African Union extends deadline of Sudan’s Military Council to 3 months

The participants in a consultations summit on Sudan in Cairo agreed, on Tuesday, to extend the African Union’s deadline to hand over power to a transitional government in Sudan from 15 days to 3 months.

This came in a statement by Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi, following the conclusion of a consultations summit on Sudan held on Tuesday in Cairo, according to the official Egyptian news agency (MENA).

Radi said that the Cairo summit has succeeded in extending the African Union’s deadline to hand over power to a transitional government in Sudan from 15 days to 3 months.

He explained: “The presidents who attended the summit meeting considered that the 15-day period is insufficient, and then agreed on a three-month deadline needed for the formation of the new government and the emergence of civil features of the transitional period.

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On April 15, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) granted the Transitional Military Council in Sudan 15 days to hand over power to a civilian government or suspend its membership. This was four days after the Sudanese army’s ousting of Omar Al-Bashir after three decades of his rule in the country, on the backdrop of ongoing popular protests since the end of last year. Earlier on Tuesday, a consultations summit on Sudan in the capital Cairo had been held to discuss the successive developments in Sudan and support its people’s efforts.

The presidents of Chad, Djibouti, Rwanda, the Congo, Somalia, and South Africa, as well as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and representatives of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria,  have participated in the consultations summit in Cairo.