Two days ago, the Sudan military council and opposition leaders in Sudan signed a deal to end the deadly turmoil that rocked the country leading to the forceful removal of the country’s longest serving president Omar al-Bashir and even after the military taking over the reins of power.
But just what is inside the pact which the deputy head of the country’s ruling military council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as ‘Hemedi’, described as a “historic moment”?
Here is an analysis by the Africa Global News team on what the peace deal is all about.
The deal establishes a joint military-civilian sovereign council that will govern the country during the transition period of three years and three months, after which the people will go into pools to elect their new and civilian government.
The Sudan military general will lead the transitional council in the first phase of 21 months and then a civilian will take over for another 18 months.
The council will be made up of five military figures, five civilians, and another one person (a civilian) who will be chosen by the 10-member council.
The pact also establishes a cabinet which will be headed by a prime minister chosen by the protestors and two other key positions – interior and defence ministers, reserved for the military which will nominate the figures to lead them from the military.
Missing from the deal, however, is the immunity from prosecution following the killing of protestors which the military has been pushing for. The Sudan military has, nonetheless, remained committed to opening an investigation into the violence and the killings.
Critics of the Sudan military want an investigation to establish the role that the military played in killing of un-armed protestors.
The two sides signed the deal in a ceremony in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, something which signalled the end of protests that have lasted for three months after the ouster of the country’s strongman al-Bashir who is now in prison.
Details of the deal and more terms on the transition will, however, be given in a constitutional declaration but cracks are yet to be fully sealed on how the council, the cabinet and the legislature will share power among other things.
Several quarters, including AU and the UN, had been calling on the two sides to agree and end the violence in the country.
