Sudan’s top military leader and the prime minister he ousted last month have reached a deal for the premier’s return to government and the release of detained civilian leaders, mediators said Sunday.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25 declared a state of emergency and ousted the government in a move that upended a two-year transition to civilian rule and sparked international condemnation.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had been under effective house arrest since the power grab that triggered a wave of mass street protests in which 40 demonstrators have been killed according to medical sources.
“A political agreement has been reached between General Burhan, Abdalla Hamdok, political forces and civil society organizations for Hamdok’s return to his position, and the release of political detainees,” senior Sudanese mediator Fadlallah Burma, acting head of the Umma party, told AFP.
The statement raised hopes the strife-torn northeast African country will be able to return to its fragile transition process toward full democracy that started after the 2019 ouster of veteran autocratic president Omar al-Bashir following mass protests.
A group of Sudanese mediators including politicians, academics, and journalists who have been locked in crisis talks in recent weeks, released a statement outlining the main points of the deal.
It included the restoration of Hamdok as prime minister, the release of all detainees, and what it said was the resumption of the constitutional, legal and political consensus governing the transitional period.
