Sudan’s military council and the main opposition coalition have reached an agreement to usher in a new period of transitional government, the African Union mediator for Sudan said on Saturday.
The document, which outlines the powers and the relationships between the branches of the transitional government, comes after weeks of protracted negotiations brokered by the African Union and neighboring Ethiopia amid sporadic bouts of violence in the capital Khartoum and other cities.
Sudan has been in a state of political turmoil since the army ousted veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in April, with dozens of demonstrators killed during street protests.
As news of the agreement emerged, people began gathering on Nile Street, a main avenue in Khartoum.
The jubilant crowds waved the Sudanese flag chanting "civilian, civilian" and women were ululating as cars driving honked their car horns.
The main opposition coalition, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), welcomed the agreement as a “first step with more to follow” and pledged to complete the journey to “freedom, peace, and justice” in Sudan.
"I am announcing to the Sudanese, African and international public opinion that the two delegations have fully agreed on the constitutional declaration," AU mediator Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt told reporters.
He said meetings will be held to work out the technical details of the deal and discuss the formal signing ceremony.
Once the transitional government starts work, Sudan embarks on a three-year transition period expected to lead to elections.
Sudan’s stability is crucial for the security of a volatile region stretching from the Horn of Africa to Libya that is riven by conflict and power struggles.
Two key points of contention had been the role of Sudan’s General Intelligence Service and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country’s most powerful paramilitary group.
According to a draft of the declaration seen by Reuters, the intelligence service will report to the cabinet and the sovereign council, the body that will rule the country in the transitional period, while the RSF will fall under the general command of the armed forces.
Nine members of the RSF have been dismissed and detained in connection with the killing of protesters, including four schoolchildren, this week.
That document provided for the establishment of a joint civilian-military sovereign council that would rule Sudan for a little over three years while elections are organized. A military leader would head the 11-member council for the first 21 months, followed by a civilian leader for the next 18. There would also be a Cabinet made up of technocrats chosen by the protesters, as well as a legislative council, the makeup of which would be decided within three months.
But the two sides remained divided on a number of issues, including whether military leaders would be immune from prosecution over recent violence against protesters. It was not immediately clear whether they had resolved that dispute.
When the sovereign council is formed, the current ruling body, a transitional military council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, will be dissolved.
A priority for the transitional government during its first six months in power will be working toward peace with a number of armed groups active in the southern and western regions of the country, Satea al-Hajj, an FFC negotiator, said on Saturday.
Three of those armed groups are members of the FFC under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Front.
