Sides Reach Agreement over Transitional Leadership in Sudan

Sudan’s ruling generals have made a deal with opposition and protest leaders over interim leadership following the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir in early April. The agreement to share power on the basis of rotation sent citizens streaming into the streets in celebration following months of angry and sometimes deadly demonstrations against the generals and their Transitional Military Council (TMC). The army overthrew Bashir following months of protests that started with outrage over the rising cost of bread and other commodities, and grew to encompass widespread sentiment that Bashir, in power for 30 years, had to go. At first, citizens were grateful, but their anger swiftly turned toward the TMC when the generals appeared to be heading for a military junta instead of the democracy the demonstrators had been calling for. As many as 120 people were killed on two occasions when the TMC moved to quell the protests. According to African Union mediator Mohamed Hassan Lebatt, the sides will “establish a sovereign council by rotation between the military and civilians for a period of three years or slightly more.”