The move is likely to harden protests among civilian groups that have pledged to oppose the military takeover.
Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has formed a new transitional council headed by himself to lead the country. military takeover Late last month, state media reported on Thursday.
The new 14-member Sovereign Council, for which a member is yet to be named, includes citizens representing Sudan’s regions but none from the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) political coalition that has been in force since 2019. Sharing power with.
General Burhan’s deputy will remain the commander of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, a role both men had played before the coup.
The move is likely to intensify protests among civilian groups, who have pledged to oppose the takeover through a campaign of civil disobedience, strikes and mass rallies, of which are planned for next Saturday.
The council also includes representatives of rebel groups that reached a peace deal with the government last year but rejected the coup in a statement this week.
The October 25 takeover ended a power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians established after the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, which was to lead to elections in late 2023.
Some senior citizens have been detained and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok has been placed under house arrest.
The previous council served as the collective head of state of Sudan, with Mr Hamdok’s government running the day-to-day affairs of Sudan. In the coming months, General Burhan and Mr. Dagalo were to hand over its leadership to a civilian.
Since the coup, mediation aimed at the release of prisoners and a return to power-sharing has stalled as the military moves to consolidate control. Political sources told Reuters There was no progress in indirect contact between Mr Hamdok and the military on Thursday.
Mr Hamdok told the mediators that his position would be based on the position of the FFC, which emerged from Bashir’s rebellion, the sources said. Representatives of the FFC on Wednesday rejected talks with Senna.
doctor arrested
Earlier on Thursday, Sudanese physician Mohamed Nagi al-Assam, who rose to prominence in the rebellion against Bashir and became a vocal critic of the coup, was arrested and taken to an undisclosed location, a doctors’ union said.
In a statement on Mr Asom’s arrest, the union said resistance would continue until a coup was carried out and its leaders were prosecuted.
The union has joined other labor organizations and the FFC in calling for Saturday’s mass rallies against the coup.
The civil disobedience movement has been disrupted since October 25 due to a ban on mobile internet access across Sudan.
A judge on Thursday issued a second direction to telecom firms Zain and MTN and local providers Sudatel and Canner to restore connections, pending declaration of any damages to be paid to customers.
in a statement to ReutersZain said the original order only applied to certain accounts and that the company immediately re-added them. It said it was acting on Thursday’s order to restore all lines. The other companies could not be reached or immediately responded to requests for comment.
In addition to General Burhan and Mr Dagallo, three other military members of the previous ruling council were retained in the new council announced on Thursday, as well as a civilian representative jointly chosen by the military and the FFC.
State media reported that four new members representing different regions of the country were also appointed, although a representative for eastern Sudan was yet to be confirmed.
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