohammed Naji Al-Asam, told The New Arab that his movement would not back down from their demand for a majority of seats on the ruling council saying that protesters would continue their mass sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum and protests activities around the country.

Generals and protest leaders have already agreed on some key issues, including a three-year transition period and the creation of a 300-member parliament dominated by lawmakers from the protesters' umbrella group.

But observers say the body may turn out to be only symbolic, with real power resting with the sovereign transitional council.

An agreement on the new council's make-up had been expected last week.

But the generals suspended the negotiations for 72 hours, demanding that protesters remove roadblocks they had erected on several Khartoum thoroughfares before any negotiations could proceed.

A government paramilitary force attempted to remove the barricades on Wednesday last week, leading to clashes in which five protesters and one soldier were killed.

Protesters later removed the barricades, but have warned that they will build them again unless the generals transfer power to civilians.